The massive outbreak of the deadly Coronavirus has
affected all the sectors of the global economy. Lock-downs, work from home,
webinars and online classes has become the new normal these days. The pandemic
has been affecting over 98.5% of the students and learners worldwide because of
the lockdowns imposed in most of the countries. Many schools and universities
have shifted their physical classrooms to online lectures. But is digital learning
really an effective substitute for schools?
Many countries have implemented school closures to
slow down the spread of this virus and to practice social distancing. While it
is a great measure taken by the governments to stop community transmission, around
1.54 billion students around the world has been affected by it. The use of
virtual education here is a great replacement for the traditional way of
learning in classrooms and will also make the education system technologically
advanced. But not all students have access to the internet, which makes it even
more challenging to keep learning uninterrupted. And also, most of the schools
aren’t well equipped to provide online education and are therefore still
struggling to provide digital content to their students.
Although the effectiveness and quality of the online
classes remains a debatable topic. It might not be as engaging as physical
classrooms and face-to-face conversations. Network issues might also be a
problem for many and also it will not be good for the eyes to look at the
computer/phone screen most of the time. Also, there might be a distracting
environment around the student which makes effective learning impossible
because the student will find it difficult to concentrate when around family members
or in a noisy surrounding. Debates, eye-to-eye contact, student-to-teacher
relationship and interesting classroom discussions will be lost in the digital
learning process. It can never be an effective substitute for the physical
classrooms.
Not only studies; examinations, promotions to next
class/semester and placements have also been affected. Questions are also being
raised on how to evaluate students in a fair manner. Schools and colleges are
not just for education, it also teaches life skills and social interaction
which cannot be done online. School closures will have the most negative impact
on the under-privileged students because they are unable to keep up with online
learning thing due to lack of resources. And also, they are most likely to drop
out of schools when the school re-opens.
This is likely to have a big impact on the society as
students are the future of a nation and education is the most important pillar
in building one’s future. As the virus still continues to be a threat to the
humanity, we are yet to see how effective digital learning will be for the
student’s and the country’s progress.
