APRIL 4, 2020
KARO-NA! Virtual Schooling
In this overwhelming situation, no one can escape the wrath of this scourge called COVID-19. As I have mentioned in my earlier daily writings, the entire world is under lockdown and every human being is adversely impacted by mayhem created by this virus. Education and learning, especially at school level has greatly been impacted and it has ransacked education calendars around the world. Interestingly, the most sought after American universities have started short COVID-19 courses. Johns Hopkins University has started a five hours course - Fighting COVID-19 with Epidemiology; Imperial College London has started a nineteen hours course - Let’s Talk About COVID-19, are few reference points. It seems it's time to get a PhD in coronavirus!
Social distancing and self quarantine may seem like medieval responses in a time like ours. But since this coronavirus is so new the best science has to offer at this point is to connect in the virtual world. A first step is to educate yourself using trusted sources. In our education system class X and XII are considered significant milestones in the entire blockchain of education cycle for any student. And every academic year has significance for every student. With schools under lockdown, it is not possible to start classes, apparently for an uncertain time. This creates serious repercussions for students looking for college admissions in 2021. College admissions process is highly competitive in India and grades are the king, which enable students to get admitted into the best colleges. In order to produce good grades, it is imperative to have full learning during the entire academic year. The current situation is seriously jeopardizing the current academic session. World around education administration is shifting the learning process including classroom teaching online. I completely appreciate the approach of our education administration starting from the top in recognizing the disruption to academics by the COVID-19 situation and putting online learning in place.
Before commenting on my experience with the recently introduced online learning program, let me highlight the issues and concerns faced by American schools in relation to their online education. American school structure has variations similar to India in terms of rural-urban schooling, public-private schooling, level of faculty, economic background of students etc. As per Pew Research Centre analysis of 2015 Census Bureau data, 15% of US households lack high speed internet access and rural student communities lag behind urban areas where about a third of people don’t have high speed internet. Dozens of broadband companies have offered free internet to school and college students, still millions of American children stay disconnected. Recently New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged that many households lacked the technology for digital learning. The New York City’s department of education is working to lend 300,000 internet enabled iPads to students in coming weeks, but thousands did not have the technology needed for remote learning when it began. The limitations are not only technological, various other factors such as disparities that exist between effluent and low income schools (public and private in Indian context), parents not educationally equipped to assist children in the distant learning process are also factors impeding the successful transformation of physical class learning to online learning.
If we contextualize the above situation in Indian context, the situation is not very encouraging. Let me share my experience of the last two weeks. In the first week, it was apparent that school was wrestling with remote learning challenges. It started bombarding students with new learning material by attaching presentations, quizzes with emails and that too with instructions to submit the desired response in the given timelines. The parents as well as students were overwhelmed with the quantum of course material in a short span of time with no interface with respective subject teachers. It was difficult to comprehend the objective of this process in absence of any clear instructions from school and teachers. In the last two days, we have received instructions to join two classes in a day, where a subject teacher is going to take class online. Interestingly, the class is to be joined by all the students assigned to one teacher, irrespective of section of that grade. Realistically speaking, the number of students instructed to join goes beyond hundred in number. This bunch includes children from special categories. As per experience of most of my classmates they were unable to follow the contents of the class due to multiple reasons. The common grievance is that; a) strong technological support should have been created and b) teachers should have been trained to undertake (teach) online classes.
Since lockdown is likely to stay for a few more weeks, in order to make this endeavor fruitful, I suggest following:
Involve parents with a tech background and ask them to assist in creating a workable module to operate online class.
Segregate the teaching material and writing material with clear instruction to student-with reportable formats.
Guide teachers to take classes online.
Create workable discipline guidelines to hold serious classes and avoid disruptions by students.
Ensure that these classes are not overburdened with course material so that these are not onerous for students.
Although I am not an expert on education, these are suggestions based on consultation among a group of students from different schools in Delhi. The objective of this story is to bring in efficiency in the online learning system and not to point out any inefficiency and deficiency in the efforts of any school.