Worldwide more than 1.6 billion children in 191 countries were affected by school closures due to the ongoing coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic [1]. Most countries including India, limited the disruption in education by shifting to remote learning. With re-opening in full flow, when to reopen the schools is under increasing focus, we conducted this survey to assess parental perspectives on remote learning as an acceptable tool for learning, the stress perceived by them on the child and the family, and their willingness regarding school reopening.

We designed and disseminated a questionnaire on Google Forms, to the teacher groups associated with the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, with a request to share it with the parent groups. Parents across India, whose children were receiving remote learning and who agreed to participate were included. Parents of children with special educational needs were excluded. The responses were received between 17-31 July, 2020. Information was obtained about the type of school and class of the child, remote learning mode, the source used, and duration of remote learning in hours per day and days per week. Parental perception of stress due to remote learning was also collected. Any physical or psychological problem developed during the period, and their willingness to send children to the school, if it reopens, were also collected.

Out of the 2694 respondents, 2383 (88.5%) were from urban areas; 2444 (90.7%) were attending private schools. The source of remote learning was a mobile phone in 1697 (63%). An interactive, live video class was attended by 2171 (80.6%) children. The mean (SD) duration of remote learning was 3.2 (2.1) hours per day and 5.3 (1.0) days per week. The advantages of remote learning (multiple responses allowed) were listed as: safe in the pandemic (89.9%), helps to maintain connect with school (61.6%), not losing out in studies (63.1%), and no need to travel (38.7%). The disadvantages were listed as: causes headache and eye strain (61.7%), does not feel like a real class (60.4%), no physical activity involved (59.5%), hard to maintain concentration (57.1%), needs home environment adjustments (40.8%), and an extra financial burden (30.3%).

Remote learning was perceived to be stressful for the child by 2032 (75.4%) parents while 1902 (70.6%) felt it is stressful for the family. The problems which children developed: eye problems (44.8%), irritability and behavioural issues (42.7%), disturbed sleep (41.8%), headache (34.8%), weight gain (32.5%), decreased appetite (16.7%), bodyache (13.7%) and change in bowel habit (12.7%). Overall, 1946 (72.2%) parents were not ready for school reopening soon.

Similar to a previous survey from US [2] reporting 56% of parents complaining about the affection of the emotional well-being of their children and 52% of the family; parents in this study perceived stress badly. We found the duration of remote learning was higher than that suggested in the Pragayta guidelines and could be an important source of stress not only to the child but also the family (Table I). It may lead to prolonged screen time, increased demand, and sharing of devices and data among the family members.