E-education: A Challenging task for India

  




The impact of the pandemic has been severe. It has literally pushed us in those corners where we may have feared going. It has led us into adapting changes which we had safeguarded for the future. And it has also exposed our shortcomings in many aspects. Its time to pull up our socks. Education remains a very important sector which has been directly impacted. Educational system around the world has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The nasty virus led to the closure of schools, universities and colleges. These worldwide closures impacted over 91 percent of the world’s student population.



According to one of the latest surveys, about 1.277 billion learners are currently affected due to school closures. According to UNICEF,  46 countries implemented nationwide closures and 27 implemented local closures, which means 72.9 percent of the world's student population got impacted directly. Despite the fact that schools in 72 countries remained open, the whole 'fear from the deadly virus' scenario impacted more than 157 crore students across 191 countries.




India and Education

The current pandemic has not only adversely affected the economy in India, but the education sector also. In India, more than 32 crore students have been affected by the various restrictions and the nationwide lockdown, which was imposed by our Prime Minister in the 3rd week of March, 2020. Approximately 60.2 million school teachers and university lecturers did not attend class during this time and e-education was the only saviour. 



Research reveals that online learning proved to be successful during pandemic. Students were quick to adapt to online classes and it saved their time as well. It has also been noticed that ever since the pandemic started, usage of apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tool, online software etc. have been in utmost demand.



Here, I will not hesitate in saying that the digital learning is our future. And its not new normal because even before COVID 19, the growth and adoption of education technology has attained its secure place. It was accepted with open hearts during these times. In my view, investment in education and technology must go to the next level as its liking and acceptance by students is on a rise. 
Wang Tao, Vice President of Tencent Cloud and Vice President of Tencent Education says that the integration of information technology will be further accelerated and that online education will eventually become an integral component of school education.




Challenges of Online Education


Let us run through the challenges of online education system to make it more viable. 



There are number of students who have no reliable internet access. There are many teachers who not fully confident about adoption of technology to participate in digital learning. Although virtual lectures or portals like 'Massive Open Online Courses' are being arranged by the teachers and school management in order to establish communication with students, there is a huge gap between physical classrooms and proper digital infrastructure. In addition to this, only 24% of Indian families have an internet facility, says the latest report. Reason is obvious. Sixty-six percent of India’s population lives in villages out of which only a little over 15% of rural families have access to internet services. For urban families, the proportion is 42%. In this way, how can India compete with other countries like Switzerland, Norway and Austria wherein 95% of students have computer to use for their school works.




Another important aspect is access to electricity, the most basic requirement for digital education. But as per OECD, thousands of Indian villages receive only 12 hours or less electricity a day – because of distribution companies’ inefficiencies.  And of course, we know the deeper causes for this but let us ignore them for now. 


 
Financial constraints in procuring a high-speed Internet connection or other basic requirements is another obstacle in digitalization of education in India. Many poverty-stricken families fail to provide for essentials for their children, how will they provide for internet. The more we look into the challenges in the digitalization of education in semi-urban and rural areas of India, it unveils many disparities of our society. 


 

Lack of skills among teachers in rural areas is also a reason that affects the spread of digital education. Since the teachers themselves are not trained to use digital platforms, we often see resistance in adopting these methods of education. About 85% of the Indian population does not speak English. Lack of availability of quality content in Hindi and regional languages also leads to slow rate of adoption of these online courses.


 


 Reopening of Schools

The center has framed a plan to reopen schools and other educational institutions in phase wise manner w.e.f. October to 14 November, 2020. States of India have full autonomy to take their own decisions as far as reopening of schools and colleges are concerned.  As a result, many States have denied reopening of schools while a few have begun to take the risk, with proper implementation of precautionary measures and guidelines set by HRD ministry. Taking parents ‘consent will be must for children attending school. This is a concern of safety and everyone must be vigilant. It is essential that the safety procedures are strictly adhered to. Mask, sanitizer and social distancing should be followed by all. For this, teachers, school authorities, district administration and parents will have to move together. 


 
While we begin to reopen schools, we must solve our online education challenges side by side, so that we are well prepared for future challenges, if any. We have to accept the fact that the pandemic has come as a learning too. The government will have to bear the burden of additional expenditure in order to meet out the demand for a new set-up. We all have to take up this implementation challenge as a serious concern.
 


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