Sourabh Jyoti Sharma

Date of Publish: 2021-07-21

'E-learning' or Learning Online : ‘Paradigm Shift’ or ‘Paradise Lost’ ?

Introduction

“I am not an enthusiast about on-line teaching. We need human interface with students for good communication. That is how young minds can be inspired.”-Prof. C.N.R Rao, eminent scientist, former scientific adviser to the PM of India in June, 2020

“Educational software, like textbooks, is only one tool in the learning process. Neither can be a substitute for well-trained teachers. Technology itself is not transformative. It’s the teacher, the pedagogy, school etc that is transformative.”-Views of noted educationists Keith Krueger and Tanya Byron.

‘E-learning’ is an umbrella term which shows learning done at a computer, usually connected to a network, giving us the opportunity to learn electronic materials anywhere and at any time. (Nayak, 2013)

Learning online or e-learning or digital learning has become the indispensable imperative in the ongoing global Covid pandemic situations as after the economy, the education sector is being badly hit, directly affecting the future of millions of students across India and the world. Hence, 'e-learning' or 'learning online' has become the only alternative for enabling continuous learning or acting as a learning enhancement for our students during these extraordinary circumstances.

Photo-Kabita Patgiri

Accessible Education and Limits of ‘E-learning’

But again the main issue of unbridgeable ‘digital divide’ has hit the ‘only alternative’ learning process as has been ‘shockingly’ pointed out by the NCERT’s latest survey (August, 2020) amongst students of Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs), CBSE schools, Navodayas (NVs) that one out of three students have faced difficulty in e-learning, only 27 percent students have smartphones/laptops of their own and 28% of them pointed out poor or lack of electricity as the major hindrance in accessing e-learning platforms. On an average 60 percent students have found ‘e-learning’ as ‘joyful and satisfactory’, particularly social science subjects. Rest found it difficult or less user-friendly.

Above all, not all subjects can be taught online as the Survey pointed out that teaching science subjects can be deeply problematic for both teachers and students via online mode. Most importantly, apart from citing the ‘language’ problem of teaching online, the Survey also pointed out that how to teach deaf, dumb and blind ‘Divyang-jan’ (PWDs) students digitally will also going be a big challenge for both the stakeholders and government for ensuring 'holistic-inclusive-accessible-affordable-equitable' education.

Photo -Lopamudra Bhattacharya

Issue of ‘Digital Toxification’ and E-learning

Another equally important issue inherent in the quest for digital learning is the issue of ‘digital toxification’, which is the root of growing cases of juvenile delinquency, child crimes etc as well as health related issues like eye problems, obesity, spondylitis etc and mental health related problems like depression, ‘attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder’ (ADHD) etc amongst kids, adolescents and adults, literally 'drowned' in the proverbial deluge of their 24x7 'digital zindegi'.

Today, a child is exposed to ‘digital toxification’ at a very early stage in his or her growing up process, thanks to both parental and societal obsession cum pressure to have so-called ‘smart-kids’ to showcase as akin to ‘show pieces’ to create ‘shock and awe’ reactions from people in our neighbourhood, in school events etc. As a result, we are witnessing today ‘loss of innocence’ at an early age, ‘loss of creativity’, ‘loss of fellow-feelings’, ‘loss of sensitivity’ and above all, ‘loss of humanitarian empathy’ amongst the students, adults etc addicted or ‘drugged’ in the ‘smart opium’ called ‘digital toxification’ !

This is the bitter truth but the hard reality in today’s ‘digital era’. Hence, the imperative of ‘e-learning’ must also have an in-built mechanism to ‘educate’ the users about the equally imperative issue of ‘digital detoxification’ or ‘digital detox’ as a ‘must have’ to protect its users viz. teachers, students, parents etc from the hazards of ‘digital toxification’, while imparting 'learning online'.

Recently, the Ministry of Education, Government of India issued a ‘digital learning guidelines’ called ‘Pragyata’ to fix a minimal time frame in a day for rendering ‘e-learning’ to the students of all the public and private educational institutions in India. It calls for effective monitoring of its implementation by all the stakeholders.

PM Narendra Modi, while addressing the state education ministers of India recently on the new ‘National Education Policy’ (NEP, 2020), also talked about minimising the problem of ‘digital toxification’ as well as his push for having an inclusive, equitable, affordable and accessible pan-India ‘e-infrastructure’ under the flagship program of ‘Digital India’ in near future.

Photo courtesy-Kabita Patgiri

Internet and Electricity Accessibility in India

Now, let’s look at the digital and electric networks in India. As per www.statista.com in 2019 all-India internet penetration is only 36 percent and 38 percent in India and Assam (including NE states) respectively, which means people having high speed broadband connectivity will be even much less than that. Again 24x7 electricity is a must for accessing the internet but except Gujarat, no other states and UTs in India have that today though as per World Bank data about 95% of India’s population has access to electricity in 2018 but said nothing on the ‘quality’ of it. Teaching community and students in Assam bears its best testimony today with online classes, webinars etc getting disconnected due to frequent power-cuts, apart from poor internet connectivity on both ends, badly affecting delivery, quality, attendance, interest etc of e-learning and e-learners.

