Oct 13, Kathamndu- Educational Quality Testing Center (ERO) has released a report in 2019 stating that students who do homework have better learning achievement than those who do not. On the one hand, the government report has shown that the learning achievement of the students doing homework is good. 

While on the other hand, experts have been holding the opinion that giving too much homework will create phobia in children and create a negative attitude towards learning. According to the headmasters, they have been giving homework to develop children's reading culture due to the pandemic.

However, most children in the school age group also appear to be stressed during the tenth grade. Even when eating, playing and entertaining they are seen to be stressed due to the burden of homework. Every day when the school is open the children are seen scattering books in the evenings. Even during Dashain and other long holidays they are burden of homework. Due to the burden of homework, they are not able to share their childhood with their parents and friends.

In the absence of an pandemic they would go to school on days other than public holidays, carrying books and copies that weighed twice theirs own weight. Complaints are heard that the children are moving away from their parents due to the homework given by the teacher in the morning and evening. They could not share their joys and sorrows with their parents, and as a result they were drifting away from family and cultural traditions. Due to the pandemic, the problem is getting worse. Due to access to the internet and other technologies, they are becoming more and more distant from their parents due to the influence of western culture. Due to the excessive use of the Internet, it is becoming difficult to pass on cultural heritage to children.

Giving homework without the school paying attention

The schools have been giving more homework than required without paying attention to the layered objectives. Children do their homework according to their ability. But instead of doing a lot of hard work, they are reluctant to go to school and have other problems. The pressure of homework teaches students to memorize lessons. But it prevents you from being creative.

According to an educationist Bidyanath Koirala, doing homework while playing, eating and entertaining has a negative effect on them. The heavy burden of homework is having a negative effect on them. As a result, they are becoming more and more addicted. While throwing away the burden of homework, some children have fallen prey to the screen. According to educationist Koirala, they are also victims of addiction due to loneliness.

Abhishek Limbu(14 year-old), of Suryabinayak-2, Balkot is the representative child. He is studying in class 10 at Marigold English Boarding School in Balkot. "I don't want to talk to my parents while doing the homework given by Sir," he said. Koirala said that an atmosphere of coordination should be created between the parents.

It is more important to make children creative than to take care of textbooks and homework. Reading and learning are linked to a child's mental health. If affected, children will not be able to progress to the best of their ability. It also affects his physical health. Children do not understand what is being read by force or coercion.

Principal of Vishwaniketan Secondary School Herambaraj Kadel says, "No matter how much you read, you should keep your mind, heart and brain in one place or enjoy reading." It is up to the school management and its affiliated teachers to decide the extent to which the burden of study is imposed on the students. ' Therefore, the teacher must understand child psychology. Students should only do useful exercises that they can do.

Excessive homework has also affected the mental health of young children. They are lonely, angry at small things, do not love their parents and in some cases even affect their intellectual development. According to child psychologists, some children who are confined to their homes and rooms due to excessive homework also suffer from depression. "Children are getting addicted day by day when parents leave their children homeless," he said. "Most government employees' children are depressed," he said.

There are 35,568 community and institutional schools in Nepal. Except for one of them, most of the schools do not even check once by giving homework. No school has set a definite schedule and criteria for this. "Giving homework without layered purpose has psychological problems in the students," said Koirala.

Teachers say that children who are active only in class work have faster memory than children who do homework every day. Most homework is still alive in most parents' homes. That is why the school gives homework during the holidays, said Bhuvan Lal Shrestha, principal of Mary Gold English School. "We give homework to students only with a view to layered objectives," he said. "It doesn't look like our students have felt the burden of homework."

Homework is a chore not only for children but also for parents. As the children are not able to do their homework on time and refuse to go to school, the mother has to bear more than the father. Babita Ranjit, headmistress of Panchakanya Basic School, Baluwatar, says that there is no problem if there are parents who teach them to do homework at home. "If children are taught correctly, there is plenty of time for them to go to school," she said. Due to this, the dropout rate has increased.

Students who don't feel like playing, don't like to eat, don't like to talk to anyone, can't participate in any socialization work. Kadel explains. According to Kadel, if more homework is given, the children will be neglected in their work, will not pay attention to the class.

They will not do the class work diligently, will write bad letters, will hate the school, teachers and reading, and will have a general effect. Expansion These effects can greatly reduce a student's memory and concentration. Children are always depressed in class, monotonous, tolled or inactive in class activities. "People who don't know what is happening in the classroom and those who don't do their homework have committed suicide because they can't stand the teacher's behavior," he said. Kadel suggested.

Children never do homework and classwork if given too complex or too long. But Chanda Karki, a teacher at the laboratory, says that it is easy to do it according to their interests and desires. "Children are not allowed to do homework even if the family environment is not child-friendly," she said.

Most schools and teachers feel that they have succeeded by burdening their students with unnecessary homework. Due to homework, class work, tuition, coaching class, etc. from morning till night, the beautiful childhood of the children is being taken away. Neither the parents nor the teachers have tried to understand what the children think and want.

Parents are thrilled to see their children sitting in front of a book. In a bid to get better grading, they are being made to work as human beings. Both teachers and parents are unknowingly forcing children to become psychopaths, expecting them to behave like teenagers and young adults in the hope of getting good grades.

Excessive use of technology is becoming even more deadly for children

When the school was physically operational, the children were found to be in tension saying that they had not done their homework even on the tenth Tihar and other public holidays. Nowadays, excessive use of internet has adversely affected their mental health. Now children can be found hanging on the internet at any time. Parents are also under stress due to such behavior of children.

Due to the risk of corona infection, students' learning was linked to the Internet. Even the parents of the children who could not afford to buy a mobile phone bought a mobile phone for their children even though they were paid, and connected to the internet. This gave children access to technology.

Its positive or negative effects are beginning to be seen. When children and parents are ignorant about the use of technology and the Internet in some places, they are involved not only in their studies but also in the misuse of the Internet. Its effects are beginning to show in their online reading as well.

Prapti Karki, who is studying in class 2 of Morden Boarding School in Dadhikot, Bhaktapur, has just turned eight. Nowadays, she is always busy making tittok videos. She tricks her parents into making tittok even when the class is online. Her father Bhoj Kumar Karki was upset to see his daughter hanging on her mobile phone as soon as she reached home when the school was open. "When I went to the village without doing my homework in the last decade, my daughter came home crying and had a fever," he said. Rejoices, more jerks. Sometimes I am afraid of what to do if I show such behavior. '

Busy parents want their children to be busy. Parents have not been able to spend enough time with their children as they spend time on mobile and television even if they have some free time. As a result, children are becoming more and more victims of technology.

Use of technology requires parental awareness

Parents need to be vigilant to control the misuse of technology. Parents who can't give time but children who have access to technology have been falling prey to it lately. "We are not aware of online child safety. We don't even have a secure mechanism, "said Baburam Aryal, a cyber law expert. Awareness is the key. '

According to him, according to various studies, children in the age group of 12 to 16 years are most at risk. The children are at home now. Parents of children stranded at home due to the epidemic should be vigilant to prevent the misuse of technology.

This problem is more prevalent in children who are not given time by their parents. As much as parents seem to be responsible for their children, children are also becoming more aware of its use. "Parents have given children access to technology and the Internet in the name of education," he said.

He is of the view that parents, teachers, children and concerned stakeholders should play a coordinating role in raising awareness at the first level. He stressed on the need for teachers and parents to be friends with their children as the school would know what the parents of the children did not know.

He suggested a nationwide campaign on safe technology and internet access. Aryal says that the society itself can be made literate about child safety, cyber security, online education, digital parenting.