It is at a time like this that one wishes India had taken full advantage of its educational satellite
No school student in Wuhan missed classes as they were conducted for 76 days online. So, it is not surprising that in the times of COVID-19, India, too, has refused to let education become a casualty of the virus. Though we did flounder in the initial days, once it became apparent that we would have to go into extended lockdowns and the school/college year could be truncated, we got our act together. Hence, most schools, top universities and premier institutes of excellence like IITs and IIMs are conducting online classes via Zoom, Microsoft Teams and so on. Not to be left behind, even the Delhi Government is holding online classes for its students as is Haryana. Not just this, all schools have even created parents’ WhatsApp groups to keep them informed about the day-to-day schedule. Homework/projects are being given and so are notes. But obviously courses which need extensive practical knowledge will suffer. As far as possible, India is taking advantage of technology to keep the academic sessions on track and doing whatever it can to ensure that a school year is not wasted. That’s why in most schools, exams for students from Nursery to class VIII have been nixed and children are being promoted to higher classes automatically. Also, the summer vacation is being brought forward so that there can be early resumption of an academic session. However, education in rural India is certainly suffering as schools here don’t have access to PCs/tablets or internet connectivity. Even if students are promoted to the next class sans examinations, they would have largely lost out on the learning process, which might make it difficult for them to cope with next year’s syllabus. It is at a time like this that one wishes that India had taken full advantage of its Educational Satellite (EduSat). Launched in 2004, it had a life span of seven years but it died out in 2010 and we could not use even 10 per cent of its capacity. Similarly, the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform of the Government, known as SWAYAM, and a bouquet of direct to home (DTH) educational channels, all of which cover content from pre-school to doctoral studies, are not able to fill the gap they were expected to in the present crisis. Although a large number of secondary students are watching Channel 27 — Panini — and senior secondary students are watching Channel 28 — Sharda of the Swayam Prabha DTH channels — the viewership is minuscule in comparison to its potential.
If the current crisis has taught us anything, it is the need to incorporate edu-tech within the mainstream education system. If we had done it earlier, we would have been far ahead right now. However, what is really worrying in the present scenario is what is going to happen to students in the 12th grade, who have to join college/universities and those passing out from higher institutions who either want to study further or have to join the workforce. Till now, there is no clarity on when pending/unfinished exams will be over. The tail-end Board exams became a casualty to the Coronavirus and were postponed till the end of April, leaving parents and students alike on tenterhooks. Even if they are conducted late May, assessment of test papers and compilation of results will take a longer time. Unless that is sped up, there is no way a clearer picture can emerge before July/end August. What of entrance tests for further studies? While a few colleges/universities like GGSIPU, JNU and so on have opened their registration, there is no guessing the date of tests. While some institutions, like Christ University, have given the dates for their entrance tests, others are still to draw up a schedule. Clearly, those at the cusp of career-setting exams and interviews are under a huge shadow. Besides, they will be expected to cram about a two to three-month academic course in far lesser time. As it is, job placements have been badly affected with packages being revised or offers withdrawn by most global institutions, which are under increasing pressure of protectionist Governments to use home-grown human resource. The best brains will get hired regardless, the competitive stress will be higher on young minds and the average performers will be disoriented by this choke on the system. May be every student should develop an extra skill set or vocation to tide over these tough times.