What are the advantages and disadvantages of online education in India?
In this article, I am discussing the advantages and disadvantages of online. The students can study comfortably from home, but yet cannot imbibe some values such as discipline, time management, or social manners etc. So, the teachers, parents and students should play an important role to study even better at home.
Today, schools are providing online education to the students, due to the pandemic situation in our country. During the previous year, college students and higher-grade students attended classes for nearly three months. But due to the worsening situation in our country, the schools are not conducting classes even today. The second wave of coronavirus affected more than 10 million people across the nation. The schools are providing online education to the students and are struggling to earn bread. The students are watching the videos sent by the teachers or attending virtual classes. Advantages of online education
The students are studying comfortably at home sitting on a cosy chair and loitering around the room while studying. Many schools are providing recorded videos to the students as they are not able to conduct virtual classes. The students can study whenever they are free. They are not pestered by their parents to wake up early in the morning and become ready to go to school. The teachers or principals are not constantly monitoring their activities and hence they are independently performing their tasks. Some children even learn to understand concepts or topics, referring to textbooks or other sources such as the internet. As the teachers are not always available to clarify doubts the students are exploring different ways to learn any concepts or topics. Some children are even exploring some innovative ways of studying. They are learning to gather information, browsing the internet and are independently preparing their notes. They can also learn to prepare an online presentations using tools such as ppt. etc. When they feel bored, they can loiter around the room or home and look outside the window. They can watch beautiful landscapes, greeneries or busy streets and feel relaxed. But in school, the teachers do not allow them to look outside. They also learn to use interactive tools on smartphones to effectively interact with their mentors and clarify doubts. Hence, they learn to communicate with the teachers in school. Many teachers are sending recorded videos and hence the students can watch the videos more than once to understand the concepts better. Disadvantages of online education
Every student in our country is not benefited due to scarce resources. Many schools are unable to conduct virtual classes because many students cannot afford to buy an expensive tablets, laptops or systems. Many parents cannot provide more than one cellphone to their children. The teachers are sending videos on apps and the students are watching videos whenever they are free. The students living in remote areas are unable to download videos quickly due to constant technical problems. The teachers are not able to update students progress because they are not able to download authentic software to track student's progress. Many schools are providing question papers to the students and insisting they answer the questions at home. So, many students are not sincerely attempting questions, but copying answers from their fair books or textbooks. Many schools conducting virtual classes are providing Multiple Choice Question papers online. The students should simply, tick the correct options. The schools or students cannot afford to download expensive software to monitor the activities of the students during an examination. They are unable to download the software that can deny internet access during an examination. Many parents are not able to provide high-speed mobiles or smartphones to their children. The students should be sincere enough to answer the questions honestly. Earlier the students stood in the assembly during the morning session and chanted prayers. They attended each session for 45 minutes. They completed their classwork within the specified time. But, the students are not effectively able to manage time at home as nobody is supervising them. In school, the students follow the rules and regulations. They do not create any noise in the classroom, greet the teachers as they enter the classroom and eat their lunch during the specified time. But, every parent pampers his child at home and do not impose rules and regulations. How can we make online education effective
Role of parents
During this period, parents play an important role in educating a child. The parents should realize the importance of sincerity and commitment and inculcate these values in children. They should encourage their children to answer the questions honestly without referring to books or online resources. If they are not answering honestly, they are not deceiving the school authorities, but themselves. A student should learn and understand the concepts taught in textbooks during the academic year. If they are not able to learn the concepts, then they should clarify doubts online or strive to learn the concepts. They should be prepared for the examination and should answer the questions honestly. If the students copy answers from textbooks, fair books or other sources even without understanding the concepts, then can they effectively learn advanced concepts? When the schools reopen, then the students should appear for offline examination. Then they cannot answer the questions easily or may even fail in the examinations. The students then become answerable to the school authorities. The parents are like mentors in the schools, until the schools re-open. They should focus upon values such as time management and discipline and teach the children to inculcate them to become successful. The parents should teach a child to fix a goal in mind and implement some simple strategies to achieve the goal. Role of teachers
Although teachers cannot conduct the examination in a classroom or use advanced software to monitor the students during an examination, they can use better methods for assessment. They can conduct an open-examination system to access the ability to explore the world around them. Sometimes, they can provide some practical assignments and insist the students send videos of the task. They can also conduct oral examinations periodically and may interact with the students weekly or monthly.
Online education is good for working people who want to improve their qualifications and get additional skills. They can go through the recorded lessons received at their convenience and complete the course. That is a boon for them.
During this pandemic, this online education system saved two academic years and students could manage their education through this. But online education will never give the environment of the class. The ambiance will be entirely different. The teachers may not be able to concentrate on each and every student. That is why more responsibility will be there on the parents. But working parents may not be able to give sufficient time to the children. That is one of the problems in this system.
A good article from the author.