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