Virtual Education During Pandemic

namaste all of you

on march 16 2020 sri narendra modiji

announced a lockdown throughout the

country overnight

the schools had to be shut and all the

plans

envisioned by the schools be dropped in

a

report by the world economic forum

by the end of march 2020 there were

about 1.2 billion

students who were affected by this

pandemic

and their education was disrupted

out of which 26 percent of students

were from india alone this

is a very startling number

fearing further disruption in education

schools had to now look out for

alternate solutions

as to how they could reach the students

technology was something that was

entwined in our lives and even during

the physical

functioning of the schools educational

apps were being used

even before covet

use of educational apps to augment

learning

was not something that schools were not

aware of

but remote learning was a concept that

not many schools were prepared for

nor were aware of so

now the question was the facts were

right in front of us

the cobit scare was intensifying

and the lockdown had to be extended

schools now had to rise to the occasion

to reach out to the students

what was the solution in front of them

it was only

virtual mode but having said this

where the schools having enough

resources

enough infrastructure to take this

virtual learning mode

on trigger this was a question that we

had to answer

where the teachers trained enough the

infrastructure in place

so there were a lot of questions moving

out throughout the

globe despite all the fears and

challenges

the schools embraced the situation and

rose to the occasion so beautifully

all the teachers across the globe came

together virtually

to help out through lots of webinars and

conferences

to discuss new ideas and methods and to

discuss about the challenges that arised

out of the implementation

and the solutions that can be taken out

the students

so the schools had to deploy deploy a

lot of

resources technical expertise

in place to set up these systems so that

virtual learning could

reach students back at home

but the question was where the teachers

ready for this kind of a transition

where the schools ready for this kind of

a transition

where the parents the students and the

stakeholders involved

ready for this kind of a transition but

what was the other

alternative if not for virtual learning

so teachers were trained lot of time

and energy was invested into

getting on to the online mode adapting

to this new situation

initially though it was difficult for

the teachers to adapt

but they understood the requirements of

the learners

and rose to the occasion educators from

across the globe

met virtually and expert resources

were available immediately in the

pandemic time

because connecting virtually was easy

and convenient

so it was really beautiful to see how

these

educators from across the globe came

together

to work towards this one common goal of

sustaining learning now with the systems

in place

the schools ready for this kind of a

transition and the teachers prepared

were the students ready to accept this

change now that was a question

students of the 21st century are tech

savvy

they love everything to do about

technology

but were they ready for online mode this

was a question mark

it was initially easy for

students to come to digital learning

because they were excited about the

digital experience

now the question raised was

whether the learning was engaging and

interesting for the child

if technology was used only to

replace a conventional class with a

video lecture

this did not reap benefits

and the learning suffered in such kind

of schools

but where schools had invested time and

energy in training their teachers

to make learning more creative more

engaging

and more interesting and giving that

personalized experience for the child

the attendance in these kind of schools

improved over a period of time

and the retention of the students also

improved

there were many students who enrolled

for online classes over the pandemic

now that the students were into the

online mode of learning

the question was about the parents the

parents

were stuck and were really

had they didn’t have any idea as to how

the learning would continue for the

students

for their children because the schools

were not to reopen in the new near

future

but in fact they were surprised and very

happy to see how schools embrace the

situation

and immediately adapted to this

transition and

brought out the new way of learning and

reached out to the students

parents enrolled their students in the

online classes

and few of them who did not for the

fears of misusing

internet social media and

for for you know the effects on their

physical health

due to prolonged exposure to digital

devices

homeschooled them but not everybody had

the resources

and the expertise to homeschool their

students

if we look at the indian context

more than 70 percent of the students are

actually in

enrolled into government schools those

are the public schools

the state and the central governments

took up many initiatives to cope with

the learning

loss during the pandemic they had

launched programs like diksha

and e-learning platform mode where

e-content was available for grades

1 to 12. for the

remotest of places where there was no

internet connectivity

32 dth channels were launched

to broadcast recorded sessions and a

separate channel for differently abled

students

over the television but even where

television was not available

it was very difficult to reach out to

the students

in fact they made use of a program

called shikshavani

where audio content lessons were

broadcasted

over radio and podcasting

despite all these efforts taken by the

government

it was impossible to reach out to few

students in the remotest of areas

in a 2019 government survey it is said

that

around 24 percent of the households only

have access to proper

internet and four percent from the rural

areas

so with this understood due to the lack

of

internet connectivity and the lack of

good digital infrastructure

learning suffered in these areas

now there was a fear of a huge digital

divide

now this digital divide depend and

there was this divide between the rich

and the poor and the developed and the

underdeveloped countries

so if this online education has to

continue in the future

governments have to invest a lot of

time and money into bringing up good

infrastructure

good digital infrastructure and

improving internet

and providing internet to the remotest

areas

enrollment in government schools is

close to 70 percent now now that the

remote learning was in place

there was a serious concern that was

popping out

parents started reporting cases of

aggression of depression coming out of

loneliness

because the students were confined to

their homes

for a longer period of time and they had

very

less physical activity and boredom was

set in so they had to reach out to the

schools

and schools employed professional

expertise to provide

individual and group counseling sessions

for the students

in fact attempts were also made by few

schools to arrange some form of physical

activity

and meditation classes to help students

come out

of their loneliness so

this was a major concern and the

government of

india had launched a program called

manodarpan

which is a psychosocial support for the

mental health and well-being of the

students

during the kobit pandemic

technology if used in a wise way can

reap us a lot of benefits

but if technology is used only to

replace a conventional classroom

with a video lecture the learning will

suffer

so it gets its you credit only if

learning can be made more engaging more

creative

and customized to the learner

now for paramita this pandemic has been

a blessing in disguise

for us it was an opportunity to train

our teachers

to set lot of systems in place to

talk to our parents and students and

talk about the work that we have done

and how schools of such resilience can

turn

every challenge into an opportunity

whether pandemic or no pandemic schools

have to be prepared

to embrace new ideas and methods

where schools will be transformed into

learning spaces

where children are able to discover

their true potential

if now that a new normal in education

has been defined the new

education model where learning will

happen

with technology blended are we all

prepared for this kind of an education

in future

if governments have to continue this

and take it to the remotest of the

places there is a huge investment that

needs to be

happened so

this pandemic was like a time machine

that took us travelled through the

through 10 years down the line

for us we feel more empowered the

teachers are empowered

so with better skilled teachers in place

and with improved resources we collect

the profound experiences

of the pandemic era and we step into the

post pandemic

era with a lot of confidence and

conviction

that learning can be personalized can be

made creative

can be made interesting and engaging for

the child

so let’s all work towards this new

normal in education

thank you very much