Covid’s Imprint on Quality Education

Education is the most powerful weapon with which we can change the world” – Nelson Mandela Education is one of the if not the most important things in the world. It forms a basic part of who we are as a person and of humanity itself. The Covid – 19 pandemic disrupted our lives in a way hitherto unseen. It closed down schools, offices and even entire governments. The pandemic has impacted all avenues of our life, both in the short and long term. Education is no exception. Education has been majorly impacted by the pandemic. The closure of schools worldwide caused various issues for both students and teachers alike. While we came up with online education in response, it brought with it, its own set of problems, most of the part about accessibility. Education is something that should be accessible to all, nay, quality education. It is at the very foundation of the principle of equality of opportunity enshrined in our constitution as well as various international standards. Education, Quality Education is a part of the UN 2030 Agenda and is the 4th of the 17 Sustainable Agenda Goals made by the United Nations. Orion square is an initiative of Omysha Foundation, a non-profit organization that focuses on nurturing conscious Global Citizens. Orion Square has promoted the VONG movement, which is about bolstering the voice of the new generation to accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices by the global community. The VONG Movement help in building a deeper understanding of global social issues amongst the new generation and enables them to influence the attitudes of the society through this understanding. They also give opportunities to influence government policies and global initiatives to accelerate adoption of sustainability in order to protect humanity from the catastrophic consequences created of their greed and ignorance. The VONG movement had conducted an Instagram live session on the impact of the covid pandemic on the quality of education. The session involved two speakers who were themselves and were, therefore, able to provide an insightful view into the situation and its impact on education. Through this article, we aim to document and elucidate upon the proceedings of the event and reach a much larger audience. Through this article, we build on our aim of spreading awareness and enkindling young minds toward the pertinent issues of our times. Speaker 1 – Palak: A high school student from The Presidium School, Gurgaon Speaker 2 – Arkin Dhawan: A 2nd-year computer engineering student from Thapar University The event was conducted in a question-answer format between the host and the speakers. Below we have the questions and their answers(with some edits and additions). Q1. How has covid affected school students? “Covid 19 will forever be the virus that shut down the world” The pandemic has impacted the lives of school students drastically. The long term impact on the education and learning of the children will be felt for years to come. Schools, colleges and universities shut down all around the world, forcing people to the confines of their homes. And the impact is not only limited to the academic sphere. We can see this in terms of children’s communication skills and even their nutritional levels. In our country, many students depend on the midday meal scheme provided in schools to meet their dietary nutritional requirements. It is rightly said that where there is a will, there is a way. Humans are anything but persistent. It is this ability of ours to adapt to our surroundings and overcome the challenges posed by it that we have survived for so long as the dominant species on the planet. As Darwin would call us the fittest based on this very unique ability of us homo sapiens. Keeping up with this fighter spirit of ours, we came up with Online Education. An idea to combat the ill effects of the pandemic on education. Well, at least the academic aspects of education. Online education did solve a lot of the problems, nay academic problems brought about by the pandemic. It restarted education in a way that did not put at risk the health of students and teachers. Technological advancements allowed the transition to happen as smoothly as possible with various features coming in to enhance the user’s experience. We even had classroom applications released by major tech companies such as Microsoft and Google. But, online education brought with it a whole new set of problems, especially when used in a country like India. India has a very wide demographic population based on economy or the per capita income. The first and the biggest problem that arose was the access to technology and online education for underprivileged children. Such a situation where certain students would not be able to access education at all for such a long time would result in a drastic widening of the gap in the society, a rift which will be very difficult to bridge in the future. The rise of education inequality due to the virtual system and its low accessibility has been exponential. We also had various positive effects of online education. Apart from restarting education where there was no other alternative that is. Technology oriented capability has increased manifold in the country due to the pandemic and the challenges it has brought along. This has been very prominent in the older generation forming our teachers who had to learn and adapt to modern technologies, techniques and pedagogies to continue doing what they had for so long. Online education has also increased parent involvement in their children’s lives, something that was getting affected over the past few years. This has been complemented to in large extent by the work from home schemes implemented by the government. Online education also brought with it new and better teaching techniques and methodologies and the aid of technological implements has transformed the entire experience of learning for students making it more on the line of experiential, interactive and engaging, making up active learning. Q. What are some positive effects of online education? Although there are some negative aspects of online education, it cannot be denied that it also has various and probably enough positive aspects to outweigh the negative ones. Online education has introduced the concept of time flexibility in education, making it easier for students to learn at a time of their convenience. We can also that the advent of online education has increased access and reach to education in the form of various programs and courses, mostly for free or minimal cost. Online education has also eliminated the problem of travel for education. This has made it possible for many students to receive the benefit of education, students for whom travelling long distances isn’t feasible. Online education has also increased the attention span of students, with better explanation of core concepts with the help of technological implements. Q. Is online education making students introverts? Introvert and Extrovert are extreme positions on the temperament spectrum. Most people are actually ambiverts, a mixture of both that is. School students socialize with other students and explore themselves through this process. The pandemic made it impossible for this time tested mechanism to operate and made it difficult for students to explore themselves and their personality. It caused problems for students who liked to socialise with their peers travel. Q. Is the covid pandemic causing mental health problems, specifically