COVID-19: Creating a paradigm shift in India’s Education System

A key aspect of coping with Covid-19 is to ensure that services are being delivered to whatever extent possible. While for professionals across industries it has been an easier transition as many of them work on their laptops and smart devices even in office. They can simply plug in at homes now. Of course, what is missing is face to face, personal communication which will get restored as and when things are back to normal. But students have had to make far bigger adjustments as learning has always been in classrooms which they can’t go to now. Besides many of them may not be that well equipped with technology tools to avail of remote learning. Here the Digital India vision of the government is emerging as a vital instrument for solving the present crisis due to Covid-19.

The lockdown has accelerated adoption of digital technology. Business houses, educational institutes, analytics, computer, data management methods and online education solutions have been forced to work in tandem and improve in quality and delivery time to handle such situations. This is an ideal time to experiment and deploy new tools to make education delivery meaningful to students who can’t go to campuses. It’s a chance to be more efficient and productive while developing new and improved professional skills/knowledge through online learning and assessment.

It is also a fact that use of technology in education is resulting in different concepts in the system, for instance the move from teacher-centric education to student-centric education.

We have been talking about virtual classrooms and various online tools today allow us to make the engagement between the teacher and students as close to a real, in classroom type experience, as possible. Going forward, these tools can also make the teachers and parent meetings as well as staff/management meetings more time and cost saving while providing the necessary interactivity.

Pedagogy in digital education is an important link between course content, educationists, technology and course-takers. Democratization of technology is now an important issue, comprising internet connectivity, telecom infrastructure, affordability of online system, availability of laptop/desktop, software, educational tools, online assessment tools, etc. But it is a fact that technology-based education is more transparent and does not make difference in front vs back benchers or girls vs boys.

Looking at this challenge of colleges and schools being shut, government of India, as well as state governments and private players have regularly been publishing information on various initiatives undertaken by ministries like MHRD, Department of Technical Education, NCERT and others to support and benefit youth/students.

A few of the initiatives are SWAYAM online courses for teachers, UG/PG MOOCs for non-technology courses, e-PG Pathshala or e-content containing modules on social science, arts, fine arts, natural and mathematical science, CEC-UGC YouTube channel, Vidwan – a database of experts who provide information to peers and prospective collaborators, NEAT – an initiative by AICTE based on the PPP model to enhance the employability skill among students, in collaboration with Education Technology Companies and National Digital Library (NDL), a repository of learning resources with single window facility. Many noteworthy initiatives have been taken up like Spoken Tutorial, Free and Open Source Software for Education (FOSSEE), e-Yantra, Google Classroom and so on.

It is fact that the government of India as well state governments, through their various ministries/departments, have created infrastructure to deliver e-education. These include National Knowledge Network (NKN), National Project on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), National Mission on Education Through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), National Academic Depository (NAD), among others.  All these enhance our ability to connect easily with institutions and enhance our access to learning resources. For instance, NKN provides high speed network backbone to educational institutes in India.

The online assessment agencies/private business houses are also improving the product, considering the limited bandwidth and social distancing, by managing remotely proctored examinations/skilling assessments. Basic requirements like sturdy education delivery platforms, IT infrastructure, PC/Desktop/Mobile for end-delivery and assessment tools have been planned and more improvement is underway.

Going forward, the use of technology in teaching or recruitment will lead to a new era wherein the best of faculty will be available from across the globe to students.  Education quality will be gauged not just by the quality of faculty but will also have quality of IT infrastructure and familiarisation of the faculty will digital teaching technologies as important parameters.

The physical infrastructure of academic institutions will have less impact on the quality of education and thus directly on the cost of education. Review meetings, parent-teacher meetings, subject conferences will be location agnostic. The real vision of the new education policy for liberal education will get executed. It is possible that in times to come, a student may be allowed to carry out courses from any College/ University based on quality of teacher and fees for the course irrespective of his location and finally will get degree from the home university where he / she got registered or from the university where he has taken maximum courses, resulting in a balance of economics of good education.

For all this to be a reality, a drastic change in thought process is required in the mind- set of policy makers, authorities, students and specially educationists. Faculty selection should gradually be linked to technology friendliness and keenness for technology adoption. Similarly, accreditation parameters, criteria need reconsideration. All these steps will help strengthen the country’s digital learning infrastructure in the long run. Covid-19 has only accelerated adoption of technologies to deliver education.

(The writer Dr Ashwini Kumar Sharma, Pro Chancellor, Vijaybhoomi University and Former DG, NIELIT, Govt of India)

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Nakalmand is the new Akalmand: Shallow reality of Indian education with #WhycheatIndia

India, today has been leveling up its name in terms of world class education. While its institutes escalate to the top of charts, entering these major universities is nothing less than a rat race. In a way, it helps filter prodigies from the pool of candidates applying, but those who get in, may not promise the level of competency expected out of them. Why if you ask? Answers Why Cheat India, a film starring Emraan Hashmi, which uncovers the loopholes in our education system.


Hashmi, who plays the mastermind of one exam scam, took to social media and shared a new promo of the film, along with its changed name. “Akalmandi nahi Nakalmandi” is what our system thrives on, as highlighted in the movie.

    Talking about the anomalies in the system, he said, “I have learned a few things in my school life as a student but there are lots of things which I haven’t learnt during that period. We concentrate on mugging rather than understanding a subject. In colleges, our faculties are unqualified or they are disinterested in teaching. We have limited seats in educational institutes where huge number of students pass out from schools and colleges every year.”

    When questioned about how the three word title (Why Cheat India) reflects the education system in our country, the actor replied “There needs to be more open dialogues, a logical and analytical way of thinking and a semblance of consistency which I’m not seeing. Our system is all about rote mugging, and not asking questions. No one is supposed to ask why, ‘why’?”

One can’t deny how big a ‘market’ education is in India. Commercialization of education has been prevalent since long, and so are the exam scams. Not just the students, the parents are at fault too. Their desperation to secure a desirable job redirects them towards undesirable means. A mother of a high school student, paid 16,000 rupees (£175) for her son to cheat. She believes “It isn’t cheating, it’s a way out.”

But however, as one digs deeper, more dirt is likely to be found. From the conventional Guru-Shishya Indian teaching, we have come a long way. The cheating mafias have taken over, who capitalize the desperation of students, and turn it into a detrimental business.

But with a country producing 17 million job seekers every year, there are only 5.5 million jobs. What is more jolting is the insecurity of unemployment that has made cheating a lucrative business.  People are eager to grease their palms with malpractices and unfair means to emerge on top.

Where is our educational system heading to? Is it really our way to achieve success? Here’s hoping that the movie Why Cheat India gives us a clear picture.