Suffering Education System during COVID 19 - Harseerat Kaur Bal

Introduction​

This pandemic not only affecting the economic sector of the country but also the educational sector as well. This pandemic disrupts the education system in a country which is a critical determinant of the economic future of a country. In this pandemic government across the country began to shut down all the schools and colleges temporarily in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. It has been two months since the schools and colleges are shut down but there is no certainty when they will reopen. This will affect the educational sector at large .This is a crucial time for the whole educational system because all the entrance exams, nursery admission and results are declared during this period but now due to coronavirus everything is delayed. As now days and weeks are passing without any immediate solution to stop the spread of coronavirus, this will not only have a short period impact on learning of young minds but also a greater impact on economic and societal conditions of the country. Now in the time of this pandemic an alternative method for continuing studies is adopted by our educational sector that alternative is known as e-learning program. Most of the governmental and nongovernmental schools are adopting this methodology now so that their study programs shouldn’t delay and everything goes on time as scheduled.

Objectives

1. What is e-learning and how it is operated

2. E-learning in schools and colleges

3. Positive aspects f e-learning

4. Negative aspects of e learning

WHAT IS E LEARNING AND HOW IT IS OPERATED

E learning or homeschooling or online classes are measures adopted by the educational sector during this period of pandemic. Through this the educational institute operates the education of students through online mode. This method is adopted by various websites and applications through which students can attend the class and after the teachers send work to students through e-mails or whatsapp groups as pdfs and students have to complete them in a given time and send it back to the teacher by various methods. In this era of technology this virtual mode of education succeeds at large. Although it has various side effects and shortcomings that can’t be neglected. In this the teachers took classes through applications like zoom, Google classroom and various other apps. Students are also asked to submit their assessments and other important documents through online mode. Syllabus or any other materials regarding studies have been made available by the concerned teachers. Online tests of students are conducted by various methods.

E-LEARNING in SCHOOLS and UNIVERSITIES

Online education is a result of the digital world which brings a lot to the learning table starting from pre schools to the higher level; institutions. Closing mm’ of schools during this pandemic does not mean a break from studies .Teachers of government schools are volunteering to reach the students through whatsapp groups to engage them in study through online mode. Government of the country is doing various measures to continue the education. There are several PROGRAMMES such as SHAGUN ONLINE JUNCTION, E- PATHSHALA, VEDANTU etc. are LAUNCHED .these programmers are launched or help students from 1st to 12th class? Most of the private schools and colleges have launched their own portal. On that portal students are provided with notes and videos according to the topics. Educational institutions have every time considered educational apps or digital learning as a supplementary tool and have difficulty in maintaining it, mostly due to not having fully understood its efficiency. But now the situation has given a push up and accelerates the adoption of online education. For the first time the government of India has offered universities to give their degrees online. Online education also helps to accelerate digitalization in India. Education is going to digital in the foreseeable future and with the right infrastructure.

Positive aspects of e-learning

During the time of COVID19 technology has turned into a boon for students and everyone .Various digital platforms take initiative to continue the studies of students during the lockdown.

● The first advantage of e-learning in this pandemic is that it helps to maintain the social distance and study from their homes.

● It helps students to understand better as in the modern era of technology everyone is dependent on virtual mode for staying in contact or to talk similarly now they rely on virtual mode for their studies.

● It is beneficial for students to retain the learned things through virtual mode as all the things are represented by visuals. We all know in human brains visuals give more impact than anything else.

● One more thing that makes it a better platform is that recordings of teacher and notes are available for 24*7. Students can access the material anytime they want. If they didn’t learn things in lecture then they can go to both the resources and understand it again.

● It is a joint effort of parents and teachers. In this time mostly parent’s help their ward a lot to study and to complete their work.

Negative aspects of e-learning

● First and foremost drawback is that in this time of lockdown students do not have proper tools to continue their education through online mode. As every student parents are running after to find laptop, tabs, printers etc. so that their ward can study in a proper way. Most of the parents had passed their mobiles to their children to study on but according to parents to study on small screen of mobile affects the eyesight of their wards ,

● As schools are providing every material on an online platform but every student is not able to get that. Let us suppose a first class student is getting his homework in a pdfs form how you can expect that he knows how to open it.

● As mostly in government schools the students are from families which belong to below poverty line so there are some families who can’t afford smartphones for their wards to study.

● Another thing is that in some cases the parents of students are also illiterate. If the student didn’t know anything regarding technology then what we expect where he/she would go to know about it.

How it can be improved

Shifting every student to onli8ne mode is not possible. As we all know there are several reasons women of them are mentioned above also. Sao our government should launch such plans which help every pupil to learn not only a few. One measure can be that the government should continue the online classes for the students who can afford it and join it and for other governments should open the schools and allow them to join by taking precautionary measures.

Reviews from students

I talked to many students of different schools and colleges on social media and tried to get their review on the online mode of learning and I got mixed reviews.

A student named Sharad Verma studying in 11th standard with commerce stream told me that only his father has a smartphone and he doesn't possess a PC. He's unable to attend the class on time as his father works in an agricultural product company so he goes to work during day time and Sharad oy gets a smartphone after 8 PM. It makes it complicated for him to study the new subjects with efficiency as he's not familiar with subjects like accounts, business studies and economics. Similarly many other students are facing many similar problems. A student named Raveen Khan from Jammu and Kashmir has slow internet connection due to restrictions in the state and it's not possible to attend online classes there. Some students were totally fine with this mode of learning and they found it to be fun. They have access to unlimited study material on the internet. Some students are even taking help of educational websites and YouTube channels. A student in 10th class told me that she has eyesight problems and it's difficult for her to sit on a computer or smartphone continuously for hours. There is a KG student in my neighborhood whose parents are uneducated and have no idea how to use smartphones and they are not able to make their ward study from a smartphone.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, I just want to say that online education is a better way of learning in this pandemic by maintaining social distancing but not for everyone. So we have to think of a new alternative which is helpful for everyone not just a fractious society but for the whole society. Because the future of our country is dependent upon the whole youth not only on a fraction so we should provide all the possible ways to educate our youth .