COVID and Education

The pandemic has exposed inequity as an immediate concern. This article draws its insights on ground issues faced by schoolteachers from across the country in their efforts to connect with their students during phases of online teaching at a time of social distancing. By reflecting on these insights, we indicate some aspects that can be focused on for systematic strengthening by the government and other organisations in the coming months, for a relatively seamless and synchronous teaching–learning experience.

Can online education enable all students to participate in and benefit from it equally? Massive online education without addressing the huge access gap and disparities in digital infrastructure would not only exclude a vast majority of students from learning opportunities but also exacerbate the existing socio-economic disparities in educational opportunities.

A university teacher assesses what is wrong in visualising the online space as a place for regular education. In the context of the pandemic, the situation is even worse, not better, for the suitability of online teaching as a surrogate. It also has a particularly heinous effect for women, both female students and female family members. Given the grossly unequal burden of domestic work that women share at home, often the female students would have to take up additional domestic responsibilities during lockdown. In a different situation, enforced carving out of silence and privacy in the cramped domestic space may imply that the mother adjusts her own work-time and domestic schedule silently.