The New Provision of Education for a Better Nation

Disclaimer: The context in this blog is not mine. All informations posted is merely for educational and informational purposes only. This blog is an intellectual property of OECD and SAGE journals which is plainly based on research studies and literature reviews.  

The COVID-19 pandemic is by far the largest disruption witnessed by education systems worldwide in the 21st century. Even prior to the advent of the pandemic, low- and middle-income countries were already grappling with pockets of low enrolment and poor quality of instruction. In 2019, over 280 million children were out of school (UIS[1]), and many of those attending school had not reached minimum competencies in literacy and numeracy after many years of schooling (World Bank, 2018[2]). At the peak of the first wave in mid-April 2020, school closures affected 94% of all learners worldwide. Beyond students, this shock has affected teachers, families and school systems alike. If not addressed expressly, the crisis will have long-lasting and detrimental consequences for educational attainment, transition to the job market and socio-economic inequalities. School closures, although crucial to combat the proliferation of the virus, can further dampen already low learning levels and increase dropout rates. Distance learning strategies result in a shift of the learning burden on families, making students’ learning outcomes a function of domestic environments and parental support. Students from low socio-economic backgrounds are less likely to benefit from a supportive home environment. Furthermore, without the structuring school routine, and heightened household economic stress, vulnerable students can get permanently detached from their education.

 Lockdown and social distancing measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to closures of schools, training institutes and higher education facilities in most countries. There is a paradigm shift in the way educators deliver quality education—through various online platforms. The online learning, distance and continuing education have become a panacea for this unprecedented global pandemic, despite the challenges posed to both educators and the learners. Transitioning from traditional face-to-face learning to online learning can be an entirely different experience for the learners and the educators, which they must adapt to with little or no other alternatives available. The education system and the educators have adopted “Education in Emergency” through various online platforms and are compelled to adopt a system that they are not prepared for. E-learning tools have played a crucial role during this pandemic, helping schools and universities facilitate student learning during the closure of universities and schools (Subedi et al., 2020). While adapting to the new changes, staff and student readiness needs to be gauged and supported accordingly. With the availability of a sea of platforms and online educational tools, the users—both educators and learners—face frequent hiccups while using it or referring to these tools. Some of the challenges identified and highlighted by many researchers are summarized as follows: Broadly identified challenges with e-learning are accessibility, affordability, flexibility, learning pedagogy, life-long learning and educational policy (Murgatrotd, 2020). Many countries have substantial issues with a reliable Internet connection and access to digital devices. While, in many developing countries, the economically backward children are unable to afford online learning devices, the online education poses a risk of exposure to increased screen time for the learner. Therefore, it has become essential for students to engage in offline activities and self-exploratory learning. Lack of parental guidance, especially for young learners, is another challenge, as both parents are working. There are practical issues around physical workspaces conducive to different ways of learning. The innately motivated learners are relatively unaffected in their learning as they need minimum supervision and guidance, while the vulnerable group consisting of students who are weak in learning face difficulties. Some academically competent learners from economically disadvantaged background are unable to access and afford online learning. The level of academic performance of the students is likely to drop for the classes held for both year-end examination and internal examination due to reduced contact hour for learners and lack of consultation with teachers when facing difficulties in learning/understanding. (Sintema, 2020).

Although there have been overwhelming challenges for educators, schools, institutes and the government regarding online education from a different angle, there are several opportunities created by the COVID-19 pandemic for the unprepared and the distant plans of implementing e- learning system. It has forged a strong connection between teachers and parents than ever before. The homeschooling requires parents to support the students’ learning academically and economically. Children with disabilities need additional and special support during this ongoing emergency.The use of online platforms such as Google Classroom, Zoom, virtual learning environment and social media and various group forums like Telegram, Messenger, WhatsApp and WeChat are explored and tried for teaching and learning for the first time ever to continue education. This can be explored further even after face-to-face teaching resumes, and these platforms can provide additional resources and coaching to the learners.Teachers are obliged to develop creative initiatives that assist to overcome the limitations of virtual teaching. Teachers are actively collaborating with one another at a local level to improve online teaching methods. There are incomparable opportunities for cooperation, creative solutions and willingness to learn from others and try new tools as educators, parents and students share similar experiences (Doucet et al., 2020). Many educational organizations are offering their tools and solutions for free to help and support teaching and learning in a more interactive and engaging environment. Online learning has provided the opportunity to teach and learn in innovative ways unlike the teaching and learning experiences in the normal classroom setting. 

It has been 2 and a half years since the day this pandemic took place. The world started to change drastically ever since this Covid-19 pandemic arised. Everything needed to adjust. People needed to adapt to the new environment in order to survive. Just imagine how tough it is to live in such a world full of uncertainties in this times of crisis. Just imagine how it severely affected the lives of every human being living in this world but the main issue here is how it affected the lives of students relating to the challenges they have encountered under the new-normal education. The quality of education during the Covid 19 pandemic is neither bad nor good idea, the new normal even.What really concerns me the most is how life would be for students who will graduate online, if the Education System carry on like this, I bet their belief about the saying "the youth is the hope of the nation" is less likely to happen in the future. Having classes face-to-face was already hard as it is  deal with, the virus only made it much more worse than before.  At this day, the education is more modern and more unique than before. It revolves around the Internet nowadays.It may not be as good as what we had before this pandemic started but it's not that bad because students are still learning even though it's difficult to cope up with. 

Sources:

1st Paragraph: https://www.oecd.org/dev/NetFWD_Covid-EDU_Study.pdf

2nd & 3rd Paragraph : https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2347631120983481 

1st Picture: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1977299/mahidol-launches-thailands-new-normal-of-learning

2nd Picture : https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/03/24/distance-learning/