Of the many repercussions the coronavirus pandemic has brought, perhaps one aspect which has continued to bear its brunt is the education sector. Not only has it forced millions of students out of the classroom to online platforms, it has also exacerbated the many inequities of education. This is unprecedented and is making us analyse the future of education.
Though talks of the digital platform as an innovative way of imparting education in the age of the pandemic is laudable, the needs of the other side of the coin should also be taken into consideration – the daily wage workers and their families who cannot think of anything but survival and those on the societal periphery where the internet and possession of electronic gadgets is a luxury.
Thus, online learning faces a dilemma of whether education should continue to be imparted at the loss of others or whether with the rest of our activities should also be in ‘lockdown’?
Broadly, this dilemma can be understood from three perspectives. Firstly, regular classes and exams are not the option and should be avoided. Secondly, online classes should continue but in an exclusivist manner, because the poor and the rural students can neither access the internet nor do they have the requisite gadgets. Thirdly, it is difficult to impart online education to those who are new to it, especially those heavily dependent on classroom learning. Against this backdrop, we must also understand that learning is not only limited to the classroom or virtual platforms, but it also has many other shades, which all depends on the wisdom of the teachers and the learners. This article will attempt to delve on this praxis and examine the state of online education in the Northeast of India.
The Northeast of India has been left neglected socially, politically and developmentally for several decades, which has concomitantly resulted for its vulnerable situations. Though it is acknowledged that the topography of the region makes accessibility and infrastructure development tricky, it should be noted that compared to outskirts of other states, the peripheries of the region lack adequate road connectivity, education facilities and let alone internet connectivity which is a forlorn idea. Though the lack of road infrastructure can be tackled with other innovative means, there is an underlying irony – digital learning might be innovative, but who will innovate to increase access to digital access to everyone, especially the students in the rural peripheries?
When I moved to the city after my schooling, I realized that the education I received in my village was mostly about completing and sticking to the rigid syllabus. However, one binding force between rural and urban education was the method of rote learning. This also reflects the immense structural imbalance when it comes to the way how education is being imparted in rural peripheries. So, for the village students learning online even if they have the means but lack the pedagogic culture of learning, online education will not make any impact and it will take some time for them to grasp that given knowledge.
Insofar as the effectiveness is concerned, classroom learning is still way effective and impactful because in the classroom there is an engagement between the teacher and student that can be easily countered in the class, unlike online mode. For students at the primary level which require more attention from the teachers, classroom learning is even more fundamental. For senior students, it may be a comparatively easier, yet still an exhaustive avenue. . Be that as it may, an alternative way of imparting education is not harmful, however imposing it will not make any sense on students during a pandemic because at this juncture people care more about survival. If there should be a shift in the way we learn, it should be done structurally which is not possible in a brief span of time.
When families have already spent heavily on institutions whether private or public, should they also spend more on online classes to buy gadgets or to access the internet? It is interesting to note that a Transgender person along with friends started crowd-funding for poor village kids to buy gadgets and even helped through personal laptop and a mobile phone to check updates for the school students in a village in Manipur called Khurai Sajor Leikai. Thus the problem with online learning is that, though an internet connection my exist, there is still the problem of lack of gadgets and vice versa.
On the other hand, if at all schools should be concerned about the future of the students, one should ask about the students’ wellbeing and their survival, especially those who come from marginalized backgrounds. But unfortunately, such stories are hard to happen because generally, the school’s chief concern is exams and school fees where many institutions are hell-bent on asking the students to pay the fees apart from furnishing exams.
While I am of the view that we should not be in a hurry to resume classes as education does not stop while schools are closed, it is about time that we recognize that knowledge comes from beyond the four walls. In fact, innovative ideas rarely stem from classroom learning, many college and school dropouts have also prospered even without proper schooling and have been a source of inspiration for many. Schools and teachers should instead prioritize rethinking of other innovative and unorthodox ways of imparting knowledge to students, keeping in mind the bottom-up approach and possibly push the government for more schemes to the rural poor for a satisfactorily accessible mode of education. A case-by-case approach can be one way to deal with the problem because not everyone can afford nor have the capacity for digital learning, this should be locally conceptualised.
In this way, the banality teaching through the syllabi will not be stuck there. Moreover, the initiative on teaching the students how to survive during this pandemic among other creative ideas would be an exemplary contribution. Educational institutions should move beyond the cliché of working hard and move on to teach the students to survive mentally, physically and financially; it should re-evaluate and reconsider how education can play a miraculous role just like other institutions have done so by introducing mental health awareness during this crisis, initiating relief help for those affected such as daily wage labourers and so forth.
In the age of the new normal, mental health issues are expected to grow exponentially, especially with cases of anxiety and PTSD from the pandemic. The mental health sector in our country which is crippling with malaise also requires immediate attention. Therefore, the opening of schools and addressing of mental health should be part of the same equation.
Online teaching at best has helped the urban folks and those who have the resources for greater access to knowledge and information among others. The education system from now on should discover student’s performance and encourage them in everyday activities, be it any of the student’s ability to grasp. This makes the school easier to test and give grades accordingly. Online learning might not be the best option for everyone right now and still very much an exclusivist opus, but that should not fend off the government, educational institutions and the people at large to march forward for an inclusive system. Needless to say that investment alone cannot change, most importantly, it is the mindset and attitudes of the people which takes more time for an inclusive model of imparting education in the modern-day, the availability and access to education should be made possible for all because it is our fundamental right.