Page 44 - EW August 2021

Cover Story

• All students returning for on- corporations and business and other
campus classes will have to submit professionals the world over will be
RT-PCR test reports confirming transacting most of their business
Covid-19 ‘negative’ diagnosis. remotely. It is wrong to compare
• All students returning to the digital with in-person face-to-face
campus should have completed two learning. It is like comparing Chinese
doses of Covid-19 vaccination and and Mughlai cuisine! Both have their
must have consent from parents/ upsides. Therefore, the best solution
guardians for returning to campus. is blended learning.
• Students returning to campus must Should schools be reopened urgently?
abide by all the Covid-19 proto- How prepared are IIS schools for
cols related to health and safety of on-campus classes? Schools should
students, faculty and staff of the reopen only when children are
university. Moreover, they will not be assured high degree of safety. There
allowed to venture beyond campus is need for caution, especially with
premises through the entire duration the third wave of the Covid-19
of their study programmes. pandemic around the corner.
What is your advice to government to Reopening school campuses and
make up for academically lost ground in classes is dependent upon customer
the pandemic era? perspective, i.e, parents’ sentiments.
Vaccination roll-out strategies has provided a valuable technology- Most parents, and rightly so, are
targeting selected groups should be driven learning experience. not ready to risk the lives of their
rapidly expanded along with public With blended learning, i.e, children, even if there is a fractional
health efforts to restore normalcy. conventional classroom education probability of danger to them. We
Mass vaccination of students, faculty supplemented with digital support, have recently signed a partnership
and staff in higher education institu- set to become the new normal, agreement with one of the country’s
tions are not without precedent. Cor- we have developed best blended most respected hospital chains to
nell University, USA has mandated learning practices. For instance, by ensure that all our teachers and
vaccination for all campus residents way of synchronous learning, i.e, staff are fully vaccinated and our
and visitors. compacting the syllabus and focusing campuses are completely safe.
This will restore learning con- on essentials. With the onset of the Meanwhile, it’s important that
tinuity and safeguard even against knowledge revolution driven by children are also vaccinated.
asymptomatic transmission. We the Internet and new challenges of Advice to digitally under-served schools.
believe that on-campus residential the Industrial Revolution 4.0, all Of the 196 million children in el-
education is best because it provides curriculums need heavy pruning and ementary education, 146 million live
experiential learning and co/extra- focus on essentials, especially design in rural India, where IT infrastruc-
curricular activities that are impos- thinking and digital fluency. I am ture is almost non-existent. While it
sible to replicate virtually. fairly satisfied that our quick and may be possible to provide them with
sustained shift to online learning has cheap or re-furbished computing
sharpened the critical thinking skills
Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray and creativity of our students. devices, the real challenge is Inter-
net connectivity. This is what the
CEO, Indus Trust Main factors behind smooth switch to Central and state governments have
sustained online learning and classes. to provide them with. Right now,
en (Retd.) Arjun Ray, PVSM, The key factor was our early realisa- there is no evidence this challenge is
VSM is chief executive and tion that online teaching-learning being given serious attention. Mas-
Gmanaging director of the Indus cannot be conducted in the same sive loss of learning is happening in
Trust (regst.2001) that has promoted manner as conventional classroom rural India which is likely to retard
the top-ranked, IB (Geneva)-affil- teaching. To do so is counter-pro- the cognitive and creative growth of
iated Indus International Schools ductive and harms student engage- a huge proportion of our children.
in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune ment. This awareness was followed It’s insufficiently understood in
which have an aggregate 2,900 by intensive research into online government and society that in the
children from over 30 countries education and experimentation until 21st century, international competi-
mentored by 450 teachers on their we got it right. tion is not between political and
muster rolls. Downsides of online education and economic, but education systems. In
this emerging scenario, India is at a
Degree of satisfaction with forced switch percentage of learning loss. There serious disadvantage.
to online learning. Notwithstanding are no downsides or learning loss. Advice to government to make up for
poor IT infrastructure in India, and Digital-enabled learning is an
loss of more than one year of learn- alternative form of education that lost learning during the pandemic. The
only solution is a national shift to new
ing for most children, for the Indus stimulates non-linear creativity and
International schools in Bengaluru, critical thinking. It’s important to technologies-enabled blending learn-
ing, and compacting school syllabuses.
Hyderabad and Pune, the pandemic appreciate that in the near future,

44 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2021