HRD Ministry issues guidelines for Digital Education, screen-time and mental health tips for students

The Union HRD Ministry has announced guidelines for online classes by schools. The ministry has recommended a cap on the screen time for students. It said that the online classes for pre-primary students should not be for more than 30 minutes. The guidelines mentioned that two online sessions of up to 45 minutes each should be conducted for classes 1-8 and four sessions for classes 9-12. 

The digital education guidelines will also comprise of recommended screen-time for children along with tips on coping with mental or physical stress during the digital learning process.

HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal announced the launch of Pragyata on his Twitter account on Tuesday.

“Introducing 'PRAGYATA': Guidelines on #DigitalEducation for school heads, teachers, parents, and students containing recommended screen time for



children, tips on coping with mental/physical stress during #DigitalLearning & more. Stay tuned for more details,” he wrote.

The guidelines outline suggestions for administrators, school heads, teachers, parents, and students in the following areas:

1. Need assessment

2. Concerns while planning online and digital education like duration, screen time, inclusiveness, balanced online and offline activities, etc level-wise

3. Modalities of intervention including resource curation, level-wise delivery, etc.

4. Physical, mental health, and wellbeing during digital education

5. Cyber safety and ethical practices including precautions and measures for maintaining cyber safety

6. Collaboration and convergence with various initiatives.