The Covid-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented catastrophe worldwide. Everyone is affected under the influence of this unseen virus. Life and livelihoods of the people are severely disrupted. All sectors like industry, agriculture, tourism, transport and communication have been trying to reset their systems to move on with the go of life. The most sensitive and prioritised sector of human civilisation, education, too is trying to find better solutions.
Though the schools are closed, schooling continues. Online classes are going on through virtual platforms. Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft teams are now the most sought-after platforms. The contribution of YouTube is also to be accepted.
But the grey areas cannot be ignored. The virtual platform has drastically reduced classroom activities and personal interaction between teachers and students. Classroom ambience is always motivational. During the curriculum transaction in the classroom, both the teachers and students do stay in an attentive state and the indiscipline issues are immediately attended by the teachers. The teacher leaves no stone unturned dealing with students with special needs.
But the virtual platform has reduced the space of interaction and the teacher fails to comprehend whether the lesson is grasped properly by the students. Moreover, a limited scope is available for different kinds of activities, which were otherwise possible during the real classroom learning.
The playful methods, the experiential learning, live reactions of students are greatly missed by the teachers and students. However, the demand of the situation has made the teaching fraternity more tech-savvy. Interests of both the students and teachers are getting multiplied with each passing day. Every class adds to a new teaching experience. Better technology is explored to meet the challenges of online transaction of teaching and learning. Different co-scholastic activities are on a run now.
Prayer assembly, various competitions, different activities on observation days, training sessions and examinations are too conducted in online mode. The DAV Public school, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar is continuously striving for finding more opportunities amongst the limitations.
Efforts of the administration, teaching faculty, students community and parents, all the stakeholders, have joined their hands to extract the maximum from the current situation. What was only an imagination of Isaac Asimov in ‘The Fun They Had’ is now getting materialised. Thus, if this is going to be the future of schooling, better to get adapted to the ongoing situation; maybe, a mixture of both online and offline classes will be a reality. Since we cannot step back, moving on with the Change is wiser.
(The author is a senior faculty of English at DAV Public School, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar)
