Impact of COVID-19 on Indian Education

 

In January 2020, for most of the Indians COVID-19 was a disease that was creating news outside the country. At that time no one could have predicted that a virus was going to change our lives forever. In the month of March (2020)  after the confirmation of few COVID cases in big cities like Delhi and Mumbai, our government suddenly called for complete lockdown in the country. Complete lockdown meant that everyone was locked inside their houses. So now everything had to be done from houses itself. There were various questions that were to be answered. People had no idea about how to operate for their jobs and businesses, it was the time, when  we  saw the sudden and smooth shift towards the online mode of communication and functioning.

Like any other domain of society, education system also had to shift to online methods. Initially this change posed a lot of problems for the students as well as for  the teachers. As reported in  the year 2020 , India has about 65% of its population living in rural areas and it was tough to provide adequate facilities of internet connection to these areas because of poor connectivity and lack of government investments. Also most people in our country cannot afford the expensive gadgets that are required to connect online. This was the first challenge that was faced for online education. The lack of facilities in the rural areas lead  to a greater division  between the rich and poor. And there is a huge difference between the kind of education that is received by government  schools in comparison to the private ones.

Secondly, the shift to virtual classes was very sudden and transforming. It was tough for the teachers to shift to the online classes from their traditional way of delivering face to face lectures. In online classes it becomes tough to have interactive sessions for the teachers  also the students lack enthusiasm in the virtual mode because of their monotonous regime in the lockdown. There were many another challenge like finding ways to conduct examinations, inability to conduct activities etc. However, the silver lining during this time was that these challenges opened doors to explore new ways of learning. This opened opportunities to integrate new technological advances with the already existing ways of learning. The increased awareness about internet has helped the students in our country understand the importance of various domains of technology. Online learning increased the collaborative work. Now students can easily learn from people who were unapproachable in offline mode. Online meeting can be held easily from one place to any other place in the world. And this helps to offer the much-needed exposure to students. Another positive impact of the pandemic that has been observed is that now the students have begun to utilize their time efficiently. Since there are still restrictions on movements, students do not have to waste their time in travelling and other activities outside their houses. Thus, it can be seen that students are managing their time own their own and this is a really  an important skill for their successful life ahead.

Pandemic also forced most of the students  to get familiar with the advancements in technology. So now the students understand the importance of education. Also, the shift to the online, forced our government to initiate the establishment of internet connections in
rural areas and the government has been successful in reaching various remote areas. Also, the digital shift has forced the government and various organizations of the country to introduce schemes for education to the poor and deprived classes and this will help in narrowing the gap between rich and poor. So along with posing challenges, the shift to online education has somehow managed to create positive impacts on the society and the final takeaway that we can see is that the online education has helped us in exploring different domains of knowledge and will lead to the exposure & empowerment of each individual.