By Albert Thyrniang
We are seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases in India. The curve is not flattening. Community transmission is perhaps already happening. Infection is expected to peak in June-July. Normalcy will not return soon. There is a light but it is too dim in the long tunnel.
The outbreak has put education in a spot. Among the all-embracing challe-nges, education is a key sector that is and will be severely impacted by the disease. According to reports except for Australia, Singapore, Sweden, Cuba, Tajikistan and Taiwan, schools and educational institutions all over the world are closed. In India, even if economic activities return, normalcy in educational campuses will be kept on hold.
The North Eastern states are almost a green zone. But the situation could take a turn for the worse at any time. Tripura is a case in point. The total count has risen to 156 in a matter of days. Till very recently Guwahati city was free of COVID-19 but now many locations are confinement zones. In such a scenario no government will think of reopening educational institutions. Social distan-cing is impossible in a 60/70 capacity classroom, in stairs, corridors and in the playground.
So, the impact already felt will be lengthened. Discussions on the impact on education are on and alternative means of teaching and reaching out to students are being suggested. The most common suggestion is online classes. Many schools have already initiated this new technology even before COVID-19. Some institutions have begun instruction through Whatsapp by uploading videos, visuals and other study materials for students to learn from.
To some extent education has shifted from physical classrooms to online classrooms and e-learning. E-learning does enable students to access all required study materials through the internet. Here teacher-student interaction is also available and instant feedback is possible. Online assignments and evaluations are also done together with personalized learning.
However, this mode of learning is limited. To make things crystal clear let me cite a personal example. My present place of work is a place called Umswai, the home of the Tiwa or Lalung tribe situated a little inside Assam bordering Ri Bhoi district. Here poor communication is a perpetual handicap. The other day my assistant teacher created a class X Whatsapp group hoping to reconnect with our senior-most students and engaging with them in some ways. To our utter surprise out of 39 mobile numbers provided for office record only 10 have Whatsapp. So only ten students might benefit from Youtube videos and recorded classes by teachers.
In the last 15/20 days there was hardly any mobile service. Network signal would come for 20 minutes or half an hour and hibernates for the rest of the day. Even if network signal shows on your mobile you can only make voice call while data service is cut off. In such a scenario how are online classes possible? In fact, any modern means involving new information and technology is presently out of the question.
Another huge challenge is that many students are out of the vicinity of the school. They are in their villages with no mobile connection and electricity. Two days ago we took an hour long bike ride to a village and found students working in jhum cultivation sites. How do you connect with these hard working kids, technologically? They might have seen videos on YouTube and Facebook while they are within walking distance from school, but in their villages they are in a different world altogether. A few might not even re-join school post COVID-19. Some might return late further aggravating their academic loss. The best option to evaluate them is on their farming, handicraft and cooking skills. A livelihood approach could be the best bet.
In Umswai electricity is a luxury. We have electricity for hardly three to four hours a day. In rainy season, we are without electricity for weeks, even months together With a history dating back to 1951 under the defunct United Mikir Hills and North Cachar Hills and then under the downsized Karbi Anglong in 1976, the district is one of the oldest and biggest but God alone knows why it is still one of the most backward districts in Assam, if not in the country. The extremely poor infrastru-cture in education, health care, road connectivity, communication etc are man-made features of this naturally charming region. The situation is worse in the 2015 bifurcated West Karbi Anglong district. Anyway, challenges in these two districts are saved for another column. For now the statement of a prominent educationist and social worker is noted, “Karbi Anglong follows a similar pattern of all border districts. They are nobody’s babies. They are neglected, ignored and voiceless.”
The vast majority of students in Karbi Anglong are presently left with no learning whatsoever because of network and electricity, distance and other issues. Being a Meghalayan and having made Garo Hills a home for 14 years one can see this pattern in the Abode of the Clouds too. You have the border districts of South West Garo Hills, West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills in unwanted competition with Karbi Anglong. In relation to the subject at hand one can quite clearly visualise a sorry picture. Most of the students of government and aided schools and colleges in Tura, Williamnagar, Resubelpara, Nongstoin, Mawkyrwat and other centres have returned to their villages. Online classes or even learning through WhatsApp and other social media platforms are impossible. The plight of students, except for a small percentage of urban dwellers, is pretty much the same throughout Meghalaya and the North East.
The report, ‘Digital India – Technology to Transform a Connection Nation’ by McKinsey Global Institute in 2019 reveals that, ‘India is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for digital consumers, with 560 million internet subscribers in 2018, second only to China’. As of January 2020, the country’s digital population rose to 688 million but the internet spread in the country is only 50% in 2019. If we can say that North East has a much lower internet connectivity than the national figure, then the percentage of students who are left high and dry during the lockdown could be anywhere between 70-80 percent.
On inquiring from a college teacher, he said, “I have only a notepad phone. I am not on WhatsApp. I don’t know what Facebook is. I have no idea about online classes..” Probably there are several teachers and even professors like the above old timer. Online classes and similar stuff are not their cup of tea. They are just not able to handle modern technology. They are un-teachable. But what do you do with them? Replace them? The digital challenge in education is further compounded.
COVID-19 has no doubt forced all stakeholders to rethink the Education System, the implications and new opportunities that could turn out to be blessings in disguise. One could see a massive digital revolution post lockdowns. There is no escape for education but to go the digital route. A paradigm shift in teaching and learning process has to take place. This will eventually evolve but it will take time and more importantly, resources. Social spending has increased manifold. There’s need for massive social infrastructure push. Poverty eradication has to be the top priority.Voices suggesting cutting down on defence expenditure and reallocating it to education and health have already surfaced.
In the meantime we are left with only empathy for thousands of students who are adversely affected by the extended lockdowns. While a few might keep on learning through the digital mode, the rest will be left far behind.
DELL Technology Reportin 2017 predicts that 85% of jobs that will be up for grabs in 2030 do not exist today. Agreeing with it, the World Economic Forum Report foresees that in the years to come, 65% of the present Primary School children will be working in types of jobs that do not exist today. These future potential jobs will certainly be digital related. Thus the digitally and technologically educated students will have a clear edge on employment opportunities. What will happen to students who have no opportunity to learn digitally? What will happen to the poorer sections? Will their language and arithmetical skills be impaired? Will we see large scale dropout, unemploy-ment and un-employability in abundance?
The Wuhan originated virus has laid bare the existence of two worlds – the world of the poor and the rich. The infection has also exposed the digital gap. COVID-19 has reminded us again of the unpleasant fact, ‘Education is by no means inclusive let alone universal’.