Principal's Message
Principal
Dear Parents,
A warm welcome to the new academic year 2025-2026!
School is a place where children can learn crucial skills that shape their future. They learn to learn, they explore concepts, form opinions and views about themselves and life, they learn to plan and work according to the plan, and they learn how to co-exist harmoniously in a diverse society.
One of the key dangers that face our children today is screen time. Through the lockdown period, students were online and had limitless access to gadgets such as computers, cell-phones, gaming devices, tablets and TV screens. Today, it is a struggle for parents to manage their child’s screen time, knowing it impacts their cognitive skills and attention, their social interactions and emotional regulation, and most importantly, their physical health and development at this crucial age. As much as the amount of time spent with screens is affecting them, so also is the content they are exposed to.
Some important data from global research says:
Children under 2 years should have no exposure or access to gadgets or screens. For ages 3 to 5 – less than 1 hour per day, and for ages 6-12 yrs, no more than 2 hours of recreational screen use. Over 12 years, screen time should be limited to 3 hours a day.
Too much can contribute to an increased risk of obesity, risky behaviors, sleep and attention problems, language development delays, eyestrain, anxiety, and depression.
Unhealthy screen habits include mindless scrolling, social media and cyberbullying, FOMO and unhealthy comparisons. Inappropriate content causes stress and confusion in children.
It may be tough to manage children already addicted to screen time. And yet, it is crucial that we develop the skills and approach necessary to guide children togood mental and physical healtl1.
Guidelines that are recommended worldwide are:
- Don’t allow your child to have a TV, computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone in his or her bedroom. This includes to charge them at night.
- Practice what you preach. If you don’t want your child tied to his or her electronics nonstop, then you should put yours away, too.
- Require more physical activity. Help your child remember how good it feels to run, jump, and play outdoors. Children need at least 30-60 minutes of physical activity daily.
- Make family mealtime a screen-free time. This encourages lively, dinnertime conversation that can expand your child’s interests.
- Multitask during screen time. If your child chooses to spend his or her two hours of screen time watching TV, have them do another activity as well. Lifting weights, folding clothes, jogging in place, and push-ups are all good ways to move and enjoy screen time.
- Eliminate screen time as an incentive or punishment. This puts too much emphasis on the activity.
- Consider limiting screen time to certain days of the week. The recommendation may be two hours per day, but less screen time isn’t going to hurt your child.
- Limit commercials and advertising. Encourage your children to mute TV commercials or skip internet advertising. TV commercials are a good time to get up and do something else for a few minutes, including drinking water, climbing the stairs, or completing parts of a household chore.
- Talk to your family about screen time. It’s important to establish a culture of healthy screen time habits and an expectation within your home.
Excess screen time and inappropriate content can lead to a number of mental health issues in children during these formative years. It is up to us as educators and parents to manage our children confidently and know that at the end, they will follow us. To children, their parents mean the world to them. For parents, children are their responsibility to bring up in a way that they have the best mental and physical advantage to manage their future. Do surf the internet for sites that guide screen time habits of children.
I look forward to working with you to help our children learn social skills, make good friends, study seriously, participate in activities, and handle distractions in a healthy way.
With Warm Regards,
Principal