With the second wave of Covid-19 lashing the country, the Government has closed the schools and colleges to contain spread of the virus. Classes are suspended and examinations are either cancelled or postponed indefinitely. The new academic year which began lately but with lots of hopes for the students was once again disrupted. Online education once again has acquired a new urgency during this period.

 The Central as well as the State Governments have come up with novel methods to facilitate remote learning and become successful to a great extent.

The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has initiated many programmes lie Diksha Platform, Swayam Prabha TV channel, online MOOCs courses, e-Pathasala, National Repository of Open Educational Resources, etc., to assist the teachers and students in the learning process. The State Governments and Union Territories have also launched many programmes to support online education like Social Media Interface for Learning Engagement (SMILE).

Padhai Tumhar Dwar in Chhattisgarh and Mission Buniyaad of Delhi are some of the successful digital education projects. Some States have even introduced innovative mobile applications and portals to facilitate e-learning.

Along with the Government initiatives, institutions also use social media apps like WhattsApp, Telegram, YouTube, Google Meet, Joom, GoToMeeting, etc., to provide digital education at the doorsteps of students. Students and teachers become accustomed to the new normal of online education and manage the teaching-learning process keep going. With these preparations, the stakeholders may not face hurdles in providing digital learning at the doorsteps, but there are other problems looming large over them beyond academics.

Conduct of examinations is the biggest problem for the institutions. During the first corona wave, they promoted the students of odd semesters. The final semester students appeared for the online/offline examinations as the UGC made it mandatory for the students to appear for the examinations. Things become easy for the students to pass in the online open book examination (OBE) and many of the students across the country are demanding online examinations.  The second wave of Covid has created a favourable atmosphere for online examinations. Online examinations are the only way available to continue the momentum in the academic sector.  However, students are not taking online examinations seriously but are serious about their examinations suffering much.

However, the digital divide in the society stands as a big hindrance for the continuation of the digital education as well as conducting examinations. In developed areas with affluent population, people can afford the cost of digital education.  In backward areas, there may not be good network and there may not be enough gadgets with the students to appear for the online examinations. At the same time, the academic institutions also may not be technically well-versed in the area of online examinations. It is the Government to take note of the situation and come up with plans to strengthen the institutions as well as providing gadgets and other necessities like network at concessional rates.

Apart from the academics, coping with the mental pressure of the students as well as the teachers is a matter of concern. With uncertainty of reopening of the institutions, the students and their parents fear about the loss of the academic year and the teachers will be in dilemma how long they continue the online classes. The plans of the administration wings regarding conduct of the examinations and admissions will be in jeopardy.

During the first wave of the pandemic, many State Governments have opened help lines for providing right counselling to the students and staffs. The Union Ministry of Education started Manodarpan, a dedicated portal, to monitor and promote mental health issues of students and staffs and provide necessary support to address the psychosocial aspects of the stakeholders.

With right support from experts, students, parents and teachers can prepare and cope up better. Maintaining mental balance for all the stakeholders is the need of the hour so that they can effectively overcome the constraint. It has become the primary responsibility of the Government to ensure accessible and inclusive education to students curtailed to the four walls of their homes and facilitate remote learning and education for all through online mode.

At the same time, the psychosocial aspect of the stakeholders should also be taken care of. But online teaching and examinations, if rightly implemented, can become a key feature of our education system even after the crisis of the pandemic.

(Dr Biswal is Head, Department of Commerce, Nowrangpur College, Nabarangpur-764063. Mob: 9437125286. bhaskarnathbiswal@gmail.com)