depression in students? It is safe to say that the pandemic has caused mental health issues for everyone, especially students. The biggest cause for this is the element of missing human contact and even contact comfort. Lack of physical activity is another factor that has contributed to the deterioration of students mental health at the macro level. These factors among others has resulted in the students becoming desolated, lonely and isolated. Humans are ultimately as Aristotle said a ‘Social Animal’. It is on the other hand necessary for students to overcome these difficulties and emerge stronger and better than before. Normalizing online education or accepting the new normal is the need of the hour. In this new era of online education and social isolation it is more important than ever before for students to be self-motivated and focused on their goals. Time management skills also play a very important role in this new normal. This new normal has also expanded the role of parents in the children’s education and by extension their lives. Parents play a more important role than ever before in motivating their children and make sure that they move in the right direction. Parents also fulfil the gap of feedback caused due to the pandemic. Feedback, be it be positive reinforcement or constructive criticism plays an important role in the child’s development. Q. What are some major problems or negative effects of the advent of online education? “Offline education is always better for children to learn, develop and become better individuals in life” Quality teaching is the most important thing for quality learning. There is no point in rote learning. There is an urgent need for a transformation of our education system to adapt the needs of today. Quality education is a combination of quality teaching and quality learning. These constituents cannot exist in isolation without the other. Study from home can be transformed into quality education, with the right attitude, pedagogy and technological implements. Students need to make extra efforts in order to adapt and adjust to the new circumstances, the new normal. A collaborative effort between parents, students and teachers lies at the centre of this. A lack of discipline is another major issue associated with online education and study from home system. The teachers can’t keep an effective check on the students under this system and the responsibility falls on the students. Students need to maintain self – discipline and make sure that they act responsibly as it is their life that is at stake here. A lack of discipline renders any other effort useless and therefore it is essential that discipline is maintained. Discipline along with the concepts of honestly and integrity include the aspect of honestly in exams, that is cheating. Cheating has seen an unprecedented increase in the era of online education. Students need to exercise self-restraint and their judgement to ensure that fairness and efficacy of the system. In the end learning is our biggest responsibility. Q. Can there be an reach – all solution for online education? There exists a very big difference in the scenario in the urban and rural setting when it comes to education. Both have vast differences in terms of faculties, infrastructure and especially in terms of students attitude. A more flexible model is needed to be adopted to bridge the gap between the rural and urban. It is pertinent that the gap between the urban and the rural population is bridged, because otherwise it poses a very great social challenge for us to overcome. Public and private sector need to work cooperatively and collaboratively to make online education accessible for all. Non-governmental organisations and individuals play a huge role in this and this needs to be recognised and supported both at the micro and macro level. Technology should be made affordable and accessible for all and its advantages need to reach all. All people are entitled to the positive effects of technology and steps need to be taken by both us as individuals and the government to ensure that this is actually the case. Q. How can students balance being socially, physically and mentally fit along with their education and other goals? In this new normal it is the students and actually not only students but everyone’s responsibility to make sure that they are healthy and that they are able to harmonize their health with their goals and aspirations. Technological implements can complement individual actions, but the most important factor has always and will always remain the same : Human resolve or WILL. It is our will that makes us humans. Our sense of liberty, freedom, our free will. It is what sets us apart from all other organisms that exist on this planet. People need to step up and make a decision for themselves, for what they want to do and who they want to be. It is only through individual action and resolve that change can be effected. People need to restore order in their lives. Order is the one thing which has been most effected by the pandemic. The covid – 19 virus has brought nothing but chaos into our world. It is time that we take back the steering wheel of our lives and of our world from this virus and defeat by bringing order back inro the world. People need to continue with their previously exercise routines at their home, workout and have a healthy and well balanced diet. People have to improve their management and time skills in order to be able to meet their short and long terms goals in a healthy way. Students should continue with the system of timetables by making one for themselves and making sure that they follow it, because otherwise it is just another useless piece of paper. A useless piece of paper for which useful trees had to be cut. People and especially students should also make TO – DO lists, separate for their short and long term goals. This would help them to better manage their time and meet their goals easily. It again comes down to the human factor which matters the most. The factor of will. The factor of self-control. We need to have a strong will and stay focused and committed towards our goals, whatever they might be. We need to make sure that the maintenance our health, all aspects of our health is our first and foremost goal in life and that work towards all other goals has to be in harmony with our health. “Covid has affected our education, our lifestyle, basically every aspect of our life” Education is without a doubt the most important aspect of human life and civilization. It is what makes us ‘HUMAN’. The session ended on positive note. The speakers reiterated the importance of quality education and the imminent need to do everything possible for its achievement. They urged everyone to work for this cause and by extension for the improvement of our world. The VONG movement continues to work towards its commitment for the attainment of the SDG goals and empowering the youth of today to stand up, take initiative and change the world. The speakers expressed their appreciation for the VONG movement and its efforts. Quality Education continues to remain a goal we need to strive for, so that one day we may have universal quality education. The VONG movement is committed to improve the accessibility and quality of education for all. It promises to keep bringing new events and sessions and engagements for the youth for the achievement of our vision and our aim. We shall do justice with what we have taken up, by the world and justice by ourselves as members of this great planet Earth.