Online teaching and learning were a rather rushed matter forced upon the education sector by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rather abrupt shift to the distance learning mode challenged the mindsets, skillsets and expectations of all educators. The fact of the matter is that most of us were caught unawares by the advent of the Corona Virus Pandemic. The takeaway from all of this is that we need to work on the need for upskilling and reskilling for virtual education. This applies not only to teachers but also students who use the excuses of microphones not working or even cameras not working. Education post-COVID-19 is going to be more about enhancing IT skills than about subject matter.
But then, coming to the existing situation, online teaching has turned out to be more stressful for both students and teachers especially for those who have to stare at laptop screens for hours sitting in the same place. The lack of physical movement, exposure to UV radiation, a sterile environment has all taken a toll on the physical and mental health of students educators and even parents who have to host their children for a longer period of time. While some of the better equipped and top-notch schools have managed to salvage something out of the COVID-19 Lockdown situation, others, (Government and Government Aided schools) have fallen far behind. This gap in learning because of a lack of IT skills and technological awareness has lead to anxiety in most students and even their teachers who are worried about completing the syllabus, especially board classes that conduct summative assessments. To make matters worse, a lot of the less equipped schools are trying to conduct online classes on of all platforms, Whatsapp! The COVID-19 has brought the divide that exists between the privileged and not so privileged schools. It is therefore important to restructure the syllabus so that it takes into consideration the fact that a large number of students might not have had proper classes. The CBSE should reduce the quantum of the syllabus so that summative assessments do justice to all the students across the country.
Even after we come back to schools when the COVID-19 crisis is over, it will take a lot of time to return to normal. Many of the schools have laid off temporary staff, especially teachers on ad-hoc appointments. In some cases, even permanent teaching staff has been laid off as a result of the lack of funds to pay their salaries with. This shortage of teachers in schools across the country, (exacerbating the existing problem) will affect the quality of education in schools. The situation is even worse in schools running in the countryside and rural areas where parents mostly subsist on farming and have limited income options. In such cases, parents have expressed their inability to pay their children's fees. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental economic impact on the educational sector in the country. One wonders if therefore we might not be looking at another crisis staring at us in the face.
Apart from the financial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect of lockdown, the uncertainty looming over the future of school education have had their impact on the mental health of not only teachers but also students. The uncertainty about the conduct of remaining Board exams at the grade ten and grade twelve exams levels had lead to a lot of anxiety and stress in students who had a few exams left after lockdown took place. The CBSE after a lot of time decided to do away with the remaining exams, but not before the damage was done. This situation has been faced by college students who have a final semester left before they graduate. College students are anxious about how the final semester exams will be conducted, whether these exams will be online or pen and paper exams. If they are online exams, then how will they manage them, if there are pen and paper exams then how will students who migrated to their hometowns before lockdown manage to shift back to the towns or cities where their colleges and schools exist? It is, therefore, not just schools that have been impacted by the COVID-19 but also colleges.
What is at stake is the very future of education in the country. Perhaps the most affected are students who are in their tertiary or final levels either in school or in college. Students in their tertiary or final year of schooling or college training would be looking for either admission to a college in the former case or a career for the latter and the lack of transparency and a delay in the mode of conduct of summative assessments, a delay in the announcement of results would affect the future of the children.
Apart from the mental, emotional and financial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been issues relating to the excessive use of technology. Though technology has appeared to be a lifesaver for most sectors, it has also had a paradoxical impact. Too much use of technology has lead to burnout, stress and poor health. The COVID-19 pandemic forced technology into the field of education especially in order to salvage something from the situation. This resulted in excess use of technology. The lack of proper training in the use of technology, lack of exposure to online learning platforms has exacerbated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psyche of the learners and their teachers in schools and colleges in the country. Most teachers and their students were not sufficiently equipped mentally to work with technology and online platforms.
Educationists and learners have not as yet learned that the ideal use of technology also entails learning to step away from the use of technology, learning to take important pauses and breaks from the use of technology. Sitting for hours without break, staring at laptop screens can only result in adverse health-related issues. A common complaint of parents before the Corona Virus pandemic was that their children were spending too much time online. Now, the use of technology has increased screen time adding to the woes of parents.
Online teaching platforms at present are a stop-gap option in times of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Research has shown, moreover that online teaching has, guess what? Rather 'deflating' results! One very important takeaway from the results of research conducted by MIT Professor, Justin Reich et al is that we still need to do a lot to make online teaching effective. Ultimately, it is the human touch, the emotional connect and the 'actual' environment rather than the 'virtual' environment that matters in education. I am posting a link below that describes research findings on the efficacy of online teaching. Hence, let us not, as yet jump on to the bandwagon, or to use a rather cliched term, 'resonate' with those who will swear on the efficacy of online teaching based on a few days of practice!
Lockdown has had a rather disturbing impact on children vulnerable to cyber-bullying. Post-COVID-19 children have started spending more and more time on social networking sites and this has exposed them to the possibility of being exposed to cyberbullying. An increased interest in social networking sites as a result of a lack of human contact, both with peers, teachers and even parents has made children more vulnerable to online bullying. The recent incident involving an online boy's group that vilified girls in a way that was demeaning is an example of how excess time spent online on social networking sites might bring out the worst in most of our students.
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