Schools are telling parents to reduce screen time

Schools are telling parents to reduce screen time.
While making screens mandatory for everything.

I need to say this, even if it’s unpopular: EdTech is selling Indian schools a lie. And parents are paying the price.

Here’s what’s happening in homes across India every single night…

A mother sits with her 7th grader at 8 pm. The child opens the school portal to check homework. Then logs into the learning app because “ma’am said we have to finish this module.”

Then switches to WhatsApp – there are three class groups, and she needs to confirm tomorrow’s test syllabus.

Then YouTube because the physics teacher shared a tutorial link. Then back to the school app because there’s a notice about annual day.

The mother looks at the clock. Two hours. Her daughter has been on screens for two straight hours. Just to complete what school assigned.

The next week, at the parent-teacher meeting, this same mother gets told: “Please reduce your child’s screen time. It’s affecting her concentration.”

The irony is crushing.

EdTech made life easier after c*vid – automated attendance, organized assignments, reduced paperwork.

Schools loved the convenience.
Teachers appreciated the efficiency.

But we forgot to ask: easier for whom?

Because right now, Indian parents are juggling various platforms for attendance and fees, classroom apps for assignments and notes,

Students are told: submit every assignment digitally. Revise on apps. Watch tutorials online. Check notifications constantly.

Then we blame them for being addicted.

I’m not anti-technology. If an app genuinely helps a child understand trigonometry or makes organic chemistry finally click – use it.

But when EdTech replaces real teaching, when homework becomes screen time by default, when parents need ten logins just to track their child’s school life, when childhood becomes a constant stream of notifications and deadlines?

Then EdTech serves EdTech. Not children.

Are Indian schools genuinely preparing kids for the future or just creating customers for EdTech companies?