Apart from the tough terrain a child has to maneuver over the bad and dangerous roads to school, hardships don’t end there. It is also a marathon task to carry the burden of so many books on their backs on every schooling day. Most of our schools have no infrastructure needed for a child, the ergonomically positioned seats are available in neither of the schools in Goa therefore this puts the child’s backbone at great risk with the unstable sitting posture. Our children spend a minimum of six hours on a given day in the classrooms and another few hours with the load of given homework. Gone are the days when the child enjoyed a better part of the day to play and socialize with other children in the neighbourhood or help parents in their chores.
Today’s kids are drowning in homework and it’s a marathon study session every night with heavy duty assignments almost on a daily basis. With no downtime, kids can’t absorb and retain their lessons, and they dread the work so much they have to be nagged and forced to do it. In many cases, the parents take the burden to complete the assignments. Due to this, there is a growing resentment that the teachers are not but the parents are responsible for their children’s education. The massive homework is actually swallowing up a good part of a child’s life, not a healthy childhood with any play, no quality time with parents and not so creative life. If government and private sector are enjoying a few week-ends as holidays, why does most of the schools don’t follow the same so that the child can have some quality time with their parents to spend? This may seem radical, but in my mind it is logical.
With teachers handing out more assignments than ever, our kids are stressed, sleep deprived and, worst of all, becoming disillusioned with learning. Even on a Sunday, the religious obligations and recurring loads of homework consumes the child’s day. I hope the schools should consider Saturday as a half day or if not a full day off at least twice a month.
