Few proper devices at home, online classes causing stress among students

Chennai: Shruti and Samhita R are learning from home, but it isn’t easy when the siblings, aged 15 and 11, have to share one laptop.

“Our dad uses a laptop, mom uses another and we have to share one old model which is slow. It’s hard enough to pay attention to lessons all day. Sharing devices means we always have a backlog,” said Shruti.

With online classes going on for four months now, students are getting stressed, mainly because of slow or inadequate devices. While students may have access to the online lessons, not having a conducive device and environment to study is causing stress.

Lakshmi Vijayakumar, a psychiatrist, said in households that don’t have enough devices, there is a constant tussle between siblings, especially when all have to attend online classes.

“Unconsciously, one sibling is favoured and given the bigger or better device and the other ends up straining the eyes and ends up having a lot of stress,” she said.

There is also pressure from teachers on attendance and timely submission of assignments. But when a household has only one laptop, it adds to stress among students.

“At our home, there are three children. But they end up having fights every day on who gets the better device,” said Deepa Ranganathan, a homemaker from K K Nagar.

A survey from a thinktank Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) says 73% of respondents are sharing devices with their parents nd 23% don’t get sufficient time. As a result, only 47% of the respondents are happy with their classes.

Platforms such as Ventallout have counsellors helping students who are stressed. “They come at a very nominal cost starting from Rs 49. We help them cope with the stress,” said Sunil Mittal, co founder, Ventallout.


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