– Reshma Ravishanker

The pandemic has redefined summer camps. What was once an activity that involved visiting and/or boarding at a scenic location or attending an art class in the neighborhood has now gone online.

From yoga to origami to handwriting, a growing number of students are signing up for summer classes online. Even as parents rue that online teaching has its own challenges, they are warming up to the idea of online summer camps.

Vignesh J. Kumar, a Rubik’s cube teacher, has many parents signing up their children for zoom classes of 45 minutes duration every day to ‘Learn a Rubik’s Cube at home’.

Similar posts of online summer classes are drawing an enthusiastic response from parents on parents’ Facebook and WhatsApp groups. For instance, on Wednesday, a large number of parents are inquiring about online workshops for English learning and mathematics bridge courses for higher primary and high school students.

Neha Ajmani, an associate manager in a life sciences company that is organizing an online summer camp, believes that physical activities can help children in times like this when they cannot venture out. “I am conducting classes for children in the 4-10 age group. They are the ones most difficult to manage at home. I have activities such as dance and aerobics. Through the year there has been little physical activity and classes such as these boost children’s motor development and help them de-stress,” she says.

Parents opine that against the backdrop of a massive surge in Covid-19 cases, enrolling children in online summer camps is a safer option than letting them play outside. “We had some plans to travel to another state. In the current situation, we do not see that happening. So far, every summer holiday, we have enrolled our daughter to learn different extra-curricular activities because that is a great time for her to hone her interests. This time it is different. We do not want her to leave the home because of the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. Online camps are a safer option than letting children venture out and/or watch television/play mobile games all day long,” said Sarita Raghav, parent of a Class VI student in Bengaluru. 

Also read: Smart alternatives for summer camps amid the coronavirus lockdown