By Tanya Mittal
The Corona Virus pandemic has pulled the shutters down probably indefinitely on educational institutions across the globe. Closure of schools and colleges have disrupted routine lives of students as well as teachers. The education ministry and Central Board of Secondary Education remaining incommunicado have created an unprecedented situation and thrown many unexpected challenges before one and all. This has created the so-called new normal in teaching. Indeed a catch 22 situation!
Learning and teaching certainly cannot stop. Today it seems to have transcended beyond the four brick walls of schools. Student-teacher community resorting to online resources is facing certain hiccups adapting to the same. Online learners miss out on the human connect possible only in physical space. This medium does not assess all skills of a child and there is no all- round development. So is online teaching genuinely teaching students? What skills are really being assessed through virtual teaching? There are merits and demerits to be assessed. Teachers are always expected to be prepared to deliver the content at all times. A good teacher is expected to transact the curriculum according to the mode and ensure that there isn’t a big gap between input and intake. But in this process people fail to recognize the stress a teacher goes through.
This is an invasion of privacy of classrooms which is fast becoming a reality. Online assessments need to be streamlined because parents and siblings start answering on behalf of younger students. Teachers may not be able to assess all requisite skills required through the online medium as chances of interference through helicopter parenting are high. This has led to the invasion of a sacrosanct space shared by teachers and students which are more likely to get damaged than building a teacher’s reputation – as non-experts get to comment.
Classrooms have reached our drawing rooms which has made learning easier for the learners but certainly not the teachers’ task. No one gets to comment on the inside workings of jobs like the doctors, surgeons, authors, military etc. but teachers are under constant scrutiny. Many female teachers are facing challenges of dual responsibilities of balancing their homes along with the rigours of classroom expectations. Having paucity of experience and lack of training, the faculty seems to be juggling between learning various controls, operating chat windows, allowing people electronically into the class, watching online videos and switching between various apps as well as drawing simultaneously on a separate digital pad or on- screen. This can certainly become overwhelming for most faculties.
Alas, there is no choice but to accept and learn! This COVID-19 lockdown has opened new opportunities for teachers to explore their creativity in terms of creating e-material, youtube videos, PPTs, sharing the links etc. A significant change in the traditional role and style of teachers has brought to fore unexplored facets of their personality. Earlier, they were seen as the repositories of knowledge. But now they have donned new hats of syllabus designers, content creators, and developers. Indian teachers are still warming up to technology, especially online teaching.
The youth, on the other hand, is not only conversant with the latest but is also willing to embrace change in any form. But this seems to be a tall order for the largely ageing teachers in our country. Some of the older teachers face the unfounded fear of technology eventually replacing them as nowadays lecture-based sessions and coaching classes like Coursera, Udemy and so on are seeing a rise in enrollments. But let’s not forget teachers are indispensable units of the education system and, without them, the teaching-learning system would collapse.
Nowadays, malpractices are seeping into the crevices of online teaching in the form of intruders and hackers diluting the sacredness and authenticity of education. Online teaching process is not as effective as the face-to-face mode in classrooms. The biggest advantage of classroom teaching is that teachers can think on their feet, make strategies according to the content and the mood of their students, and constantly monitor students’ intake. Unfortunately, these are absent in online teaching-learning. The content, mode and manner of delivery are already programmed for each module and teachers are left with little flexibility. Besides, the attention span of students is unpredictable in the online mode.
A multi-pronged strategy is necessary to manage the crisis and build a resilient Indian education system in the long term. This can be done by integrating new activities into the lessons. There should be lesser screen time interspersed with hands-on activities. Schools should also keep this in mind while creating online content for younger classes. Challenges of tackling higher classes online are similar to that of teaching outdoor sports online. Not all of the co-scholastic skills can be effectively assessed. A diverse and inclusive classroom is the best litmus test for any theory or insight. So is the online classroom catering to needs of the specially-abled and economically weaker sections of the society? And are online examinations really a good solution? Certainly, not.
So are we really prepared? Extraordinary times and situations call for bold and radical solutions. In this new ecosystem created by this pandemic, teachers have to constantly reinvent themselves to address the exigencies born of this crisis. Sadly, the biggest handicap that teachers are likely to face in this unprecedented event is the lack of training. Education is supposed to be egalitarian. As chorus for online classes grow, the underprivileged students wait for a faint signal from a distant tower. Online teaching only exacerbates the social and economic divide between students. It is true that in rural and semi-urban areas, high speed Internet may not be available around the clock. Many students are missing out on lectures despite paying increasing fees. Parents are worried that this will affect their learning outcomes. Since technology has not been integrated into teaching barring a few new-age, modern schools in metropolitan cities. The challenge comes in delivering these online classes and assessing examinations online for the children from remote areas. Teachers working in elite schools in cities and big towns proudly state that they conduct classes online and help students make use of the lockdown period in a fruitful manner. What about the others? In some instances, parents have to shell out their savings to either buy or rent laptops or tablets for their children. Every member in a household has different online requirements, thus increasing the number of devices at home. The numerous negative impacts of health like tiredness, short-sightedness, obesity and others stand in the way of technology’s effectiveness Those involved in education planning and administration should give a serious thought to reducing the digital divide as it may result in further inequality and create an academic divide as well in the times to come.
Tanya Mittal, a writer at Itisaras is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree in History from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi. Belonging to an armed forces family, she has had an opportunity to appreciate the vibrancy that India offers. She is an avid reader and wishes to pursue a career in International Relations.