‘Zoom app unsafe’: Ludhiana education dept, schools switch to WhatsApp

Move comes after MHA asked govt officials not to use Zoom app for holding meetings, citing it unsafe and prone to hacking; teachers say WhatsApp not very useful

After the ministry of home affairs (MHA) asked government officials not to use Zoom video meet app for holding meetings citing it unsafe, the district education officer, secondary, has also switched to WhatsApp conference calling. According to the ministry, the software of the US-based app is said to be made in China and is prone to hacking as some calls are routed through the eastern Asian country.

While Zoom app allows teachers to address multiple students together, WhatsApp limits it to four persons in a video conference call. So teachers are recording their lessons and sending them via the messaging app. (HT Photo)

For the past three weeks amid the lockdown, the officials have been holding meetings with school heads and teachers through Zoom app. After the MHA’s direction, even the schools have stopped holding online classes through the app and are sending the assignments and recorded videos to the students through WhatsApp.

However, many teachers are of the view that WhatsApp is not as useful as Zoom. Zoom conference allowed them to hold online classes for a batch of 30 to 40 students for two to three hours, however, it is not possible with WhatsApp, which allows maximum of four people to go live at one point of time, they rued.

Ishita Sharma, a private school teacher, said, “I teach Class 8 and 9 students. I used to take three-hour session with the students through Zoom app and was even able to clear their doubts. It allowed us to cover the syllabus conveniently. Now that we have switched to WhatsApp, we are recording the lectures and replying to the queries of students through the messaging app. This is time-consuming and not very useful. There is a need to come up with a new software or app, which is totally safe to use.”

District education officer (DEO), secondary, Swaranjit Kaur, said, “To interact with school principals, I have been holding meetings with them through Zoom app since March 23. I have now switched to WhatsApp conference call after the ministry’s guideline.”

Principal of Green Land Senior Secondary School, Jalandhar Bypass, Baldeep Pandher, said, “A few teachers were using Zoom app for holding online classes, but not so actively. Majority of them were already using similar Microsoft software. Now that the hacking concern has come to the fore, we will discontinue the use of this software for online classes.”