Write down an Essay on
CORINA VIRUS AND ITS EFFECT ON EDUCATION
points to be included in the essay
1. Role of teachers in supporting/ promoting students learning through Online learning
2. Role of parents in supporting learning at home.
3. How are you as a student coping with the New Normal through digital learning
4. How Covid 19 health crises affected students
5. Government's policy to curb the Corona virus pandemic
6.Drs . frontliners, caretakers scientists all ready to fight n motive others fight the virus
Answers
Explanation:
Since the COVID -19 pandemic has disrupted the normal lifestyle of people across the globe, the virtual world has come to the rescue. Amongst many institutions schools have also shifted their base to virtual platforms to conduct classes online. Consequently, catering to the needs of all stages of education from pre-primary to university level, online education has emerged as an alternative to ordinary face to face classes. Accordingly, various stakeholders such as government and private organizations are trying their best to assist each other by sprucing up their existing online platforms, apps and providing training to teachers to use these apps and platforms to the optimum level. Moreover, efforts are being made by both government and non-government organisations and edtech companies to support the school system to make a smooth transition to the virtual world. Upskilling and motivating teachers, organising counselling sessions for stakeholders such as teachers, parents and students are some of the important measures taken by the administration in the recent past. Making a continuous effort to provide customised teaching-learning material suitable for online classes is another way of facilitating the schooling of children. The Central government has recently launched the PM e-VIDYA platform, with 12 new DTH channels, one for each class to reach out to all stratas of society. These efforts have proved beneficial to a sizable chunk of the school-going population.
However, this alternative medium has also brought to the fore some stark persistent realities of Indian society characterised by social inequalities in terms of availability of resources, essential to access these online classes/platforms. These digital initiatives are perpetuating the hegemony of elite schools over the education system, resulting in the digital divide between rural and urban and rich and poor. This digital divide is also affecting the work and role of the government as well as non-government organisations across states as they are facing challenges due to the recent migration of millions of labourers to their native places. Both the central as well as state governments will have to make a road map not only for labourers’ employment but for the education of their children too. Given the great difference in the infrastructure across states in terms of internet and allied facilities it appears to be a huge task. In addition, the non-government organisations that support the marginalised sections of the society in terms of health, education and livelihood and also collaborate with governments are facing financial crunch as most of the funds are being diverted to tackle the pandemic.
Students and teachers also have their own struggles while accessing these online platforms. Due to financial constraints, students are not able to access the internet, and are devoid of electronic gadgets and laptop, phone or computer or even radio and TV. Those students who have facilities to attend to online classes face barriers in terms of unavailability of physical space, which is equally applicable to teachers who are supposed to conduct online classes from their home. There are also social barriers such as discrimination against girls as they are expected to do household chores instead of attending online classes in the mornings. In rural areas, boys are often expected to work on the family farmlands. In homes where TV and radio are available, the question of who has control over these gadgets is important. Most of the time, girls are not allowed to watch educational programmes.
It should be noted here that missing from all the narratives of online education is the question of equity and equality, the cornerstone of the Constitution of India. Envisioned in the Constitution of India is the aim of providing equality of education opportunities to all citizens irrespective of caste, class, gender and religion. Article 29 (1) provides for equal access to educational institutions maintained by the State without discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them. Similarly, the Right to Education Act 2009, mandates to provide equitable quality education to all children from six to 14 years of age. However, all the efforts of the government to facilitate education processes during the pandemic draws attention to the fact that the milieu of public/government education system, and low fee private school or affordable private schools, are out of the purview of government initiatives of online education. Even people from disadvantaged communities- be it, teachers, students or parents-have been left to fend for themselves while Government is making provisions for online learning or planning to resume offline on-campus school post-COVID. Alarming is the fact that the government is oblivious to the stark realities of social inequalities which are proving to be the greatest barrier to access online education.