To a new era of education

To a New Era of Education

Just like we all were blindsided by how 2020 would turn out to be, education was also blindsided by the sudden school closures. One of the adverse effects that happened due to the pandemic was on children and their education, who would now be missing out on an entire academic year. I keep on thinking about my school years and I cannot even imagine how difficult it must be for children to cope up this year. Schools usually do not only mean education but a place where children grow up in an environment and learn to live. The closure of schools has brought a major haul to a learning experience for children rather now they are coping up with new forms of learning. Let’s look at the crisis on hand:

1. According to World Bank EduAnalytics, at the peak of the pandemic 1.5 billion students were out of their school. In India itself, UNICEF predicted that the learning of 1 billion children was affected and a huge number of children might not make their way back to schools due to the economic crisis following the pandemic.
2. While the presence of online education was not non-existent, yet it was limited to certain edtech startups before. As the pandemic happened, online education became a necessity. From schools, government, and nonprofit organizations to coaching classes and individual teachers everyone had to make their presence into this.
3. Even children from urban and semi-urban demographics became first time users of online education. This time for them it was not a secondary medium, but the only source to continue learning.
4. Online education in many places began for the first time for primary and even pre-primary grades but was banned in many states after parents complained. Higher screen time for such young children was not seen in a positive light even if it was for education.
5. A stark digital divide was noticed, rural areas in India and in several countries were not prepared to take education completely online because of lack of infrastructure (smartphones and internet)
6. Many new ways of education are in experimentation currently. The government itself is providing classes for students through innovative ways like Television and radio.
7. Organizations like ours implemented IVR, phone calls, and SMS to make sure education reaches every home.
8. The government announces the New Education Policy with a range of new policy and structural changes.

The question now arises, among these many changes, experimentation, failures, and range of challenges what would be the new era of education once the pandemic gets over. Do we take a 360-degree turn to go back to what things were before, or do we take our learnings and make our education system better once and for all? Can education survive another pandemic?
The answer to these questions also lies in a concept I recently learned in the National Curriculum Framework 2005. One integral term on which our world runs right now, but is often not present in the curriculum for everyone is democracy. Democracy has evolved from being just a government system to a much more enhanced way of living in the 21st century. The National Curriculum Framework, a document I repeatedly mention in my blogs, is a futuristic document. It understands the importance of democratic values of the society and envisions education where democracy is not a mere concept but a way of education itself. What does democracy mean in the concept of education and how does it make sense here? 
As the world plunged into pandemic online modes became the only way education could survive. Just like any other online thing like youtube or amazon, for the first time education is being served to children and not the other way round. There can be hundreds of arguments about why it can be wrong and I do not intend to make arguments for or against it. But what is interesting is that unlike the state-sponsored education in which parents had very little or less to say, today they have a variety of options to choose from. The education world post-pandemic has become a marketplace and even the government has to up its game to remain relevant.
The fruits of such development are no doubt harvested by the elite who can afford to pay as of now. But I am hopeful that certain dents on a system remain permanent and force the system to adapt and modify.
At our organization, we had been implementing automated phone calls, IVR, and SMS to reach out to parents from rural communities. The idea was not new however, the team at ThinkZone had been developing such modules for a while before the pandemic happened. The idea was that parents could play such a big part in children’s education. As we moved into the later weeks of April 2020, our plans were in action and we were reaching out to a huge number of parents. During the next 6-8 months, we have definitely seen a change in the perspective of parents. 
This might be the way the education world would eventually change. From my cousins who are parents to young nephews and niece in Tier 1 cities, to the people in rural communities at ThinkZone, in this one year there has been a shift in how much parents are involved in education. When things go back to normal would they stay the same? I have some doubts about it but I am hopeful. Informed and involved parents are the key to changing the whole education landscape of this country.
Democracy in education is having a choice in every aspect of education. Online modes have opened up several options currently for the elite children of this country but it might break the barriers of privilege. Through my daily dose of social media, I have seen online classes for children not only for studies but all kinds of extra curriculum. People have also realized to some extent the need for special education when regular online education failed to reach specially-abled children. Every day a new edtech app is in the play store to teach concepts in a new and fun way. Democracy is children and parents opting among these options, and with informed parents in the bigger picture, we might just have an education system finally curated for children. This might be a new era of education in making and I am hopeful for it!