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Smart classes ~ boon or bane

The blackboards have turned white, the chalks have turned into cursors and stylus, eventually answering students’ questions through presentations. There…

Smart classes ~ boon or bane

The blackboards have turned white, the chalks have turned into cursors and stylus, eventually answering students’ questions through presentations. There are several ways to solve a query but today it is just one click-click and look-look. School students, who once learnt how to solve a problem using their brain-power, are now relying on screens. Smart classes were seen as a revolution but the present scenario will make one question their existence.

A couple recently reported how their kid was not able to solve a simple mathematical problem through a method being taught by the child’s mother. The child had said the smartboard presentation had shown them a particular method to solve the problem and he insisted that was the only way.

When the school had announced it, the mother had been happy about the smart classes but their son’s knowledge base made them realise that teaching through solving the problems was what made the mind more active and inquisitive. Their child’s learning process, the parents rued, was simply not happening. What he actually learnt was mere “copy-pasting”.

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The smart classes, several parents agree, have turned out to be more of a luxury than a teaching aid. They have made teaching lose its personalised touch. At the end of the day, it is in the hands of the teacher to make judicious use of the aids available. But most times, the teachers take the easy way out. They merely switch on the system and let the children watch the lessons as they themselves sit on one side. Any child, who may not grasp a point or is a slow learner, soon loses track and the entire lesson is wasted. School authorities may perhaps need to re-think how to get the technology to improve the entire learning process rather than derail it.

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