LettersCovid pandemic shows online learning is here for good: the mental barriers must go

Name: Roadside classes help underprivileged pupils cut off from Indian schools during Covid-19 pandemic
Uploaded: 2021-01-02T23:00:18.000Z
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Description: Roadside classes help underprivileged pupils cut off from Indian schools during Covid-19 pandemic

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A girl uses a tablet to complete her schoolwork at home in Bangkok on May 10. More than a billion children worldwide have seen their school and home life upended by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a UN agency. Photo: AFP

Letters

Published: 7:00am, 3 Jan 2021Updated: 7:00am, 3 Jan 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic has made one thing abundantly clear – technology is the only answer to all our current miseries, constrictions and incompetence. And while every person and business has suffered, the future of education worries me the most.

The alternatives to in-person learning provided by information and communication technologies are not completely ready, nor are the teachers and students who are supposed to use them, especially in less developed societies. In fact, technology, as presently utilised in schools and colleges, is more a problem than a solution for countries like India.

Not every teacher or student is adept at using computers and smartphones. Hundreds of thousands of students do not even possess smartphones. For those who do, connectivity can be a challenge.

While the list of technical, financial, logistical and other reasons why teachers (barring a small fraction of those belonging to high-end schools in urban areas) are struggling to deliver online learning is endless, the mental acceptance of this mode of learning seems to be the bigger hurdle (“In coronavirus new normal, give teachers time to learn”, December 25).

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Roadside classes help underprivileged pupils cut off from Indian schools during Covid-19 pandemic

Does the average human mind react similarly to all kinds of change, especially when it’s sudden? Not too long ago, when concepts like e-commerce and online retailing were introduced, they were greeted by consumer scepticism and fears about data security and credit card theft. Today, e-commerce giants rule the roost worldwide.