COVID-19 is so far the largest pandemic the world has ever witnessed. While there was large-scale destruction in terms of the people getting affected by the virus and a rise in the death toll, there was another side to it as well; myriad of people were compelled to embrace a drastic change. There was a dynamic shift within various domains, one of which was “education”. Students went from being able to sit in a classroom one day, to being stuck in their houses, the next. Normalcy was being attempted at with the implementation of online education; what started with utter confusion, soon transitioned into being the “new normal”.
VONG (Voice of New Generation) is an initiative that works towards providing the youth with an in-depth understanding of such trying times and motivate them towards being able to overcome the same. We inspire them to become voices of the world. The topic of discussion at hand i.e., “COVID-19’s Imprints on Quality Education”; VONG SDG Café conducted a poignant session via the Zoom platform. The guest speakers for this session were Arkin Dhawan, a second year Electronics and Engineering student from Thapar University, Punjab and Palak Himani, a high school student from Presidium School, Gurgaon. The discussion entails a comprehensive understanding about how COVID-19 has impacted the youth and altered their lives in an altogether different direction.
How much has COVID-19 affected the school students?
The emergence of COVID-19 has imposed itself as a disruption in the domain of education. At the break of the announcement of a nation-wide lockdown, both students and teachers were left in jeopardy. There was mass confusion as well as chaos. With the passage of time and the uncertainty that hovered around conventional classroom learning; remote learning surfaced. It was considered to be an appropriate proposition, keeping the present situation in mind however, the approach towards it was not linear in nature. A percentage of the students, mostly living in the urban had sufficient access to the necessary technology for remote learning i.e., a steady Wi-Fi connection and a laptop; the same cannot be said about the rest. In the midst of this wide-spread disparity between students who had access to technology and the ones who didn’t, the process learning and the arena of education as a whole suffered greatly.
“Have books been replaced by screens?”
What do you think are the “positives” of remote learning?
While there has been commotion in terms of access to remote learning, it’s certainly not a medium devoid of benefits. Remote learning bestows the students with the privilege of having flexible time schedules as they can access their study materials as well as classes recorded in real-time at any moment. It allows students to be free from the restriction of offline classrooms and be at their desired locations. In addition, it offers diverse courses that the students can pick and choose from and the courses are designed in the most unique and creative manner that in turn works towards improving their ability to retain information.
“Learning delivered at your doorstep”
Does COVID-19 have a role in making children “introverts” and thereby resulting in their struggle to indulge in a social environment?
“According to the studies conducted in India, 74% of the Indian students suffer from mild to severe depression,” said Palak Himani.
“Introverts and extroverts are on the same spectrum at two extreme points. There are also ambiverts, who’re basically a bit of both,” said Arkin Dhawan.
“Communication and COVID-19”
There lies a difference among college and school students; while the former has already explored these aspects about themselves, the latter is still in the process. Therefore, with the onset of COVID-19, emerged the lack of conventional processes of socialization. Such a phenomena altered the ways one connects with another however, social interaction remained an inherent human need. So, the major issue that occurred was the process of acclimatization to this new method of communication.
Should remote learning be “normalized”?
While remote learning is the way-to-go in times of a pandemic, it comes with a baggage of cons. They are as follows:
- There prevails a sense of social isolation as there is a gap in consistent feedback that students rely on for their academic improvement.
- There prevails a lack of self-motivation as the students are devoid of a systematic routine in the comfort of their homes. In addition, there is also a discrepancy to meet deadlines to the gap in time-management.
- There is a shift in the process of communication when in takes place on online platforms thereby, resulting in the lack of social skills.
- There is a lack of supervision on online platforms. Students often resort to unethical mannerisms and have a casual approach towards remote learning.
- There prevails a disparity within access to remote learning.
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“Remote Leaning; A blessing or curse?”
Is quality teaching directly proportional to quality learning?
“Education is not the act of memorizing but, the ability to be able to implement what has been learnt. Teaching is an art form which entails being creative and innovative in order to have the capacity to inspire and motivate the students,” said Arkin Dhawan.
It is necessary that the quality of education is maintained at all time irrespective of the mode of communication. While teaching is a process that is symbiotic and involves mutual effort, it is essential that the creativity and innovation is maintained for the continued inclination of the students.
In conclusion to the discussion in this session, “One reason people resist change is because they focus on what they have to give up, instead of what they have to gain.”– Jen Tanis
Article By: Srija Barman – VONGLE, Orion Square
Quite an interesting take.