The entire world is caught in a frantic and frightening rigmarole
that’s usually the stuff of bestselling sci-fi novels. In a matter
of months, the coronavirus contagion which germinated from China
has effectively spread across continents, devastating lives, businesses
and institutions. With a lockdown imposed in every affected nation to curtail the further mass diffusion of the virus, people are gradually coming to terms with what it means to live in a post-pandemic world. As the social and physical distancing is the key protocol mandated by health authorities, not just government and private offices but also all schools, colleges, libraries, universities, coaching centers etc too, have been shut down in the wake of Covid-19.

The problem

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This has hampered the effectual flow of the students’ learning methodologies and academic process across the country. With all centers of knowledge dissemination abruptly disbanded due to the Covid-19 pandemic, students and teachers alike are resorting to unconventional pedagogical pathways.
There has been a massive shift from the hitherto offline and physical mediums that traditionally dispensed education to online remote learning modes as a result of the edtech revolution. A student can now avail the same lessons from the security of his/her home through an abundance of edutech platforms that are available today. It’s true that due to the lockdown, students can no longer go to their school classrooms but that doesn’t necessarily imply that the classrooms cannot come to them.

The problem-solvers

Such a sudden and swift transition from the conventional brick and mortar process of school education to home-based remote online learning via edutech channels is visibly enough, reimagining and redefining the extant lack luster pedagogy in India. In the event of a country-wide closure, where public gatherings of all types are restricted, students are possibly amongst the worst affected section of society. Without access to school-education and the guidance of their teachers, they would have been left to fend for themselves, if not for the emerging edutech industry. By using a combination of advanced state of the art tech-innovations such as AI, ML and Deep Learning, these promising new-age online learning platforms are revolutionising the hitherto conformist pedagogical structures of the country.

Serving where it’s needed most

These online learning portals are proving invaluable in maintaining the learning continuum for students especially those from the weaker and marginalised sections of society. Imagine
the hardships faced by students who belong to the underprivileged and remote sectors in the event of the corona lockdown, a single teacher for over 200 students, and a shoddy, decrepit building functioning as a school. Now as even that is out of the picture, these students have no option but to rely on edtech platforms to supplement their educational needs.

They simply do not have the luxury of resources that are on the beck and call of their privileged counterparts.Thus, it is the duty of the government to ensure that the students residing in these obscured and impoverished regions of the country should have access to the minimum required facility, i.e. a computer system and an internet connection to make online learning a possibility.

Immense potential

Through an amalgamation of exquisite audio-video mediums and confetti of text, sound, images and film, online learning platforms are also reinventing the modes of disseminating knowledge. Through a mélange of quirky yet interesting, fun yet informative elements, these edtech channels are igniting a never-before-seen interest in the minds of young learners.
Whereas the earlier didactic system of conventional classroom teaching revolved around largely disinterested students who would simply
learn by rote and study only to fulfill the objective of clearing the examinations, this budding online approach attempts to captivate the students by presenting the lessons in a unique and learner-friendly format.

Sensible and sensitive

This helps in creating a natural inclination and proclivity on the student’s part towards learning new concepts and enhancing one’s critical and imaginative faculties. Keeping in mind the diverse cultural sensibilities and differential socio-linguistic features of the country these edtech platforms are also proffering online lessons in vernacular languages, besides the usual
Hindi and English.

Silencing the critics

Such an irrefutable slew of factors that depict the rising popularity and acceptance of online learning platforms have managed to win over its
share of critics and skeptics as well. With the newly developed, well-improved and affordably-priced learning formats that are in strict adherence to the curriculum and course guidelines as established by the state
education boards being provided by these edtech channels, even those parties who were hitherto dismissive of these conventional online learning platforms for their so-called superfluity of content and expensive nature, are beginning to embrace the widespread applications of online learning.

Edtech to the rescue

These ready-to-adapt online learning platforms have not only won over the hearts of students and teachers alike with their comprehensive educational offerings and an ever-widening scope, but also have managed
to impress the state education authorities. And suddenly with the discontinuation of all offline learning institutions, the onus is on these edtech platforms to capitalise on this opportunity and become a veritable learning partner, enabling the education process of about 260 million
school students in India.

Thus the education boards of almost every state in the country are collaborating with several edutech players to continue the process of pedagogical transmission and forwarding the academic trajectory of the countless students in the country who on account of the lockdown find themselves bereft of schooling and tutorage.

The writer is director and founder, Bright tutee