Sin Chew Daily

Students are still unable to go back to school due to the ravaging pandemic. Primary and secondary school students in the country will continue with their home-based learning until the school holidays in the middle of this month.

According to the SOPs under the national recovery plan, students can only go back to school once the authorities are satisfied that infection risks have come down. In other words, they will go on with their home-based learning for some time.

Since the pandemic started last year, most of the time the students have been learning their lessons from home. Even though there was a short period of time when they were allowed to go back to school, there have been reports of positive COVID-19 cases involving students and parents in the so-called red zones. As a consequence, many parents have opted to keep their children at home.

After assessing the risks and following the implementation of nationwide lockdown, home-based learning is reintroduced.

With the schools opening and closing now and then, it is within anticipation that the student's academic progress will be remarkably impacted. As for online learning, students from B40 families and those living in remote rural areas are still facing the perennial problem of inadequate equipment, and this will adversely affect the students' learning progress.

Although the issue of equipment availability has since drawn the attention of the education ministry as well as politicians on both sides of the divide, the assistance provided to the students is still insufficient. Fortunately, we have a good deal of dedicated and responsible teachers who are going the extra mile to help solve the problem of the students.

While many students from poor families have problem gaining access to adequate equipment in order to effectively learn online, those in relatively well-to-do families have abused the facility extended to them to engross themselves in online gaming, even falling into the traps of unscrupulous online scammers.

National Union of Heads of Schools (KKGGBM) president Lim Bee Khim has revealed that some Years 5 and 6 students have been indulged in online gaming, and swindled or even exploited by their "partners" in order to get money to buy gaming gadgets.

We believe that not only primary school students but many secondary school students too are deeply hooked on internet games. It is hoped that the relevant educational institutions, schools and the education ministry will closely monitor the situation of students abusing the network and smartphone facilities while attending their online classes to involve themselves in inappropriate activities. We cannot afford to keep our eyes closed on such matters.

It is easy for children with poor levels of self discipline and self constraint to skip their online classes, especially when both their parents have to go out to work and their guardians may not have time to watch their every move. These youngsters may make use of their time in front of the computers or smartphones to play games or watch adult movies and eventually get addicted to such due to lack of control and guidance from their parents or guardians.;

Meanwhile, some of the parents may also become emotional worrying about their livelihoods in the midst of the raging pandemic, and this may have a negative bearing on their family relationships.

To evade the tense familial relationships, some youngsters may seek alternative solace of which online gaming is a convenient channel that will provide such distraction. These people may find themselves reaily preyed on  by unscrupulous individuals if they happen to make the wrong kinds of friends on social media.

In the face of such a problem, parents may consider seeking police assistance in the event the incident has become growingly serious. Nevertheless, given the fact many of the scammers are based overseas and are using feigned identities, tracking them down could be a tall order. The children's feelings and the very nature of the incident should also be taken into account before deciding whether to lodge a police report.

In recent days we have seen the emergence of the phenomenon of raising white flags by poverty-stricken families in search of community help. As a matter of fact, the undesirable ramifications from the introduction of home-based learning may also force many a parent to raise a white flag, with the hope the education ministry and other relevant educational organizations will offer some solutions to address their woes so as to make online learning more systematic while arresting the inappropriate behaviors of their children through the cooperation between schools and parents.

They also hope that when their children are encountering a psychological issue, someone will hold out a hand to instill in them the right attitude in cybersecurity.

Time has changed. The parents' responsibility is not just about feeding their kids but also to make sure their kids have the proper education and moral attitude in their growing process.

Parents must learn to communicate with their children at different stages of their lives in order to understand their needs.

Home learning is now becoming a new normal that requires the parents to learn to coordinate with the school to oversee their children's academic progress.

The pandemic has irreversibly changed the way we live, work and learn, and in fact we are all still learning to get things done right. We need to work together to resolve our old and new problems because our children's mental health and future are of paramount importance to us.