Though India enacted the Information Technology (IT) Act way back in the year 2000, push for building digital infrastructure under ‘Bharat Net’ was on a very slow pace till PM Narendra Modi launched ‘Digital India’ in July, 2015 with the motto ‘power to empower’ to fast pace it. According to the CII-KPMG Report of February, 2020 - an affordable and pan-India covered ‘optical fiber network’ (OFN) is the backbone of India’s fast growing ‘digital economy’ and ‘digital education’ as the linchpin to the implementation of ‘National Digital Communications Policy’ (NDCP), 2018.

Notwithstanding the ongoing efforts put by Government of India for realizing an all pervasive inclusive, accessible and affordable pan-India high speed 24x7 internet or digital connectivity under the aegis of 'Digital India' mega flagship, the rural-urban digital divide still persists. According to a front page news report published by Niyomiya Barta, an Assamese daily on June 9, 2021 – there is no internet connectivity in 1,231 villages in Assam, only 42.3 percent male and 28.2 percent female population in Assam have experience of using internet, only 68 people per 100 persons possess mobile phones etc. The report quoted data provided by the Union Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad in Lok Sabha in February, 2021, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), 'National Family Health Survey' (NFHS) Report of 2019-2020 [for 18-49 age group] that over 55 thousand villages in India have no internet connection that also include 1,231 villages in Assam. As per 2020-TRAI data – Assam has one of the lowest mobile phone density in India which is 68 as compared to the average 87 people per 100 persons in India with only Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh trailing behind Assam. This is only about normal mobile phones, whereas majority of people in India across the rural-urban landscapes still do not possess smartphones having 4G internet connections. As per the NFHS data, Assam is second from the bottom on the list of having even single prior-experience of using internet which is only about 43 percent male and about 28 percent female.

The rural-urban digital divide as regards to the usages of internet have also revealed the glaring gender disparity or male-female divide as has been starkly visible in the NFHS report. About 67 percent male population in urban areas in Assam use internet as compared to only about 37 percent in rural area, whereas 49 percent female population in Assam's urban areas use internet as compared to only 24.4 percent of its counterpart in rural hinterlands.

Now let's look at the main fundamental aspect of having robust internet connectvity, which is the the internet speed or having high speed broadband cum optical fibre networks. As per 2020-TRAI data, Assam as well as the rest of the NE states, due to various technical cum geographical reasons etc, has one of the slowest internet speed in India. As mentioned by the TRAI, internet speed of both Airtel and Reliance's Jio - the two main internet service providers in Assam is very poor with 4.4 mbps download speed (DS) and 7.6 mbps upload speed (US) of Airtel and 4.9 mbps DS as well as 2.6 mbps US of Jio.

Hence the crux of the whole facts cited above is that the present digital environment in Assam as well as across most of India's territory is not at all conducive for imparting E-learning or online education. The other major impediment of E-learning in Assam is the lack of interest cum awareness of the netizens in general and the students in particular towards the ongoing efforts by the Assam government for popularising creative E-learning platforms like the 'Biswa Vidya Assam' Youtube Channel for the students of classes six to ten standards. The channel which was opened around June-July, 2020 has less than twelve thousand 'Subscribers' in June, 2021 ! Therefore, is it not suffice to say that E-learning or 'online education' only exists for the namesake in Assam as self-evident by the aforementioned data plus as it finds responses from only a few takers or stakeholders in the state ?

Photo -Lopamudra Bhattacharya

Digital Learning and new National Education Policy : Quo Vadis ?

As the new National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 also endeavours for 'holistic – inclusive-accessible-affordable-equitable' education - the importance and imperative of ‘e-learning’ via e-platforms, tv, radio, mobile apps like the DIKSHA, NROER, E-vidya, Vidyadan, E-pathshala, SWAYAM, MOOCs, Swayamprabha, ‘Biswa Vidya’, ‘Biswa Vidya Assam’ YouTube Channel etc have increased manifolds as an integral or indispensable part of futuristic ‘blended education’ under which 30% of all classroom learning to be imparted digitally or online. Big challenge will be to implement it ensuring ‘digital equity’. Community Radio (HAM/FM etc), being affordable, non-electrical and with all pervasive in access, can greatly help in ensuring continuous learning as empirically demonstrated in the most backward countries of Africa like Sierra-leone during the recent Ebola epidemic. Our own experiences in learning during Covid era, can also be great help to transform the new 'NEP into a 'pandemic proof', future ready yet actionable education policy for the 'New India' that has now emerged as the world's 'Knowledge Superpower'.

