2019 was arguably one of the most roller-coaster years that the world had ever seen. Tyler, the creator, came out with his Billboard no.1 IGOR appreciated by many worldwide. Science made huge developments by releasing the first-ever image of a black hole. The machine learning universe was reprimanded via a ban on facial recognition software and much more. Going to 2020, most of the world thought this streak would continue into the New Year, but we were wrong. The world instead got hit with a giant bomb. Covid 19, aka Sars-Cov-2, a new variant of the Sars virus, rapidly spread across the globe. We were caught unprepared to face such a crisis. With lives being lost left, right and center, it only made sense to go into total lockdown. This challenged the human race and medical science to come up with solutions to survive and fight this disease and challenged education, one of the most important aspects of modern society, to develop new innovative teaching methods.
After three months of rigorous lockdowns and restrictions, it was pretty clear that a new way of conducting classes had to be developed. Education must not stop, and therefore we decided that online has to be the way. Teachers were remotely trained to teach courses online and manage assignments and submissions, a massive challenge for teachers who, in a lot of cases, are not well-versed with technology. Eventually, classes commenced, with teachers students trying so hard to cope with the new online age, it was evident that online education was not optimized for such applications. Regardless, we, as a developing and adaptive species on earth, persevered. The year was challenging, but we made it. Continuous updates to the syllabus and the implementation of more innovative learning models also helped. Not just that, constant innovation by significant companies that make education aid developed their applications faster and made them much more stable and user friendly while simultaneously adding new features for easier usage and quality of life. Slowly, we got used to the online methods of education. I started to forget what face-to-face teaching felt like. It was unfortunate, not necessary.
Fast forward a year and a few months later. Online education has reached a ceiling of sorts, with high-speed internet available to all in almost every area of India and technology getting cheaper by the day. It was much easier to bring more and more students to the online phase in 2021 (Jan –June). But a new phenomenon was found, procrastination. Studies found that many students were not compatible with online learning, which is evident as every student is different and requires another teaching method. Education is not just a process of a higher qualified person teaching a lower qualified and experienced person what to do. It’s a constant struggle to adapt and develop new methods to keep students engaged and invested. At the same time, it’s a rigorous challenge for students to find newer and additional learning methods and grow both emotionally and mentally. So naturally, we had to go back to the drawing board, back to day one.
Current State of Education
This topic is very vast and has discrepancies, but let’s start by having a look at what the numbers say.
(Source: Google)
With the current dip in the number of cases in India, many services are back open and running like they used to. Malls are open, markets back and functioning, etc. Sure we still have to mask up, but that is obvious since taking general precaution is necessary, not just because non vaccinated people are still prone to Covid at an exponentially higher rate than vaccinated but also because always better to be safe than sorry.
With everyday life on the horizon and people are going back to jobs. The question was raised, “What About School & Universities?”
Schools and colleges had been operating on the online mode for the whole year last year and most of this year but a new method of reopening them has been introduced called “Hybrid Mode.” Hybrid Mode is exactly what it sounds like. Students can opt for offline or online classes of their own will. The class structure and dynamic have shifted yet again, with half of the class in-house and half attending from home. In this new method, students who sit in the class physically can raise questions and actively participate; other classmates can participate from home and receive extra knowledge discussed in the class. Yes, it’s not the most efficient mode of conducting lessons, but it has shown substantial growth in children and adults alike and has brought back a close to the average experience in the classroom.
Online Education – A Privilege we didn’t foresee.
Online education stays an advantage in India, where only one out of four kids can access the web and other gadgets, as indicated by UNICEF.
The virtual classroom has developed existing disparities, denoting those well-off from the less wealthy, said Shaveta Sharma-Kukreja of Central Square Foundation, an education non-benefit.
"While kids with admittance to smartphones and laptops have proceeded with their learning with negligible interruption, those less favored have adequately lost longer than a time of education," she said.
A review delivered in January from Azim Premji University looking over more than 16,000 youngsters discovered stunning degrees of learning loss.
Analysts tracked down that 92% of the youngsters had lost critical language abilities, such as having the option to portray an image or compose straightforward sentences. Also, 82% of the youngsters lost essential math abilities they had acquired the earlier year.
For Giesen Raman, an instructor in a far-off town in northeastern Manipur state, such information matches what he has found face to face.
The small primary school where he works shut its entryways for the second time in April. Without any offices for online illustrations, classes have not occurred in any structure.
When his students were momentarily permitted once again into school recently, he said many had forgotten almost all they had learned.
"It disheartens me to perceive how the eventual fate of these children might have been annihilated," he said.
In Uttar Pradesh state, where school resumes for first to fifth graders on Wednesday after more established understudies were permitted last month, six-year-old Kartik Sharma was eager to wear his new school uniform.
His dad, Prakash Sharma, said he was "fulfilled" with the infection conventions the school has set up.
Recent Developments
With the decrease in Covid positive cases the nation over, a few state legislatures and higher instructive establishments have begun making declarations concerning when they expect to continue schools in offline mode. West Bengal has said they may return after mid-October. A few others, including Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu, have fixed dates.
