Parents spend money in fear

Some schools may keep in mind a parent’s financial situation before assigning costly homework, though, others are leaving mums and dads in the heat with expensive assignments.

One parent, Bindu Satyan, said she welcomes the ministry’s ban on costly homework wholeheartedly, as it will help parents save.

Satyan said her daughter was often assigned homework that would cost her money.

“For my daughter, till her 10th grade, it was really hectic to manage and arrange for all of her projects and homework. Yes, it was expensive as well, to an extent,” Satyan said. “But after the CCE scheme discontinued by CBSE, in Grade 10, there was not much project work.

“Parents are forced to buy things, other wise, their child will get low marks which will affect their score. Some teachers’ attitude towards students, who are not able to buy or make such projects, are also very rude and they react at it through the internal marks.

“Also, sometimes, schools will give group projects, where at many times, not all of the group members will contribute physically and monetarily. Yet, they still get the benefit out of it while other students have to spend a lot of time to make these projects as marks will be given for creativity and innovation too.”

Another parent, Archana Desai, said that students and parents can end up spending extra on homework in order to impress their teachers.

“Sometimes, in fear of losing marks or to make a good impression, kids do their project work to satisfy the school, but, it can also be a burden on kids as well as parents,” she said.

“My kids enjoy making projects and doing activities. They learn more things by making projects. Some kids enjoy projects and learn from it. Projects should definitely not to be banned from the school if it’s affordable to every parent.”