The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the education systems worldwide. The situation in India was no different as we were hit incredibly hard by the pandemic as well. Add on to that an already foundering education system and the career of millions of students & teachers nationwide, seemed to be hanging in the balance. Thankfully, e-learning came up as a solution to all our woes. The fast expansion of the edtech industry, and government intervention through various initiatives geared towards strengthening the e-learning infrastructure, have successfully met the rising demand for remote learning.
Online teaching has taken off in a big way during Covid-19 pandemic. Government has launched some great initiatives in the education sector. A comprehensive initiative called PM eVIDYA has been initiated which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-access to education. It includes DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing), which is a national platform for school education available for every state and central government for grades 1 to 12. It can be accessed through a web portal or mobile app and provides access to a large number of curriculums’ linked e-content. In 2020, VidyaDaan was launched as a national content distribution program that leverages the DIKSHA platform and tools to seek and facilitate donations/contributions of online teaching resources for school education. Online MOOC courses relating to NIOS (grades 9 to 12 of open schooling) are uploaded on the SWAYAM portal; around 92 courses have started and 150 million students are enrolled. Students and teachers can access all the course modules- text, videos and assessment questions, etc. through SWAYAM. Government initiative has encouraged the development of the best software for online teaching and world-class e-learning infrastructure.
Besides the central initiatives, State/UT governments and private players have also managed the critical task of providing digital education at the door step of students. Some of the major mediums to connect to the students were, online teaching through mobile, social media, TV, Radio etc. Some notable e-learning initiatives by State Governments are SMILE (Social Media Interface for Learning Engagement) in Rajasthan, Project home classes in Jammu, Padhai Tunhar Duvaar (Education at your doorstep) in Chattisgarh, Unnayan initiatives in Bihar through a web portal and mobile application, Mission Buniyaad(foundation) at NCT of Delhi, Kerala’s own educational TV channel (Hi-Tech school program), E-scholar portal as well as free online courses for teachers in Meghalaya. Telangana has online certificate programs for teachers on ‘Management of mental well-being during COVID’.
Some states have launched innovative mobile apps and portals as means to facilitate online teaching through mobile and remote learning. Madhya Pradesh has launched Top Parent App, a free mobile app that empowers parents of young children (3-8 years) with knowledge and strategies around child development to help them meaningfully engage with children. KHEL (Knowledge Hub for Electronic Learning), a gamification-based application has also been started, that covers classes 1-3. To ensure inclusive learning in remote areas where internet connectivity and electricity is poor and sporadic, states and UTs have also distributed textbooks at children’s doorsteps. Some of the states that have taken this initiative to reach students are Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, etc.
Private participation by edtech companies and IT sector has also been instrumental in providing access to quality education. While just a couple years back there were few e-learning softwares, students and teachers now, have plentiful options from which to choose the best software for online teaching. Online teaching initiatives are also enabling enhanced support to students preparing for competitive exams. An Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered online teaching platform has been launched in Goa for learning, practicing and testing, for students preparing for entrance exams in the State.
Therefore, in wake of the pandemic, there are numerous initiatives being taken by the government, public and private sector in our country. Not only has online teaching served as a proxy for traditional education for the time being, but it has improved upon, an arguably outdated, traditional education system that we had before. The new education policy has also indicated towards permanent inclusion and development of online teaching as a primary source of education wherever possible. Whatever be the means, at the end of the day, students in our country should get the best possible education and the most promising way forward in achieving that seems to be through increased investment in online teaching.
