LEC052039.SAIGA SUSAN THODATHIL. " Education and its Pandemic Re-definitions".

 

Education and its Pandemic Re-definitions

There have been various definitions for education. The Oxford English dictionary defines education as “a process of teaching, training, and learning, especially in schools or colleges, to improve knowledge and develop skills” (Education). According to Mahatma Gandhi, education means “an all-round drawing out of the best in child, man-body, mind, and spirit”. In the present scenario, the pandemic, COVID-19 has been redefining all these notions of Education. Over across centuries, pandemics had influenced the social lives of people and redefined the culture of society. Similarly, COVID-19 created an impact on almost all sectors in the world. The education sector had undergone a severe change after its emergence and brought about a change in the student- teacher- parent experiences, administrational experience and governmental policies within the country; redefining the traditional definitions of Education. This essay excavates the recent trends and re-definitions undertaken by the Education sector in the wake of the Pandemic.

COVID-19 has hampered the education of students and redefined the student experiences within the country. It created a digital upsurge in the entire education sector. It has worked as a catalyst for educational institutions to grow and opt for platforms and techniques, which have not been used before. The pandemic has brought about a shift in the centuries-old, chalk–talk teaching model to one driven by technology. Students are immensely affected by this sudden shift in education. The closure of schools has serious implications on the daily nutrition of students as the mid-day meal schemes have temporarily been shut. Various studies have pointed out that mid-day meals are also an important contributing factor for increased enrolment in schools. On the same hand, many students may not be able to afford computers, laptops, or supporting mobile phones in their homes, or have limited or no internet access, leading to a digital divide between students. The lockdown has hit poor students severely in India and most of them find it difficult to explore online learning. Though it is an exceptional situation in the history of education, the shift from the classroom teaching model to a new era of the digital model enhances the gap between rich/poor and urban/rural. On the same hand, Children are facing unprecedented levels of anxiety due to social distancing, self-isolation, and online studies in these times.

In the same way, the pandemic has redefined the teaching experiences within the country. As everything became online, information became readily available just a click away. Therefore, there occurred a shift in the role of a teacher from that of a 'knowledge-giver' to one of a ‘facilitator’. The teachers’ ability to engage students in debate and discussion, to mentor and coach, and to inspire and motivate is difficult to replicate in the online format. It is difficult to replicate peer learning, participation in extracurricular activities and sports, experiential learning, development of emotional quotient and leadership ability. Face-to-face interaction faded away and classes were given to students via the internet, delivered lectures, or through live video conferencing using different Apps like Zoom, Google meets, YouTube, or Skype. Not all teachers or students are good at it or at least not all of them were ready for this sudden transition from face-to-face learning to online learning. Many teachers are unqualified when it comes to using new technologies and interfaces.

Therefore, the pandemic has encouraged all teachers, parents, and students to become more technology savvy. The situation induced people to learn and use digital technology and resulted in increasing digital literacy. It became a need for the educators to bring in the element of interactivity and collaboration in their e-learning modules to keep students engaged. Parent-teacher interactions also undertook a change, parents’ meetings got transformed to online meets and what’s app groups. Some educated parents can guide but some may not have the adequate level of education needed to teach children in the house.

Altogether, the pandemic has redefined the functioning of educational institutions. There aroused a need for the digitalization of businesses in the educational sector. In the wake of the pandemic, conferences and seminars got transformed into webinars, virtual meetings, and e-conferencing opportunities. The situation demands a quality benchmark for online learning programs offered by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in India because of the rapid growth of online learning platforms.

Besides, the pandemic initiated new educational government policies within the country. The government brought in new policies to support students. These include the use of electronic media to ensure learning continuity for students, as some state governments have been working with media partners such as Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) to broadcast virtual classes and educational content through their regional channels. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has made several arrangements, including online portals and educational channels through Direct to Home TV, and Radios for students to continue learning. Some of the digital initiatives of MHRD for secondary as well as higher education during COVID-19 are Diksha portal, National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) portal, and Swayam Prabha. Some significant issues associated with distance learning strategies like the availability and access to digital devices with internet connectivity, the need for safe learning spaces, engaging lesson plans for disabled students and other marginalized groups should be addressed by Govt. and the stakeholders. Online education and NEP 2020 are said to create a great impact on the student population in the country. If e-learning is the “new normal”, the policy must go further to address the feasibility of digitalization to ensure equity and quality in education.

COVID-19 has an immense impact on the education sector of India and has brought about re-definitions in the mode of teaching, student-teacher-parent interactions, administration, and educational policies. Instead of drawing the “best out of every child, man-body, mind, and spirit”, the new mode of Education drains out a lot of energy and creates mental stress within students. Though the Indian Govt. and different stakeholders of education have explored the possibility of Open and Distance learning (ODL) by adopting different digital technologies to cope up with the present crisis of COVID-19, it is still posing several challenges in front of the students as well as parents. India is not fully equipped to make education reach all corners of the nation via digital platforms. The priority should be to utilize digital technology to create an advantageous position for millions of young students in India.

 

 

                                       WORKS CONSULTED

Gandhi, Sunitha. India Today. “Year-ender 2020: How Covid-19 pandemic affected education sector” https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/featurephilia/story/year-ender-2020-how-covid-19-pandemic-affected-education-sector/ Accessed on 28 Dec 2020.

 

Choudhary, Riya. “Impact of Pandemic COVID-19 on Education in India”. https://government.economictimes.India times.com/news/education/covid-19-pandemic-impact-and-strategies-for-education-sector-in-india/75173099/ Accessed on July 2020.

 

Modi, Sushma. Ronika Postario. “How COVID-19 deepens the digital education divide in India”. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/how-covid-19-deepens-the-digital-education-divide-in-india/Accessed on 5 Oct 2020.