Page 32 - EducationWorld January 2021

Cover Story

FUTURE OF LEARNING

IN POST-PANDEMIC ERA

The malignant winds that have blown the Coronavirus over the Indian
polity devastating industry and business, have also blown some good.
They have thrust adoption and adaptation of new digitally-enabled
techonologies into the country’s reluctant classrooms

Dilip Thakore

A LTHOUGH INFECTION RATES AND virus has been on India’s under-funded and under-serviced

Yet perhaps the most devastating impact of the lethal
fatalities caused by the Coronavirus
pre-primary to Ph D education institutions. The country’s
pandemic are on the downswing in
estimated 300,000 preschools, 1.60 million K-12 schools,
India — possibly because of higher
39,931 colleges and 1,008 universities have been shuttered
in-built immunity to disease of citi-
zens of a polity in which for several
decades government expenditure
world’s most stringent national lockdown of all industry,
businesses and education institutions at four hours notice.
on public health averaged less than since March 25 when the Central government ordered the
1.5 percent — the socio-economic damage caused by the Since then, over 300 million children and youth have
deadly virus has been enormous and under-reported. been restricted to learning best as they can from their
Even as the Union Budget 2021-22, which is scheduled homes across the country. Although a small number of
to be presented to Parliament and the people on Febru- top-ranked education institutions have managed to make
ary 1, is being given its final touches, it’s clear that GDP, a smooth switch to new digital technologies- enabled teach-
which was expected to increase by a modest 5 percent in ing-learning, the vast majority of education institutions —
fiscal 2020-21, will contract by 7.7 percent according to a especially the country’s 1.20 million government schools
National Statistical Office (NSO) forecast. Moreover, the — have failed to maintain learning continuity.
unprecedented pandemic has increased unemployment According to the National Sample Survey 2017-2018,
from the normative 4-5 percent to 7.8 percent of the na- a mere 8 percent of Indian households with children and
tional workforce, and the number of unemployed is likely youth aged between five and 24 years have access to the
to rise to 37 million disrupting the lives and livelihoods of Internet and computer devices (desktop, laptop, tablet, etc).
an estimated 100 million households across the country. Moreover, with an estimated 18 million people having lost

32 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2021