The Advent of Online Learning in India

With the arrival of the COVID 19 pandemic, work from home has become the new normal. As
work was essential for keeping the economy in place, so was education. The students couldn't
be left on hold for one or two years and neither could their degrees be delayed. This thus made
clear a new path to online or distant learning.

Besides multiple start-ups coming in the

But undoubtedly, there appear to be
market and private coaching and colleges
more advantages to this system than
switching to online education, disadvantages.
government colleges and even schools We will here try to see the various
did not lag behind for long. aspects of online education and how
Now, though this system is gradually this is becoming normal practice in
being absorbed by society, there are today's India
many who are not happy or completely
satisfied with this.
 Challenges Faced by Schools and Universities

• As the situation did not improve for very • With the increase in available
long, schools had to switch to online opportunities and resources online,
mode at very short notice. Neither were students have undoubtedly lost trust
the facilities so readily available nor were and interest in school education. Most
the officials properly trained. Most of the of the students prefer alternative
school and college teachers teaching sources available rather than relying on
online was not able to receive proper their school or university teachers.
training for this and many elderly ones Though this is good for the students,
were much technically challenged. attendance in online classes and
Teachers also had to be trained online attention of student has become a
and this further worsened the situation. cause of concern for most institutes.
• Most of the government schools and • For schools that have provided
normal degree colleges were not well- platforms for online teaching,
equipped with IT facilities that they can cybersecurity has become another
provide for internet services and proper major threat. With the increase in
platforms for making the teaching online activities, there has been a steep
process smooth. Having no other option, rise in cybercrimes. Not only students
internet availability was made the face the adverse effect of this, but also
responsibility of the teachers and not the the school administration
institute.
• Catering to the needs of students who
did not have proper internet connection
or smartphones was another problem
schools had to deal with. Now that even
final degree exams were also taken
online, it became even more important
that there was proper provision for
students who lacked these facilities.
• There was no proper facility to
troubleshoot technical issues that arose.
This led to huge time and money loss for
both the students and the teachers.
Though many schools have now provided
for remote IT helpdesk, this does not yet
seem enough to cater to the needs of all
the students and teachers.
 Advantages to Students
• The range of tools available for teaching has led to an increase in the efficiency of the
teachers. Virtual learning has made learning more interesting by the use of visuals,
videos, etc. Illustrating things has become easier and students also find it a lot more
interesting than the traditional measures.

• The barrier of time and geographical boundaries has vanished. Now students can
learn anytime anywhere in any condition. They can reach out to their favourite
teacher from anywhere and are no longer restricted to the limited number of schools
teacher available to them. Also, in case a student misses a lecture, the online courses
can be recorded and saved for future references. Thus, students won't be at a loss in
case they are not able to attend a class.

• Online resources are much more affordable than traditional methods. Now that
degrees can also be earned online, the affordability of many advanced courses will
increase manifolds. Nowadays there are hundreds of online websites offering
certified courses at nominal costs and that too very easily. Governments are also
supporting such start-ups and the count is only increasing day by day.

• The courses can be personalized in various ways and as the time foundations are
minimal, teachers are able to pay attention to students more easily if the needs
come. Start-ups like Unacademy provide personal mentors for students who
subscribe to their program and this indeed adds to the students' performance.
Disadvantages of the Online System
Disadvantages of the Online System
• While learning has brought in many • As there is minimal physical
opportunities, it has also brought in too interaction between students and
many distractions. There is also a teachers, students do not feel
greater chance for students to be easily connected to the teachers. Teachers
distracted by social media or other sites. are also not able to understand the
Thus, it becomes all the more important students and build trust in their
for the teachers to keep their lessons minds as they would have in offline
interactive and interesting to keep the schooling. This now becomes the
students' attention. responsibility of the teachers to
keep interacting with the students
• Gadgets and good internet connectivity and understand their state of mind.
are another limitation of online
teaching. Though internet penetration • For teaching and learning online,
has increased a lot, the remote and poor both students and teachers need to
section of society still lacks the have some sort of comfortability
availability of smart devices and internet with technology. Many times, elderly
connections. And even if they have, the teachers are not very technically
amount of data required for online sound and are thus not able to
classes can significantly add on the impart their knowledge well.
expenditure of the poor families.
Besides connectivity, good internet • Online learning has caused an
speed is also a major issue at many increase in health issues as well.
places. Long durations of sitting in front of
the screens are a cause of concern in
• Lack of peer company in turn creates a many households. In such a
sense of lack of competition. The scenario, it has become very
students no longer feel the competitive important to properly understand
nature of a classroom and this hampers and manage screen time to avoid
their performance to some extent. health problems.

Learning indeed is very important. And whether this new phase in education is beneficial
or harmful is an unending debate. This surely has many drawbacks but there is no
denying that is the new normal. The drawbacks and disadvantages are major but are not
incurable. Thus, to keep up with the pace of the world, it is very essential to keep up with
this new method of learning and also understand the efficient and balanced way of doing
this.