Category : COVID-19 | Sub Category : Lockdown Posted on 2020-08-14 05:06:45
Covid-19 has forced universities
across India, and the world indeed, to suspend physical teaching in full
classrooms and shift to individual online classes. In India, while this
transition has been comparatively smooth for some teachers and students, some
of them are still adapting. Changes in the nature of classes, and the future of
examination and evaluation, COVID-19 has changed the scenario for the Indian
Education System.
While faculty grapples with new
ways of managing this sudden transition to online education, students are left
clinging on to their mobile phones and computer screens in want of a stable
connection to attend classes and do assignments. These changes adapt to the
role of Educator’s teaching methods as well as they normally judge the
involvement of students through their behaviour in classrooms but with virtual
platforms, such benefits are non-existent.
However, while technology is
enabling, it can also be limiting, especially in India, where basic access is a
challenge with every student not having a computer or fast-streaming internet
at home. This leads to issues with attendance and participation in online
sessions. A survey by IIT Kanpur revealed that 9.3 per cent of its 2,789
students were not able to download material sent by the institute or study
online. Only 34.1 per cent of them had internet connection good enough for
streaming real-time lectures. With such limitations, there is an entire section
of students coming from remote areas or enrolled in public schools who are
facing a lot of loss in their educational journeys.
Online Education whether it is
on the school-level or the Higher Education levels, both face a huge milestone
to effectively have that connection where the students adequately learn from
the online lectures. Some Advantages of Online Education at such times include:
But the beauty of class-room
learning does get paused with physical interaction with professors which may
also cause a few disadvantages such as:
Thus a combined strategy and
effort of Universities and the government in this regard will go a long way in
calming the nerves of our students. More so, for the final year students who
are waiting to get their degrees to start their careers. With effective online
teaching, regular attendance and online seminars would help keep the students motivated
and enthusiastic.
With close to 1 billion students
globally looking up to the combine of academia-governments-corporates, it is
time to step up and devise solutions that help us beat this pandemic and emerge
stronger and victorious. It is high time we shield our students from this
unfortunate turn of events and guide our leaders of tomorrow to a road to
uninterrupted learning and employment opportunities.