COVID19 : This Crisis must Transform India?s Education and Skilling

It is an unprecedented situation, which the world of education has not witnessed before. The schools, colleges, universities and other professional institutions all are closed sine die. Millions of students are interned into their homes. The examinations were either partly held or have been called off. The admissions for the next academic session, which used to be a humongous exercise in the country is clearly in jeopardy. Similar uncertainty prevails with the competitive examinations – engineering, medical, CAT, MAT, ICAI, UPSC and state service commissions where millions of candidates used to appear for admissions in professional courses and prestigious jobs. Never before in the annals of human history such a disruption has been wrecked on the education system by a single threat.

The education regulators, administrators, CBSE and state education boards are trying to grapple with the situation. The students’ population in India is very large and the education system is so diverse that the problem cannot be addressed by one remedy. With no end of the pandemic in sight, the days of classroom and face-to-face learning are supposedly over. Digital learning, learns’ facilitation and assessments are emerging as the new norms in the field of education.

Skill education and training has been particularly affected. New trainees and the apprentices who ‘learn by doing’ under the supervision of a trainer or mentor in the laboratory or shop floor are particularly hamstrung. Various skilling programmes across the country involving thousands of training providers and millions of trainees have been stopped abruptly.

Education and skill development are the pillars of an economy. This impasse cannot go on forever. Educationists, administrators and technical experts should find some via media to resume the teaching/ learning process.

There is an old saying that, “Never let a good crisis go waste”. First and foremost, the challenge before the education system is to connect with the students and resume teaching and training activity. Given the scenario of lockdown and social distancing, it can be best achieved by adapting to the digital means of training delivery. Wherever, the assessments/ results have been stalled, we need to devise means to carry out the process digitally and declare the results. Digital education has the ability to fill in the gap, provided the IT infrastructure with the students, broadband connectivity and digital teaching platforms are available.