Bilal Margo
I feel education in Jammu and Kashmir must be equally reached to all rich, poor, middle and upper classes, without any differentiation, providing one single board of syllabus. At the present situation of COVID 19, is it possible for all students to have electronic device to undertake online classes?, It would be better to start classes after school reopen, and finalize with limited portions and conduct exams for promotion to next class. Poor children’s are not aware and not affordable to buy mobiles and spend for repairs during lockdown. Please help needy ones to also be benefited. The petrifying and severe impact of COVID-19 has shaken the whole world to its core. Further, most of the Governments around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Jammu and Kashmir too, the government as a part of the nationwide lockdown has closed all educational institutions, as a consequence of which, learners ranging from school going children to university level students, are affected. Here in Jammu and Kashmir, the closure of schools is usual practice. The Educational institutions here are badly affected due to prevailing circumstances, bad weathering and lockdown etc. The post August 2019 situation and impact of COVID 19 closure has impacted 100% students across length and breadth of Jammu and Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir administration has taken many initiatives to meet out the gaps of students by means of online classes, community classes and through other digital initiatives. But, all in vain. Mostly Jammu and Kashmir is experiencing unavailability of high speed internet services and usually barred internet and all that. Lakhs of children from poor families studying in government schools in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir staring at disruptions in their studies without access to mobiles, internet and laptops or desktops, even as privileged students from private schools are taking online classes amid the coronavirus lockdown. The Jammu and Kashmir administration has started teaching students from lower to university level on the Zoom app, but most of the students in primary and middle schools are struggling as they have either no access to assignments, or find it virtually impossible to study mathematics and many other subjects through WhatsApp or other platforms. Authorities might have issued orders on paper to school principals and teachers to assign work on WhatsApp and other technological platforms, but the ground reality is quite different. The very first problem in implementing the plan is: “The schools do not even have the database for the students or the parents’ contact numbers to be able to reach out to them.” There isn’t even a computer in the schools for teachers to feed phone numbers into. My experience as a teacher interaction with primary school students’ upper primary, Secondary and Senior Secondary Students and their parents, and teachers from Government and Private schools revealed how everyone was struggling to bridge the digital gap; many families do not have smart phones, let alone computers or laptops. Some said they don’t know how to use WhatsApp, while some parents are engaged in essential services and need to take their only phone with them on duty.
The digital safety challenge will remain at large while imparting education.
If there will be a very proper infrastructure available in schools that will make the teaching learning process very interesting and attractive for both teachers and student. A complete revolution has been brought about by technology in the way we learn today. Each student gets in contact with a world-class education, which is not easy to impart by the traditional white chalk and blackboard method of teaching. This new learning is more interesting, personalized and enjoyable. Digital learning has many advantages in itself like digital learning has no physical boundaries, it has more learning engagement experience rather than the traditional learning, it is also cost-effective and students get to learn in the confines of their comfort zone. However, digital learning is not without its limitations and challenges, since face-to-face interaction is usually perceived as the best form of communication as compared to impersonalized nature of remote learning. Globally, online education has met with some success. In the case of India, we still have a long way to go before digital learning is seen as mainstream education, because students living in urban area have the facilities to opt for digital education, however, rural area students do not have the required infrastructure nor are financially strong to avail the resources required for digital education. Building of the digital education infrastructure by the Government of India presently appears to be difficult due to lack of budget. Further, even if the digital infrastructure is built, training has to be given to the teachers to use the digital system to provide authentic and proper, uninterrupted and seamless education to the students. Nevertheless, Covid-19 has prompted experts to rethink the conventional mode of education. Digital education appears to be a viable solution to fill in the void for classroom education for a period of three to four months while minimizing the chances of any infection to students until classes resume. More importantly, it has also brought the hitherto peripheral issue of digital education in Jammu and Kashmir to the Centre stage. Going forward, digital education is likely to be integrated into mainstream education. This will enable inclusive education by facilitating learning across diverse geographies across Jammu and Kashmir. Moreover, it will provide an opportunity for educators to come up with customized learning solutions for every student. But there should be a very proper digital infrastructure available for students as well as teachers. If we further up the light on the educational material, digital education will have a limited scope as compared with the written and handy material which is provided in an educational institute. Moreover, the authentication of the educational material is at stake. E-learning will always provide the students with different information in different ways. So, the authenticity of the educational material should be tested before these materials are circulated with the students. Creation of content, dissemination of content and evaluation of content should be done. Blended education has to come face to face and distance education should go hand in hand currently. Educational data circulated online should be properly maintained. Because ultimately these digital educational course classes will also lead to hacking systems and intruders coming in. The digital safety challenge will remain at large while imparting education.
(The author is a freelancer. Views are his own [email protected])