COVID-19 pandemic has seriously affected the education process of students at all levels. The lockdown imposed by the central government forced all schools and colleges to stop functioning hence all kinds of educational activities came to a grinding halt. In Goa there has been no classes for children since March 15, either in the schools or coaching centres.
Historically come June, whether rain or shine all parents rich or poor of school-going children were busy planning, preparing and purchasing a parafernália of school necessities and materials such as books, bags, rainwares of every kind, tiffin boxes and water bottles and not forgetting the all important task of covering the books neatly and systematically. By the eve of school reopening day every parent who was under the ward’s pressure had to ensure that everything was ready and in order to restart the new academic year.
Unfortunately this year there’s an unexpected change on account of the deadly pandemic. Excitement has given place to anxiety, certainty to uncertainty and lack of precise information about the reopening of schools to unprecedented tension. The whole situation is in a state of flux. Fear, frustration and panic has gripped the helpless parents as well as the students communities. Moreover the sudden and unexpected spike of positive cases in Mangor Hill, Vasco, has added a new dimension of apprehension and uncertainty of things yet to pan out.
Whether regular schooling will be replaced by the much talked and hyped e-schooling is yet to be decided.
So what’s in store for our children? Can online education replace the age old system of classroom teaching? It’s an accepted fact that online education or e-education may be possible if and only if every student has the required facilities and gadgets to receive the inputs.
Does Goa have the necessary infrastructure across the State to make online education possible and popular amongst students and parents? Are the teachers adequately trained for e-teaching? Has the training imparted by the Education Department in collaboration with the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) to over 10,000 teachers to conduct online classes be sufficient to do justice to lakhs of students of different backgrounds, the way it happens in the classrooms? How can the primary students be made to be attentive and disciplined to participate actively without personal assistance of someone responsible? How can disinterested and mentally challenged pupils be motivated and kept on course without adequate supervision? What about those students attending village schools and are financially incapable of acquiring of necessary equipments such as a TV, smart phone, tablet, laptop, pen drives and above all the much needed working internet connection? Answers to these questions are vital before any final decision is announced.
Under the circumstances schooling is never going to be the same as in the past.
