China bans usage of apps like WeChat for assigning homework to students

Chinese government has formally banned usage of messaging applications for teaching purposes in one of its regions. The applications like WeChat were previously being used by teachers for tasks like assigning homework to the students.

According to a statement from a regional Ministry of Education in China, the teachers are being asked to not prefer apps like WeChat and QQ for teaching-related purposes. Over the course of past few years, China has seen an exponentially increasing trend of electronics and tech-gadgets being used for daily life use-cases. Now, the Chinese government wants to limit use of such applications in the classrooms and at homes.

Previously, the teachers had started using these applications to levy a lot of load on the parents of the students.. Now, the initiative will encourage to physically involve more in the pedagogy procedures and relieve the parents from such duties.

This instruction is in connection with an earlier guideline from the Chinese government, TechCrunch reports. Several departments of the Chinese government had earlier prepared a draft to limit the use of screen-intensive devices among the early-age students to decrease the chances of stress and health-related issues.

China is experiencing a digital boom like never before and the usage of smartphones is getting way too mainstream. A very popular example for this scenario is the trend of using mobile wallets which is now being used even for making everyday transactions. The question here being that as the society gets more inclined towards using screen-intensive devices, can the associated health issues pose a problem in the times to come?