As schools remain closed, information and communication technology-based models have emerged as a solution to bridge the digital divide and ensure quality education, especially in rural India.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, when face-to-face interaction and physical classrooms became out of reach, various school teachers came up with a solution in the form of using ICT (Information and Communication Technology) tools for teaching and learning. The syllabus, teacher, as well as the students remained the same.

The only thing that changed was the method of teaching and learning. Though the teachers not able to connect with many children they sent the work through various I T Channel.

As per a UN report, school closures have impacted around 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary education in India. This pandemic has also impacted about 28 million children who were attending preschool education in ‘Anganwadi’ centres. In this scenario, many students did not expect to return to the institution which they left due to the closures. Many students may enrol in an institution closer to home, but others will be unable to return to their studies.

Digital divide is a reality

We can’t ignore the fact that students from remote areas, who are facing lots of difficulties during this pandemic, are not in a position to get benefitted from online learning- teaching methods. We also need to understand that this is not the first time that learning of children got hampered. It has been going on since ages. The states like Bihar, Assam face floods every year. In the regions of Kashmir and Northeast, there are several incidents of violence and similarly there are states where due to excessive heat, cold or rainfall, schools remain closed for months. Rural and tribal areas are facing three kinds of problems. The first is the availability of digital devices. Not every child has access to PCs, laptops or smartphones. Even if a family has one smartphone; it is not for the purpose of learning. The second is the network issue and the third is the data issue. Data is cheap in India but still not everyone can afford it.

ICT is a blessing in disguise

Although technology will never replace the existence of a physical classroom, there is still a need to develop a more child-centric education model mixed with textbook and technology. New generation is tech-friendly and modern devices attract them thInformation Technology: A ray of hope in Covid-19 darkness the time, we need to take it as a challenge to use digital devices as an educational tool, and making it as a platform to learn something new, to sow in them seeds of creativity. To make it possible, the teacher needs to come forward. If we see from teachers’ perspective, ICT tools are empowering them and helping them even in this time of epidemic to connect with fellow teachers virtually and to continue their teaching to reduce the loss of education to children and improve the things further. Usage of ICT tools gives access to students to do any course, at any time by connecting themselves with the best of faculty. It is cost-friendly and hence, irrespective of their financial condition, they can access a lot of contents and materials. It fills the broad gap between those who have access to a variety of contents in different languages and those who do not. Hence fulfilling the purpose of reaching the hearts of students instead of mind.

ICT tools have the power to make teachers reach an unlimited number of students which is not possible in a physical classroom, especially in a rural context, where dropout rates are higher and students do not attend school on a regular basis due to a restricted time table as they serve as a working hand for their parents. Using ICT tools are also environment friendly as it saves paper and hence ends up saving millions of trees. It also saves teachers’ time as they can solve a large number of pupils’ problems, doubts in a go and also in assessment process as their papers, assignment, projects can be checked quickly and feedback can be given immediately.

The pedagogy of teaching and learning also demands a change moving from a teacher centric approach to a child-centred one, making learning enjoyable and engaging for them. There are various examples of people who are coping with the current scenario and coming out with new innovative measures. While following physical distancing, the teachers started taking class with the help of various digital method.

As a result, children are now able to connect themselves and are studying by sitting at their home.

Today crores of students are using the apps made by him not only in India but also abroad.

The road ahead

India must focus on enhancing network connectivity so that students and teachers of rural areas can get benefitted. The Indian telecom sector needs to add additional mobile towers and implement the online education.

Currently, we have more content with engagement and entertainment purposes, and private players are converting this situation into a profit-making business model. They are not giving importance on child psychology, teaching pedagogy while creating contents. We should focus on capacity building of teachers so that India can leverage their skills for content creation.

As the Government of India is planning to convert school blackboard into digital board by 2022, we also need to focus on providing necessary things to schools so that they can use it with full potential. This corona crisis has taught us that we need to focus on the learning of children in the long run and for that ICT tools can play a very important role.