Impact of Pandemic on India’s Masterminds

The COVID-19 Pandemic is transforming the human world, and education is no different.While the whole nation was placed on lockdown as a result of this pandemic, companies have adopted work-from-home schemes.So, what are the challenges that the education sector is facing? Due to the closures of schools in at least 188 countries, more than 91% of the students worldwide are withdrawn from schools. Millions of students in India were forced to sit at home after schools and colleges were closed in March 2020.

According to Human Rights Watch, more than 1.5 billion students of the world have now dropped out of schools. The coronavirus pandemic has affected almost all, partly or entirely altering the usual life. It has not only affected the quality of learning but also drastically altered its mode from offline to online.

According to statistics, 65.2% of all school students in India attend government institutions.But how many of them do you assume can afford a smartphone or a laptop for digital training?This suggests that the lockdown has halted all schooling for the majority of needy students.During this period of turmoil, the lacunae in Indian education became apparent. COVID-19 has shown that it was not adaptable or equipped for emergencies. A large number of educational services were closed. Universities suffered significant financial losses as a result of the need to transition to new circumstances. Students were also dissatisfied when their classrooms were replaced by online schooling, something they had never seen before.

All classes were moved to a remote format, and digital platforms like Zoom and Skype were the most common apps for the teaching and learning process. They were suitable for the majority of academic events such as seminars, project presentations, and group work using audiovisual content, but they did not allow for face-to-face communication between an instructor and a pupil. Educators were incapable of validly assessing their students’ skills.

The Central Government of India cancelled class 10 board exams due to an increase in Covid-19 cases in the country. Students were promoted to Class 11 without even taking a single exam. Those who had spent the whole year training to excel in boards were devastated by this news. Many of them had no idea which path to take for their higher education.

Apart from attending long hours of online classes, schooling during the lockdown was mostly based on online assessments. To demonstrate their understanding of the content learned, students were required to complete test assignments with strict deadlines. Such activities were extremely difficult, sometimes due to inadequate network access and others due to a shortage of research materials. Also, the most dedicated students found the tight deadlines and difficult questions stressful.

The COVID-19 pandemic has a major effect on the nation’s educational system. Due to restrictions on mass meetings, educational institutions moved their courses to the digital domain. For certain students, this format of the curriculum is much more complicated than conventional education. In reality, many of them have developed vision, hearing, back pain, and other health problems as a result of their constant exposure to laptop and smartphone screens. However, one can remain hopeful that something good can be found in the present scenario.

The present crisis has prompted numerous international organizations to launch a collaboration between educational systems from various countries. It involves a variety of webinars, online workshops, and the sharing of perspectives by a large number of senior foreign professors. The crisis has sparked international collaboration and provided optimism that joint actions will assist in resolving issues with Indian educational systems.