Redefining the Structure of Education due to COVID-19

Vinod Kakumanu
May 21, 2020, 11:39 a.m.

A minuscule virus that has paused the lives of men worldwide has definitely altered the traditional way of education.

The coronavirus has brought a shift in the millions of students getting educated from face-to-face lectures to online education. It seems that the new solutions for education could bring a drastic change in the face of the whole conventional way of learning. However, if we look at it for the long run it can change for the worse

It’s been only a few months that this pandemic has created a rage everywhere not sparing anyone to live at peace. The virus has spread rapidly across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the USA, and these countries have taken stringent measures to control the spread of the virus. As of March, data states that over 421 million children are majorly affected due to school closures implemented in 39 countries. This has led to many children engaging in temporary homeschooling, especially in the most heavily impacted countries like China, South Korea, and Italy.

Although it is too early to judge how COVID-19 will affect the learning systems in the future, but the signs show that it could have a lasting impact on education due to innovation and digitization.

There are 3 educational trends that hints towards future transformations:-

COVID can lead education to push its boundaries: The slow pace at which educational reforms were happening was lamentable with the age-old teaching methods and rote based learning. Nonetheless, the coronavirus outbreak has prompted the education sector worldwide to research to bring up innovative solutions within a short span of time.

To slow the spread of viruses many countries like China have started learning at home via interactive apps. Some schools have implemented asynchronous online tools (google classroom, youtube tutorial) with synchronous teaching method (face-to-face interaction)

In other countries like Lebanon some students have even started doing online classes for physical education. Students would record a video of them doing exercise, or any other athletic training and after editing sent it to their teachers

Countries like China, the US, and Japan are making most of the 5G technology which is prevalent in every nook and corner. They are combining the traditional in-person teaching with new pedagogical devices for better curricular goals. In this way they would get habituated with advanced learning vogue.

Growth in public-private educational partnership: The coalition is happening including government publishers, technology providers, educationistsetc who are coming together to maximize the usage of digital platforms until the crisis disappears.

The education ministry in China has assembled to develop a new cloud-based, online learning and broadcasting platform. The readtogether.com is an educational forum started in Hong Kong which is partnered by 60 educational organizations providing more than 900 learning materials including video, chapters, assessments, and counseling for free. Their motive is to function this even after the pandemic gets over.

From the above examples it is evident that education is receiving immense popularity and attention from government and non-government sectors and the funding from private sectors like Microsoft and Google in the US, Samsung in Korea, Alibaba in China, etc is only paving way for education to rise and bloom.

Widening digital divide: Around 60% of the population around the world is engaged in online learning but the underdeveloped economies are the ones who are facing a severe loss due to the shift in education. Some of the less affluent families are unable to afford pedagogical devices which are quite expensive. The exorbitant rates at which these devices are sold make students left behind and lose out on many lectures which further adds to their distress.

This digital gap would only be diminished when the cost decrease and quality increases in all countries, and thus strengthening socio-economic equality. Otherwise, the digital divide would broaden if the education continues making its progress through the latest technology

The sudden increase of this pandemic has enlightened us to be resilient to face various threats. It has also demonstrated us to upgrade ourselves with various skills and techniques at this phase to serve ourselves as a beneficial entity for the society and mankind in the future.