The change brought about by the novel coronavirus to humanity over the last few months is so drastic and sudden that the world is still struggling to comprehend and adapt to the situation. The crisis has affected almost everything, from economy to lifestyle to sports to mental health of the people besides losing lakhs of precious lives. One of the sectors that has been crippled and could have severe repercussions on the future of the society is education. This sector, which is one of the chief agents of change, has come to a grinding halt with traditional classroom learning being discouraged. Students, who were advised not to spend too much time on gadgets before the advent of coronavirus and that interpersonal interaction couldn’t be replaced by video conference or virtual communication, are today being asked to adapt to change and learn through content provided on gadgets. Situation has forced everyone, including the poor who can’t afford a mobile phone and those in rural areas with poor internet data connectivity to take up e-learning. Whether or not online learning will continue to persist post-pandemic is to be seen but the society should adapt to the change in order to ensure that students do not waste an academic year.
This shift to virtual learning and the lull during the pandemic should be taken positively; as a blessing in disguise to retrospect and set right the flawed education system, especially in states like Nagaland where Education department is treated as an employment-generating machine by many. Covid-19 has changed thousands of people’s perspective on life, make many realise the importance of community, and healthcare facilities enhanced drastically especially in neglected regions. The education sector too should be transformed into an asset for the society rather than a liability that burdens the state’s exchequer. The government authorities should now focus on rectifying flawed education system, do away with other corruption such as proxy teaching and non-existent educational institutions, and ensure that every student gets equal opportunity to education. Every little thing that obstructs the young minds from accessing quality education should be eradicated so that when people can freely shake hands and socialise again, students can get back to classrooms with new perspective on learning and freedom to think and analyse.
It is necessary to create spaces in educational institutions where students’ issues are empathised and learning capacity of every individual nurtured. Schools should be a place where children’s dreams, imagination and creativity are ignited and counselling should be offered to ensure the mental health of students. The ability to accumulate information and data, as well as scoring high marks in examinations should not be considered as the criteria to grade one’s intellect. Education should empower students with knowledge; enable them to think, analyse and understand. Both classroom and online education should help students imbibe certain qualities like adaptability, team work, perseverance, resilience, ability to make decision and accept failures, among others. Education should help them accept themselves and enable them to grow into self-reliant individuals. The society and parents have equally important roles to play in shaping the children into productive, resilient and good human beings.