Will Online Classes Be the New Normal for Indian Education?

Recently, classes IX and XI of Delhi schools wrote their exams in person – these were the first offline exams that most of these children had written over the academic year. The results were poor, pointing to some glaring, unavoidable facts: there is only so much that can be ‘taught’ in the online setting. Left to their own devices, kids will shirk self-study and cheat in exams. However, with the COVID situation being what it is, it is risky to let kids resume normal schooling. So, will online classes be the new normal for Indian school kids?

Some recent headlines

In Kolkata, schools that had reopened were forced to shut down when some COVID 19 cases were detected. All over the country, the so-called second wave of COVID means that schools are shutting down after having made fitful starts. However, all students do not have this luxury. According to a UNICEF study, 247 million children in India were impacted by school closures. Only one in four Indian children have the option of online studies. They simply don’t have the number of devices and the connectivity required for online classes.

In Pune’s Indapur, the Zilla Parishad schools have gone digital and it is expected that other talukas in the area will do the same. Schools and government organisations have actually invested in online teaching tech so as to enable students to gain more from online teaching. Zilla Parishad schools have chosen some teachers to create short videos to cover the primary school syllabus. As many as 2,500 such videos have been produced and uploaded to YouTube on the Indapur Learn from Home channel.

But is this enough? Imagine the ‘learning’ of a child who will now go to class II. That child has essentially never been to school; because the lockdown meant no in-person schooling since March 2020.  Though he or she may have attended playschool or kindergarten, there is no actual experience of sitting in a class with others, learning to read, write, doing sums under the physical supervision of a teacher.

While the foundational phase of schooling is vitally important for developing emotional and social skills, older kids also suffer as a result of being unable to go back to school. The bonding and camaraderie of one's high school years and the emotional support this forms for kids is vital. For numerous reasons online education is inadequate and no kind of substitute for the real thing. The question is, when and how can normalcy return?

When will normalcy return?

A recent survey showed that over 60% of students are comfortable with returning to schools so long as certain norms are followed. While parents do have their apprehensions, a majority of students feel that they will be able to adapt to regulations and safety precautions. Perhaps kids are also fed up being at home all day.

Speeding up the vaccination process could help the situation. While vaccines are not recommended for kids below 18, speedy vaccination of seniors and other high-risk individuals should help. This will reassure parents who are worried about an asymptomatic child bringing home an infection that could potentially endanger the older and sicker people at home.  Certainly, speedy vaccination of teachers is a must – this will keep educators safe and reassure the parents of students as well.

Meanwhile, schools can follow the hybrid model of instruction. Classes can be held offline and streamed live for those children who are uncomfortable /unable to attend physically. Maybe schools can function in ways that prevent classroom crowding – with fewer children in class or shorter school days. Right now most school administrators are making it up as they go along and the immediate future seems blurry. However, what we do know is that kids need to go back to physical school --- online education cannot become the new normal.

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