Chiang Mai’s parents are facing a dilemma many parents are facing across the world – whether or not to send their children back to school.
The school term will open on the 1st September and while there has been no official announcement for children to return to classrooms, many parents are concerned that online learning is insufficient at this time while also uncomfortable sending their children back to school.
Arada Yongyuangpan, a mother of a seven year old girl told CityNews, “My daughter lacks the concentration for online learning and after the last exam it was obvious that her learning had been greatly affected. She also complains of pain in her eyes from the screen time. I just don’t think that it is viable to expect children so young to spend another year at home. But what choice do we have?”
Parents, many with full time jobs, are also struggling to supervise their children’s education while at home as they have to call from work many times a day to make sure that their children are studying and not playing games, said Arada, who is representing a group of parents.
“With many parents lacking IT skills, they are feeling unable to assist their children,” she continued.
Arada went on to say that many parents agree with her that the Ministry of Education should pause all examinations until children can return to the classroom, as current exams do not reflect the true ability of the children and this environment is not conducive to testing.
She said that she would rather her child stop schooling for one year than to continue to attempt to learn in such an environment.