Rahul Bhandari, IAS
The rapid transition to online instruction has provided institutions with insights into how they can improve future approaches. Back home, this transition brought them face-to-face with some stark realities requiring them to change their mindset and approach towards online learning and teaching. It involved hardships for them and some self-taught lessons too.
Experience of teaching online in Punjab indicated that the process was not as easy as just switching to the smart devices. A large number of students belong to economically weaker sections of the society who do not have access to mobile phones. The girl students being a part of the patriarchal system do not have their personal smart phones. There are siblings who share a single device. Under the circumstances, managing with a single device becomes difficult for them. A few students would get to use the devices only in the evening when their parents, mostly the daily earners, would return home.
Certain institutional heads struggled with adapting to a “new normal”. Amid the government guidelines to call only 50 per cent staff to the colleges and Universities, they insisted that the teachers should take classes as per the prescribed time-table. In the extra-ordinary times, they did not realise that many students share devices with their siblings and the teachers too had limited resources.
Unreliable internet connectivity in the rural areas also played a spoilsport to online teaching. Many institutions do not have highspeed broadband capable of connecting large number of devices.
Despite all the odds, the teachers and students have successfully made the switch. They have innovated and changed more rapidly than they ever have before. Many of the institutions have also successfully conducted examinations for their outgoing classes and others are in the middle of the process.
A school in Japan created printed material and delivered it to students using the school transport. Similarly, some teachers in Punjab prepared noted, scanned them and sent them to their students. Such practices could be replicated in India.
The stakeholders also learnt from their experiences and tried to emulate informal networking in an online environment. They tried their best to build personal relationships with students and keeping them engaged.
The current times have tested the strength and competence of the teachers and students. They have sailed through successfully. Their efforts proved that people would rise to any challenge and be successful.