The modern education needs to create holistic individuals, capable of achieving any goals: Shikhar, NIT Silchar

These are first-hand student accounts on how our young population is managing to keep their exam prep or college course work going from the confines of their homes. In case you want to share your lockdown study experience, write to us at publish@shiksha.com.

Around 140 years ago, Swami Vivekananda said – “Education is the manifestation of perfection, already in man”.

From that day to today, the world has changed in ways no one could imagine, but somewhere education did not change at the required pace.

The schools of today still teach the way our grandparents used to learn, however, things are changing finally. I am sanguine that the rigid systems are going to see a revolution, but pity that this is unfortunately brought about by a deadly pandemic.

For the first time, since Kargil war, the board’s exams are postponed without a resume date. The students are stuck inside their homes. Some of the students are preparing for the competitive exams and are worried about the exam dates. The college students are worried about their placements and internships. During this time, the old model is failing, and it needs to be replaced by something stronger.

So, how will the education sector change?

A major part of the education has shifted to the online mode where the students are no longer required to carry several books to brick buildings every day. The learning curve will expand exponentially, with various students accessing the seamless world of internet for education.

Various companies and organisations will tap into the vacuum of education, and the coaching classes are already being conducted online, sooner or later the exams will also change from pen-paper to QWERTY boards.

One big concern is, whether the traditional colleges continue using the technology after lockdown or not. I believe that eventually they will be conducted. The laws of anthropology say that once a trend starts setting in society, it eventually penetrates all the systems. So, maybe the schools will try to go back to the old versions, but the clear advantages will certainly make them think otherwise.

At this point, a serious discussion should be about its sustainability, because maybe I could clear all the doubts in Math at home, but would I make real friends at home? Maybe I could learn how to write an English essay online, but would I learn to express myself. Could the individuals be nurtured without real-world interaction? My answer is No. At least for the time being, once the outbreak is controlled, the important thing will be to understand that offline and online are not rivals, but rather tools for the same use, and will work best when used complementarily.

In time, the government and other stakeholders, need to work together to find a way, where both tools would be used. A smart method will be to have online tools aid offline learning, to bring the best of both worlds, where classes can be recorded, the world of internet clarify all the doubts, and we could develop students who could be the leaders of the future.

Online learning has provided us the opportunity to start fresh, at least partially and hence, we should not make the same mistakes again. The online education should not become the same as offline methods of teaching which is just sit in front of the screen. The machine learning algorithms could be utilised to add a personal touch to every student so that no one is left behind.

This is probably the first time when- “We could start judging a fish by its ability to swim”.

Other than personalised learning, we will see a shift more towards the STEM fields, the current scenario has created a visible shortage in the medical workforce, and the inability of various engineering systems, the economy will demand these gaps to be filled.

Further, as more things get automated than ever, various professions will continue to evolve, the beginning of virtual court hearings is one example, which may end up eliminating dozens of paralegal jobs. Certainly, modern education needs to create holistic individuals, who are not grown and trained for one skill or profession but rather those capable to be anything they set their mind on.

The final problem is can we eliminate offline classrooms.

My answer is though including duplex-video classroom communication, with added chat and group features can improve the experience, we neither can nor should try to erase the entire structure.

On one hand, we have issues with the current model, but it includes facets too important to get rid of. How the student’s thinking shapes is heavily dependent on their school surrounding, the real connection and friends, and the extracurricular activities organised by the school. Participating and bonding is what makes us humans.

Amidst a deadly pandemic, threatening millions of lives, crashing the global economy, weakening of the existing institutions, we are provided with an opportunity to take humanity forward, to build a future free from the existing problems, one that we all can look forward to.

About the Author:

Shikhar Gupta is a third-year undergraduate student at NIT Silchar. He is currently the General Secretary for his branch society (ECS) and the Vocal Skills Club Head for Illuminits: Literary Publication and Fine Arts Society. He is an avid reader, writer and a block chain-enthusiast. He was recently the winner of the RBI Regional Policy Challenge on Non-Banking Framework.