Reforms needed in Indian Education system post COVID-19

 

The ongoing Pandemic has impacted some very big sectors of Indian Economy. Of those is the Education sector, which have been forced to be on a hold since the nation-wide lockdown began on second week of March. The schools and universities across India were shut down with a hope of lockdown to be over soon. Unfortunately this did not went as planned and the lockdown is still in-effect till date. Board and university exams were postponed and the results were declared on the basis of ‘how the student performed in previous semester/yearly exam’. Realizing no sight of improvement in the situation, some schools and colleges began teaching students on group video calls via different available platforms. On the other hand teachers were laid off their work indefinitely via Emails. Some universities refused to cancel exams for the final year students and were poised to conduct examination under any circumstances. UGC issued guidelines for conducting online exams using open book system. The students of Delhi University appeared for mock test but were surprised to see the website being crashed within seconds. The following day they protested on social media but the University were still reluctant to conduct the exam as per schedule. Subsequently, days later, several videos and news of parents and students went viral, of them students striving hard to find a way to get network for online classes by climbing mountain and trees every day, and parents selling their only way of income to get hold of smartphone for their children to attend the online classes. We also faced the migrant crisis due to which children dropped out of schools. Then came the issue of data theft by the hackers on those who used online platforms for attending classes. The list is the long enough to make one understand why there is an urgent need of reforms in Indian Education system that needs to be acknowledged and fostered by the Government of India.

The solution for this is with the willingness of the Government to devise a suitable system keeping in mind the different strata Indian population thrive in. There is a need for dedicated committee level detailed analysis and research as to what measures to take to improve the overall structure of Indian education system. Along with this, every leading schools and universities needs to formulate a procedure as to how they should make an approach when similar situation strikes again as due to several geographical difference, it’s not easy to formulate one policy for whole nation. Thus different local organisations and institutions should also take part in formulating such policies.

The eradication of the ongoing pandemic is not easy but once it’s done the maintenance of the hygiene and sanitation should be continued across all Institutions. This could possibly reduce the subsequent wave attacks of the virus. The basic equipment and measures should be ensured to decrease the chances of such attacks.

The availability of Online content has increased during this pandemic. Education services are now offered as Distance Learning Programmes as well. These are well structured courses and are widely being used by the students using Internet. But it has its limitations. Its reach to rural areas is very restricted due to lack of such required gadgets to students with poor financial conditions. Government could provide smartphones to students on subsidy with EMI options along with possible proper networking covering to such remote areas.

Teachers and students work on several sensitive projects and using video calling applications for online classes could pose a possible threat to online hacking. Hence, there is a need of certain software and learning solution platforms that are specially designed for these purposes to prevent any such adversity. One such platform is ‘Diksha’. Built locally in India and introduced by Ministry of Human Resource and Development, it primary usage is for teacher and students both, right from the day of joining any educational institution. It can be very helpful in ensuring the accessibility of learning to students and is reachable to all states.

Teachers hiring and training process needs to be enhanced along with the proper understanding of all modern technological needs during a pandemic. In addition to this, the administrative and structural works of hiring and admission should to be digitized as well. It helps in proper categorization of materials.

The job crisis during this pandemic is well known. However, people working in the field of IT enjoys the chance to work from home but those of other field have severely taken a direct hit. Similarly, final year students have lost internships and jobs as well. Paid internship and job security should be should be made compulsory especially during a pandemic. A total inclusive growth could be achieved through this which would surely help the future of the students.