Let's also keep in mind while strategizing on effective execution of 'e-learning' in India that not all the stakeholders are tech-savvy being the new or recent ‘digital migrants’. So, without proper training in transforming each of them from being ‘literate’ to ‘e-literate’ - all our efforts for ‘e-learning’ are going to fail. The Education Ministry has recently launched an integrated teacher training programme called ‘NISHTHA’ to train over 4.2 million teachers at elementary level for the ‘capacity building’ for digital learning enabling usages of popular e-learning platforms/apps like ‘Google Classroom’, ‘Google Meet’, Zoom etc. with ease.. In the same way, ‘Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission for Teachers and Training’ (PMMM-NMTT) needs to be re-oriented, apart from conducting Faculty Development Programs (FDPs), for training of faculties of colleges and universities for effective ‘e-learning’. Because, 'trianing the trainers' for effective e-learning delivery is a must to be followed by 'training the recipients/students' to receive or use it rightly.

Whither ‘Guru-Shishya Parampara’ in ‘E-learning’ era ?

Though there can be no second opinion on the indispensability of digital learning not just during the present Covid crises but as an ‘idea whose time has come’, one thing we all must remember that learning is not a mechanical process in feeding the minds of the students with lots of information alone in the name of imparting “education”. Distinguishing between ‘education’ and ‘information’, Swami Vivekananda observed, “…If education is identical with information, the libraries are the greatest sages in the world, and encyclopaedias are the Rishis…” (CWSV : V3, P302).

Today, when one can get all information on almost anything just by ‘Googling’, why then the Government thinks or we all want a good teacher ? Because, the teacher’s role is to act as the ‘friend-philosopher and guide’ of the students, he/she teaches or mentors. It is the teacher, his teaching, his emotional cum psychological bonding with students and overall pedagogy cum environment of the educational institution that shapes and transforms the students, not just only applying the technology to impart online classes alone. As eminent scientist and 'Bharat Ratna' Prof CNR Rao has rightly observed that human interface for good communication with the students is a must and e-learning tools can’t replace a good, trained teacher in inspiring the young minds of students.

The goal of education as Swami Vivekananda said, must be ‘life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas.’ and ‘not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life.’ (CWSV : V3, P302). True education must ensure 'man making – nationa building' – the strongest foundation for making an inclusively developed and resilient 'Aatmanirbhar' 'New India' of our dream. But by mere e-learning alone, without infusing life-values amongst students, we will only end up in creating a generation that knows the ‘price’ of everything but the ‘value’ of nothing.

Photo-Kabita Patgiri

Quest for Effective E-learning in India and Assam

Both off-line (classroom) learning and online/e-learning has its inherent limitations. A good teacher in the off-line mode can become a bad teacher in online mode or vice-versa. Same can happen with a student also. Hence, we need a judicious blending of both under the ‘flipped classroom’ or ‘blended teaching’ for students by the teachers in our educational institutions. Emphasis must be equally laid for having reusable ‘Smartphone Banks’ in our learning centres with the help of Government, NGOs, PSUs/Corporates (utilising its CSR funds) etc for providing them to poor students on loan with sufficient ‘data packs’ to avail ‘e-learning’ during an academic season/semester as well as building a deep penetrating wide network of ‘Community Radio Hubs’ with strong frequency signal by the government for airing important ‘learning lessons’ to the students, especially those living in remote areas without internet and electricity connectivity. Radio, with its widest coverage and affordability, can become the proverbial 'game changer' in mitigating the still largely unbridgeable 'digital divide' in India and Assam. 'On Air' Radio classes by well trained teachers for students at all levels, can, thus be of immense help for all poor students, who could not afford costly 'smartphones' for e-learning.

Concluding Observations

To conclude, without first resolving all the above mentioned issues or 'problem areas' pertaining to e-learning plus ‘training the trainers’ i.e. teachers for online learning as well as 'training the students/recipients' and without first ensuring ‘capacity building’ of teachers, students etc in enhancing the effectiveness of both online cum off-line (classroom) effective teaching delivery in India or for that matter across the globe - all 'big talks' either by the government or by some so-called intellectuals etc - blazoning digital, online or e-learning as the great ‘paradigm shift’ can or will actually turn out to be the equally great ‘paradise lost’ for both the teaching community as well as for the students in near future.

Sourabh Jyoti Sharma

(Sourabh Jyoti Sharma teaches Political Science at Dakshin Kamrup College, Mirza, affiliated to the Gauhati University and a frequent contributor cum columnist at 'The Assam Tribune', 'The Sentinel', Eurasia Review, Diplomatist etc on diplomacy cum global strategic affairs.)

 

References

1 Nayak, Chittaranjan (2013) “Impact and Challenges of E-learning in Digital Environment”, Asian Journal of Library and Information Science, Vol.5, Issue (3-4).

2 NCERT Education Survey Report, 2020 (https://ncert.nic.in/)

3 NCERT’s ‘Students’ Learning Enhancement Guidelines’, August, 2020. (https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/announcement/Learning_%20Enhancement_Guidelines.pdf)

4 ‘Pragyata’ - Guidelines for Digital Education’, July, 2020 (https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/pragyata-guidelines_0.pdf)

5 ‘Why We All Need a Digital Detox ?’, Newport Academy. (https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/restoring-families/digital-detox/)

6 Niyomiya Barta, June 9, 2021 (front page, Guwahati Edition).