{"id":6965,"date":"2026-09-24T12:15:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/?p=6965"},"modified":"2026-09-24T12:16:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:16:05","slug":"when-digital-compliance-takes-teachers-away-from-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/when-digital-compliance-takes-teachers-away-from-teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"When Digital Compliance Takes Teachers Away from Teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2712\ufe0f :. Firdous Ahmad Najar<\/em><\/strong>
Arin, Bandipora<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology has brought many new possibilities to education. Digital assignments, online assessments, learning applications, instant feedback and digital records can help teachers understand students’ learning and respond to their needs. When used properly, technology can save time and make teaching more effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But technology should remain a support for the teacher, not become another responsibility added to an already overburdened teacher. This question becomes especially important up to Class 8, where children are still largely dependent on their parents for access to smartphones, internet connectivity and guidance in using digital platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality in many rural and remote areas is very different from what is often assumed while designing digital programmes. Some students do not have smartphones or reliable internet access. In some families, one phone is shared by several members. Even when a smartphone is available, many children and parents do not know how to use educational applications properly. Knowing how to watch a video or use social media is very different from completing a digital assignment, uploading written work, responding to an assessment or understanding digital feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also the issue of parental responsibility. Some parents genuinely lack the digital knowledge needed to support their children. But in some cases, the problem is simply a lack of interest or attention towards the child’s learning. A teacher may repeatedly explain the importance of an activity, contact the parents and encourage them to participate, but still receive no response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This creates a serious problem when digital participation is made compulsory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teacher is expected to ensure that students complete assignments, assessments and feedback activities through different applications. But if the student has no phone, the parent does not provide access, the family does not have internet, the child does not know how to use the application or the parent simply does not cooperate, the teacher is still expected to produce the required digital response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens when the teacher’s genuine concerns are not listened to, but the teacher is instead blamed for the lack of response from students and parents?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teacher eventually looks for the easiest possible solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She substitutes herself for the student and, in some cases, even for the parent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of the child completing the activity, the teacher completes it. Instead of the parent responding, the teacher follows up repeatedly or manages the process herself. The digital record is completed, the target appears to have been achieved and the administration may see compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the purpose of the policy is weakened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A digital assignment completed by the teacher on behalf of the child is not evidence of digital learning. A digital assessment completed merely to satisfy a target is not meaningful assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where technology can lose its original objective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is not that teachers are unwilling to use technology. In fact, teachers are often the first people to encourage parents and children to use educational technology. The problem arises when the teacher is made responsible for conditions that are outside her control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A teacher can explain the importance of an application. She can train a child to use it. She can sensitise parents. She can remind them. She can even visit homes where necessary. But she cannot provide every family with a smartphone, internet connection, digital literacy and parental commitment from her own resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the administration genuinely wants digital education to achieve its intended objectives, the responsibility cannot begin and end with the teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the basic conditions must be created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every family expected to participate should have access to a suitable smartphone and reliable internet connectivity. Students and parents should be properly sensitised and trained in the purpose, importance and use of the applications. They should understand how to access assignments, submit responses, participate in assessments and use feedback. There should also be a practical alternative for children who cannot participate digitally because of circumstances beyond their control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only after these conditions are reasonably ensured can digital participation be expected from families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a deeper contradiction in the way we sometimes approach digital learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the physical classroom, we are increasingly encouraged to recognise the diversity of learners. Teachers are told that every child learns differently, that children have different abilities, backgrounds, learning speeds and needs, and that teaching must therefore be differentiated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is absolutely correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if we recognise this diversity inside the classroom, we cannot suddenly forget it when children move to a digital platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The child who needs additional support in the classroom may also need additional support online. The child whose parents cannot use an application cannot be treated in the same way as the child whose parents are digitally literate. The child without a smartphone cannot be placed in the same category as the child with unlimited access to a device and internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we accept diversity in classroom learning, we must accept the same diversity in digital learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Otherwise, we are asking teachers to practise differentiated teaching in the classroom while expecting uniform digital participation from every child at home. That is a contradiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation becomes even more serious in rural schools where there is already an acute shortage of teachers. A teacher may be responsible for several classes, multiple subjects and a large number of students. She already has to teach, assess, maintain records, prepare reports, attend training, perform administrative duties and communicate with parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much more can we reasonably expect from the same teacher?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a teacher is already struggling to provide meaningful face-to-face teaching because of insufficient staff, adding the responsibility of monitoring every child’s digital participation, contacting parents, solving technical problems and ensuring online compliance may take even more time away from the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an important point that policymakers and administrators need to consider: a teacher’s time is not unlimited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every hour spent chasing a missing digital response is an hour that cannot be spent planning a lesson, helping a struggling child, checking written work, conducting an activity, or providing individual attention in the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, technology should be introduced in a way that gives teachers more time and better information for teaching, not in a way that takes them further away from teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of a digital system should not be to produce impressive numbers of completed assignments or feedback entries. The purpose should be to improve learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A school may report that almost every child has completed a digital activity. But the more important questions are: Did the child complete it independently? Did the child understand it? Did the feedback help the child improve? Was the parent actually involved? Did the activity help the teacher teach better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the answer to these questions is no, then digital compliance has been achieved without achieving digital learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution is not to reject technology. Technology has an important place in modern education. The solution is to introduce it according to the realities of children, families, teachers and schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology should reduce unnecessary work, not create another layer of work. It should help teachers identify learning needs, not make them responsible for producing responses from families who are unable or unwilling to participate. It should support assessment, not turn assessment into another administrative target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, administration must listen to teachers before judging implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teachers are the people who know what happens after an instruction reaches the classroom. They know which families have smartphones, which children have connectivity, which parents respond, which children need help and how much time a new requirement actually consumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If teachers repeatedly report that students cannot participate because of lack of devices, internet access, digital skills or parental cooperation, these concerns should be treated as implementation information, not simply as excuses for poor compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teacher should not become the substitute for an entire system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ultimate purpose of education is not to generate digital records but to help children understand, think, communicate, solve problems and develop confidence. Technology can assist this process, but the most useful question for every digital education policy should therefore be simple: Does this technology help the teacher teach better, or does it give the teacher another responsibility to manage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it saves time, improves assessment and helps the teacher understand students better, it deserves a place in education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if it requires a teacher, already working in an understaffed rural school, to chase students, persuade parents, solve access problems, manage applications, collect responses and finally complete digital activities herself, then we are not strengthening teaching. We are adding another burden to the teacher’s shoulders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology should carry some of the teacher’s load, not make the teacher carry the load of the technology, the student and the parent as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The success of digital education should ultimately be measured not by how much technology we have introduced, but by whether it has helped teachers teach better and children learn better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer can be reached at njfirdous090@gmail.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2712\ufe0f :. Firdous Ahmad NajarArin, Bandipora Technology has brought many new possibilities to education. Digital assignments, online assessments, learning applications, instant feedback and digital records can help teachers understand students’ learning and respond to their needs. When used properly, technology can save time and make teaching more effective. But technology should remain a support for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6966,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6965\/revisions\/6966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}