DNA Special: Education system is stuck between online-offline modes

Schools of different classes in 9 states of the country opened for children from today. In Delhi and Rajasthan, where children from class 9th to 12th can now go to school, in Uttar Pradesh, even small children from class 1st to 5th have started going to school from today. However, when these children reached school this morning, it was nothing like it used to be for them.

When the students reached the school today, they realized how much the schools had changed and now nothing is the same. The rules have changed, the relationships have changed, and the method of studying in the class has changed due to coronavirus. There is no partner in the schools to share the desk because social distancing has to be followed. The children can neither share food with each other nor can share books with each other. Now children do not even get scolded because they forgot to bring their Home Work. Now they are scolded because they forgot to wear masks. Today, half the children are in the class and half the children are attending the class digitally from their homes.

In the last one and a half years, ever since the coronavirus came, the way of teaching in schools has changed. Now neither are the schools as they used to be a year and a half ago nor has the relationship between students and teachers been the same as it used to be.

Before the coronavirus era, schools were not only considered as temples of education, but they played the biggest role in the early development of any child. Children used to learn "Social Interaction" in schools, like studying together, eating together while playing, or sharing things with each other. Children used to learn all these things along with their studies in school. But this system has changed due to the closure of schools during the coronavirus period. Now children study online and many times many children do not even know the name of their fellow students.

Earlier, it was considered bad for school-going children carrying mobile phones. If a friend or teacher used to complain at a kid's house that he had come to school with a mobile phone, then it was a big deal. Parents had to answer in school and such children were also strictly dealt with. Parents also used to say that this mobile phone will weaken the eyes. But now things have changed. Now it is most important to have a mobile phone for studies and today, many parents get their children even expensive smartphones for better studies.

Earlier, in schools, children used to get classwork and homework. You might remember that notebooks used to have CW and HW written on them. Teachers also used to give punishment for not completing homework. Many times, some children used to take leave by making excuses and teachers used to call their parents when homework was not completed.

But now in the era of online studies, the meaning of classwork and homework has changed. Now children study online and teachers are not able to give them the same punishment if they do not complete the homework.

The relationship between teachers and students has also changed in the last one and a half years. Earlier, if the children made a mistake, the teachers were also held responsible for it as much as the parents. That is, teachers had a big role in the lives of the children. Many times, people also used to asked teachers what they have taught the kids and perhaps that is why many teachers used to be strict with the children and gave them punishments.

But now this relationship has changed a lot. Now many such apps have come in which children do not know which teacher will take their class today and the teacher does not know which children will be in his class.

This is to say that the online medium has reduced the warmth in this relationship. We are not saying that all teachers are like this. Even today, there are teachers who keep complete information about their students and pay attention to them.

But it is also true that now education has become a commercial activity and 'education showrooms' have opened in place of school, where you can take classes of different teachers and study according to your budget.

Earlier, there were Back Benchers, whose mind was less in studies and more in games and other things. While children used to sit on the front benches were promising in studies. And there was also a monitor of the class, who used to discipline all the children.

But there is nothing like backbenchers, frontbenchers and monitors in online studies. Now even if the children go to sleep with the camera off, many times the teachers will not know. Whereas earlier, teachers used to beat the children who were sleeping in the class. Such children were told that all their attention was on sleeping and they would go on sleeping for the rest of their life.

That is, now education has also become virtual, students have also become virtual and teachers have also become virtual. And so you can also call it the end of an era of schooling. There was an era when children used to study in schools on sackcloth and brought slate and chalk with them. Then the teaching of children on the blackboard started in schools. And now this study from the blackboard has shifted to the small screen of the mobile phone.