The Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing that followed have affected all walks of society, also education. In order to keep education running, educational institutions have had to quickly adapt to the situation.
This has resulted in an unprecedented push to online learning. Many, including commercial digital learning platform providers, have rushed to provide their support and ‘solutions’, sometimes for free. The Covid-19 pandemic has therefore also seen a complete shift in the education system.
Teachers and students had to hastily adopt the digital learning platform. As a student, I have learned the usage of certain technological designs that I was not aware of earlier. Books are easily available for reading, now on-screen, we can get school projects done easily with the vast amount of information found on the internet. Writing a blog through typing in a word document was a dream until we were made aware of how it can be done through our online classes. Our teachers are also trying to bring more innovation in their technique of digital teaching.
Online learning at the school level has also made it possible for children to go for extra after-school classes. Many independent hobby classes have started bringing more teaching designs into technology. But online teaching comes with its set of difficulties too. Many times we are not able to connect the network, the teacher doesn’t know if the child is playing games or following the class and then there is the seriousness towards education. It is a time when students need to be self-dependent and be more responsible for their own learning. We are now more confident about how to finish our work and get it checked by our teachers through the use of social media platforms like WhatsApp and study years.
In spite of the obstacles, we are thankful that at least we are getting some form of education, whereas children in our villages are still deprived of digital education. I often wonder how or when they are going to have access to studying if this situation keeps going on for uncertain times. Recently I was happy to see how in the village, the students have established their own school by following the social distancing norms. More such ideas need to be formed for the betterment of education and our children.
Yash
Class 6th