Online classes aren’t real education: House panel

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:7.8.2021 

In a significant observation, the parliamentary standing committee on education has said that “online education is not real education”. Observing that disruption of physical school activities is likely to impair the cognitive capabilities of students, it said in its report that lack of digital facilities and adaptation either due to “inaccessibility of technology or the educational backgrounds of their parents to guide them” has contributed towards learning loss among students of all classes and regions.

“Due to continued cessation of classes, learning loss is acquiring critical dimensions,” it added. The committee submitted the report to the Parliament on Friday.

Stating that immediate remedial steps are needed, the committee noted, “The learning loss of more than one whole academic year would necessarily have weakened the foundational knowledge of the students especially in the subjects of mathematics, sciences and languages at school level. This learning loss is a big deficit and is likely to impair the cognitive capabilities of students. This might have a debilitating effect on vulnerable sections of the society like poor and rural students, marginalised sections of society and young women who might have been unable to connect to any form of digital education during the pandemic.”

The report, titled ‘Plans to Bridge the Learning Gap... and Plans for Re-opening of Schools’, recommended accentuated vaccine programmes for all students, teachers, and staff, physical classes on alternate days, and developing a blended mode of education based on the experiences of the Covid-induced disruptions.

Highlighting in its report that the studies of 32 crore children have been affected by the pandemic, the committee also observed that most rural and remote areas lack digital facilities that has led to a huge digital divide. It added that though the ministry of education claimed around 85% students were connected with online classes and the remaining students were being approached with other modes, “the ground reality is completely different”.