Nonetheless, for the security of the understudies and the instructing and non-showing staff going to the instructive establishments, a few wellbeing measures identified with COVID-19 are to be followed. A few state legislatures, then again, need their understudies and staff to get vaccinated before continuing classes in physical mode.
Odisha Government has resumed first-year postgraduate and pre-last year college courses for the understudies from August 16.
The Uttarakhand Government has permitted the schools and colleges to resume offline classes from September 1. The state government has effectively allowed the schools to continue physical types for the understudies of Classes 6 to 8 from Monday, starting August 16.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the state government is thinking about continuing schools and universities closed before considering the second flood of COVID-19. The Chief Minister said instructive foundations might return in West Bengal after Durga Puja excursions, with classes on substitute days to begin with.
Goa, then again, has permitted foundations bestowing advanced education to hold offline classes for understudies with all conventions set up. In mid-August, the Director of Higher Education Prasad Lolayekar said the state government had lifted the limitations forced on instructive Institutions for leading classes in a physical model.
Delhi University prior declared to resume the Delhi University schools for science streams understudies. Nonetheless, the college dropped its move later, expressing that the Delhi Disaster Management Authority is yet to permit face-to-face classes on grounds.
All schools and universities in Rajasthan will continue for offline classes with a large portion of the limit from September 1.
A Positive Outlook towards Continuation of Normal Life is Important.
Life has been gradually getting back to usual in India after the effects of a brutal Covid surge put semi-normal life to a pause and nauseated several million, and left many thousands dead. Various states returned last month to face-to-face learning for some age gatherings. Day by day, new diseases have fallen pointedly since their pinnacle of more than 400,000 in May. However, on Saturday, India recorded 46,000 new cases, the most enormous number in almost two months. The uptick has brought up issues over returning schools, with some notice against it. Others say the infection hazard to kids stays low, and opening schools are pressing for more unfortunate understudies who need admittance to the web, making online adapting almost outlandish.
"The basic answer is there will never be a perfect opportunity to do anything during a pandemic," said Jacob John, educator of local area medication at Christian Medical College, Vellore.
"There is a risk, yet life needs to continue – and it can't happen without schools."
Going Forward
Education is a quintessential part of any country. The young must be educated and taught so they can be of further aid to others and themselves. With almost a year and a half of online learning, I think we should be slowly moving forward towards an offline method or online, offline mixed method (hybrid). The hybrid model will set the basis of what is to be done and slowly give us an idea of how we are supposed to go back to the actual normal state of schooling. It will also be a slow, gradual and methodical way of opening as opening fully without any precautions can be tiring and put teachers and students at risk.
Sooner or later, full offline classes will come back. And we must implement it at the earliest to recover from the damage that Covid has caused.
When reopening schools and colleges, two things MUST be kept in mind:
Resource focused on the students who need it the most first.
Remote learning is challenging for students with learning incapacities, monetary problems, or temperamental home conditions. Many of these students will battle to flourish in a far-off climate where they need involved direction, enthusiastic help, and admittance to innovation. In any event, when schools are generally closed, there is a solid case to be made for establishing a physical climate where these students can learn. The test is how to present face-to-face learning freedoms to weaker students without putting them or their families in danger. Focusing on the modest number of students most needing face-to-face guidance makes it conceivable to have more modest class sizes—which makes it simpler for students to follow removing and disinfection conventions that decrease the spread of the infection. During the main rush of COVID-19, that methodology empowered the United Kingdom to keep instructing offspring of fundamental laborers and those with kid assurance plans or unique requirements in the study hall without encountering significant episodes in schools. In case it is absurd to expect to take burdened students securely class kickoff, critical assets ought to be given to them with the goal that they have the gadgets, web association, and educator support expected to learn at home.
Mental Safety of students means Academic Success.
Numerous students will be getting back to school with some level of stress. Some will have lost relatives. Others might be managing the difficulty of having their parent lose employment. Alongside being presented with cautions about the infection, students are becoming more mindful of foundational prejudice, environmental change, and different issues that can add to an overall condition of tension. Even though survey students' scholarly status and attempt to get up to speed with lost learning, instructors should zero in first on remaking connections and a feeling of the local area. That work will deliver profits over the long run and be coordinated into far-off settings through care or prosperity checks, just as a designated educational program. The BARR model, for instance, gives devices to assist educators with tending to the passionate, social, and physical necessities of their students in each association with them; makes close accomplices of students, and gives week by week examples on building relationships. The best instructors currently will, in general, zero in on overall youngster. An educational system can attempt to carry this training to all students.
History is evidence of how important education has been to humans. From the first time, a human taught another to hunt to modern-day online courses where a click of the button connects a teacher and a student. It is pretty essential that students and children feel at home when returning to their schools and educational institutions.
Extra Resources
Back to School: A Framework for remote and hybrid learning amid Covid-19 (McKinsey)
More schools in India cautiously reopen despite COVID fears (Al Jazeera)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/1/india-schools-reopen-covid-third-wave
Zoom Education has Failed an Entire Generation (Glink)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZTvHofa6Q4&t=1580s
