HC: Has Telangana come out with policy on online classes?

HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Wednesday sought to know from the state government whether it has framed any policy on imparting education through online classes.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy gave the government one week’s time to respond. The judges were hearing a PIL filed by Hyderabad School Parents’ Association (HSPA) that objected to certain private schools conducting online classes for the students and insisting on payment of term fees.“Poor parents are facing many difficulties now.Their children cannot get access to online education on account of lack of latest gadgets. How will the government manage this imbalance,” the judges wondered.
“We also heard that some of the schools are insisting that all children must appear before their screens in uniforms,” they said. To this, state counsel A Sanjeev Kumar admitted that the availability of Internet data in rural Telangana is only 42% and hence the online mode may not be feasible now.
The bench issued notices to the school education department’s principal secretary, director of school education, DEOs of Hyderabad and Rangareddy and the Telangana Recognised Schools Managements Association, asking them to file their counters by July 8.
Petitioner’s counsel Yakarapu Sheelu brought to the notice of the court the circulars issued by DEOs of districts like Medchal-Malkajgiri, Khammam, Warangal, etc, who made it clear the period of lockdown — till the state government green-signals reopening of schools — would be considered as vacation for all schools and no online classes should be held during this period. Despite such orders, certain private schools are holding online classes and were demanding payment of fees from the crisis struck parents, he said.
The judges said Maharashtra has framed a policy saying that there cannot be any online classes. The state counsel replied Telangana too issued a circular in Telugu stating that there cannot be any online classes now. The judges sought to know from him as to why DEOs of certain districts are following the state decision, while others seem to be ignorant.
“Only DEOs are competent to act in the matter as the law empowers them,” the state counsel said, while seeking time to find out why other DEOs are not acting in the matter.