Online Sports Classes? Yay or nay?| Opinion by Tanush,12, Kolkata

According to me, learning to play an instrument or sport, especially cricket, through online classes may be possible in theory, but is extremely ineffective in practicality.

Infrastructure- Learning karate, dance and instruments like guitar and piano is possible only if the students are equipped with electronics, a good network connection and a good camera system. However not all children are equipped with such facilities and with even one required element missing, the class is totally useless.  Although some classes have started these activities, and some children do learn from these classes, it is not as effective for all as offline classes.

Distractions- It is not possible to keep a check on every child on apps like Zoom, Google Meet, etc and thus many children don’t benefit from these classes.I have personally seen how PT classes were taken online in my school in grade 5.  Hardly 7-8 boys could be monitored on the screen out of 45 children and most of them kept their video switched off. There was no way to keep track of whether the child was even attending the meeting. There was total confusion in the class if the microphones were unmuted and students were constantly joining and getting disconnected throughout the period. Sometimes the teacher himself couldn’t adjust the camera and we had nothing left to do except play games on paper.

Human touch- What about human aspects that make the sport enjoyable than a task- the camarederie you feel with a hi-five with pals, the loyalty and team building when you cry yourself hoarse, cheering on your team and the proud moment when the teacher gives a pat on the back.

During the pandemic, we had to attend online classes as there was no other option. But now we do have a choice and we must choose wisely.