Schools across Noida and Greater Noida have been directed to limit students’ screen exposure during smart-class teaching to 30 minutes a day for Classes 1 to 5 and 60 minutes for Classes 6 to 8, following complaints from parents that some students were spending four to five hours a day in front of digital boards.
The administration has emphasised interactive and participatory teaching methods instead of continuously displaying textbooks on digital screens, she added. However, some parents questioned the blanket limits. “Smart classes are a popular tool now. It is a proper board and quite big, so I don’t think it causes too much stress to the eyes.
District magistrate Medha Roopam said digital boards should be used as teaching aids rather than as a replacement for classroom interaction. “While smart and digital boards are aids to make teaching more effective, their continuous and unnecessary use must not adversely affect students’ health, studies, sports, or other activities,” she said. The guidelines call for screen use to be balanced according to age and refer to recommendations issued by organisations including the World Health Organization, Indian Psychiatric Society, Indian Academy of Pediatrics and NCERT. Yatendar Kasana, president of the All Noida School Parents Association, said smart classes had become an important teaching tool and that digital boards were different from mobile phone screens. Mobile screens can cause stress,” he said. Kasana also said schools and parents should have been consulted before the guidelines were issued. “They should have called a meeting with the parents to discuss this issue first, instead of releasing this order,” he said.
