Remote learning the new normal in Telangana
Year 2020 exposes digital divide causing downtick in learning curve as online teaching replace in-person classes; Schedules of CETs disrupted
Hyderabad: The Covid-19 pandemic has hit normal life in the biggest of cities to the smallest of remote villages across the world. From the information technology sector to the construction sector, everything including education was being badly affected in 2020. Starting with the closure of educational institutions followed by the postponement of SSC Public Examinations and Common Entrance Tests (CETs), the pandemic has changed the teaching and learning process in Telangana as well.
Assessment
With all educational institutions remaining shut right from the day the lockdown was announced, the SSC Public Examinations were halted midway and later, all school students from Classes I to IX were promoted to the next class without examinations. This decision of the State government benefited more than 53 lakh students of government and private schools in the State.
As the virus continued to tighten its grip, 5.4 lakh Class X students too were passed without conducting the remaining SSC Public Examinations. This was done considering their internal assessment marks. Never in history has there been such en masse promotions of students to the next class without holding final examinations.
As most Intermediate Public Examinations were conducted before announcement of the lockdown, the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) could successfully release results of both First and Second year Intermediate examinations. Students who failed in the Second year Intermediate got huge relief as they too were passed without Intermediate advanced supplementary examinations. They were awarded minimum qualifying marks.
The schedules of various Common Entrance Tests for admissions into professional courses too were derailed. The Telangana State Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test which was scheduled in May could only be conducted in September, so were other CETs.
“Like other sectors, the pandemic has affected the education sector too. It was a gigantic task to conduct CETs during the pandemic with all Covid-19 safety protocols in place. However, we successfully pulled it off. We already started online classes for professional and conventional degree courses. I think it will take two years to set the academic year back on track,” Telangana State Council of Higher Education chairman Prof T Papi Reddy says.
Teaching and learning
The pandemic has altered the education sector with new ways of teaching and learning coming to the limelight. As educational institutions continue to remain out of bounds for in person classes, it has paved the way for remote learning. Homes have turned into classrooms with students attending online/digital classes on smartphones or tabs or desktops or laptops.
Online examinations, which were so far restricted to a few areas, have become a reality with several educational institutions assessing their students remotely. However, it also brought the digital inequalities among students to fore. While students from elite sections were able to access online education, those from economically weaker sections had to suffer due to lack of smartphones and computers or other gadgets besides internet facility. For such students, the State government had commenced digital classes through television transmissions on T-SAT network channels and Doordarshan from September 1 and has been successfully running them.
Some schools like the ones of the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) went a step further and launched the Village Learning Circles (VLCs), where high school students teach their peers and children from other classes.
The MNCs and startup companies, which make a beeline to the universities and colleges for their annual campus placement drives, too went online to recruit students.
“The Covid-19 has affected the education sector badly. The government should announce a proper almanac for all educational institutions. Even though vaccines have come, Covid-19 safety protocols should be followed at least for one and half years,” says Osmania University former Vice-Chancellor Prof T Tirupathi Rao.
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