‘Homework is driving my child crazy’: Parent.
Schools in India tend to have an extensive syllabus to complete every year. The schools usually use homework as a way to drive the syllabus into completion.
Dubai: Too much homework given by Indian schools stresses and exhausts children who end up having no time to bond with family, parents have raised complaints.
With the start of a new learning term, such concerns have resurfaced including how too much homework impacts the health of children.
Gulf News has received reports from parents whose children suffer with lots of assignments after returning home from school. They end up doing the homework to the wee hours of the night, and sometimes the whole family is forced to step in to support the child.
About a month ago, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which happens to be the biggest education Board in India, ordered schools to stop dishing out homework to grade one and two students. Parents have complained of no respite for higher grade students, who revise for numerous exams.
‘Torture’
“My daughter gets very tired at the day’s end from the workload of assignments. She cannot engage in any other activity as both her time and energy get depleted from the long hours of tackling assignments. What surprises me is that the school forces assignments on basic subjects like Arabic, Islamic, and UAE social studies leaving out the most important subjects like maths and science. The homework is killing her slowly. She loses her concentration fast and is always irritated. I pose a question to schools to tell us the benefits of shoving so much work down on students in a day. It is torture,” she reiterated.
Another mother who has two daughters learning in an Indian School both in grade 10 says she has mentioned the above issue to the school, but they haven’t made any changes.
“I know how these teachers work because I used to be one. Their main aim is to finish the syllabus fast, and giving out loads of assignments is their best way. When a teacher sees a fellow teacher giving assignments to their class, they also do the same,” she said.
“My daughters have poor feeding habits. They don’t even have time to spend with their father and are always complaining about headaches. It is all because of assignments. I should have transferred them to another institution, but they don’t want to lose their friends, and that breaks my heart. ”
Schools’ view
Gulf News asked the UAE Indian based schools to share their views concerning the issues related to loads of homework in the schools. The teachers said they have controls put in place to control the number of homework, and that they will have the homework given to contribute to academic success.
An academic supervisor in Dubai at the Global Indian International School, Jaya Ramesh, said the decision on the amount of homework given to students follows a scientific method. She went ahead and said that most of the learning takes place within the premises of the school and that for higher grade students, they get a maximum of three subjects as assignments, which can last them about an hour to complete.
Dr. Mazen Abou Chaaban, a doctor, said that students should rest after coming home from school as they should relax their brains. He also added that children should be fast asleep by 9 pm so that they have ample rest time and to wake up early for school the following day.