Negligence In The Virtual Learning Environment- Analysis Of The Duty Of Care And Challenges To Its Application
- IJLLR Journal
- Jul 13
- 2 min read
Ambika Harishankar, B.A. LL.B., Symbiosis Law School, Noida
ABSTRACT
A significant shift in the educational landscape that particularly made its mark worldwide during the pandemic, online education has, ever since, continued to hold relevance as a new mode of education. The virtual learning environment, involving the online platform or tool used for teaching, learning and sharing material, the educational institution, the teachers, and the students, comes with its own set of risks. From the possibility of these risks stems a legal duty of care vested with those involved in imparting education virtually to reasonably try to prevent these. When problems do arise, some can be attributed to breaches of this duty of care. This legal duty of care, its breach and consequential damage is the foundation upon which the tort of negligence stands. Therefore, while discussing the duty of care of those involved in a virtual learning environment, the key legal question is whether, and when, an actionable claim for negligence can be brought against those who can be considered under law to have had the duty to take care, and breached it. This paper analyses this question by correlating the care to be taken and possible instances of its breach in a virtual learning environment with the essentials required to be fulfilled for a valid claim of tortious negligence. This study begins by identifying the risks involved in the conduct and management of a virtual learning setup, to ascertain the associated duty of care and who owes this duty. This will be correlated with the standard and degree of care generally required, the standard and degree of care that can be reasonably expected and practically possible in a virtual setup, and when the said duty of care can be said to have been reasonably met. The last step in this study is to ascertain whether and when, in such a case, the threshold of damage can be fulfilled to constitute actionable negligence.
