SHIFTING PARADIGMS IN EDUCATION

Education must be
made available to child in this country, may he reside in a village or in a high rise in a metro.

Adaptation and survival have been the key skills of the human civilization. The Homo Sapiens

who were once at the bottom of the food chain are now the most powerful creatures on the

pass, the COVID-19 pandemic will soon be rooted out in entirety. But we must not forget that

the virus has made us adapt in ways we could have never imagined. Right from minimalist living

to learning and working from home. It has made the impossible, possible and also widely

acceptable.

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Online education has gained tremendous momentum since the virus managed to spread its

ominous presence in the community at large. Digital platforms such as Byju’s, Vedantu,

TopprLearning were always present but students and parents never felt the need of it as they

were physical coaching classes where students could go and get their queries solved. But now,

as movements became restricted and schools shut down, parents and students have finally

accepted that online education is the way forward. Students have adapted to interacting with

their mentors online, even if that meant spending hours in front of a blue screen till your eyes turned red. Parents also have realized the importance of the internet. The generation which

once used the internet only for social media now realise that the internet has provided a million

opportunities for their children right from the comfort of their homes. Similarly teachers and

mentors who taught only from their textbooks and handwritten notes have now become

familiar with interactive learning methods through YouTube videos which was not possible in

schools. This is one of the biggest adaptations by a major chunk of the Indian population and a

huge paradigm shift for a developing nation.

Speaking of shifting paradigms, a generation of new parents are also talking about adopting the

homeschooling module or alternative education for their children. Homeschooling (or home

education) is a practice where children get their formal education at their home instead of

schools. They are taught by their parents or tutors. Once considered highly impossible due to

the hectic schedule of working parents and also the prejudice towards the teaching method, the

pandemic has forced parents to think otherwise. If learning from the internet is a success, why

can’t homeschooling? Where schools only provide education constrained to a redundant

syllabus, a homeschooler can choose subjects from mathematics to gardening. Sky’s the limit.

And as the pandemic has confined our children to the indoors, why not change to

homeschooling?

I would further like to add that in a developing nation like India, where the majority of our

population lives in rural areas, online education may not be the appropriate method of learning.

There are various issues that stand in its way, the most common being technology. The rural

population do not have access to high speed internet nor high-tech smartphones to access

online classes. Unless the government does not find an apt solution for this particular problem

we will not be able to impart education to the bright minds in rural areas. Education must be

made available to child in this country, may he reside in a village or in a high rise in a metro.

Image source: Pixabay

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