The Renovated Educational Framework in the New Normal
BY: ASHWATHY NAIR
Schools are the place, where we learn how to interact with peers, from being in noisy classrooms and having fun in lunch breaks, practical learning activities in laboratories to extra-curricular activities like art or playing sports, going to school have been an experience filled with enjoyment and learnings. However, the novel Coronavirus has brought school life to a halt, as the safety of children became a priority, due to their higher vulnerability to disease and weaker immunity.
Even the pandemic couldn’t stop the aspirers from learning. According to future trends, both myths and realities will be seen in the emerging scenario. People around the world are now adapting to the new normal. Schools have now shifted to the virtual world, the only interaction between teachers and children is limited to virtual classrooms. Children are locked up inside their homes with limited or no physical activities.
In the post-pandemic era, Education will be seen extremelydifferently, although schools seem to not be revivingbut, if it does start its operation this academic year, with applying to social distancing, student safety being ensured, and managing everything would be a great challenge for the school authorities. The renovated educational framework will have many new learnings, perspectives, trends, and everything possible will be done to adjust and adapt to the new normal.
Fewer kids will be seen going to school
As the pandemic has hit so many livelihoods, many poor parents won’t be able to afford to send their children back to school for a long time. If we talk about a well-heeled middle-class family, they may prefer to delay the return of their children to school or college.
Kids going out of town, far from home, to study will be a nightmare for parents
For parents, it is still like a nightmare that their kids were stuck in Kota, Rajasthan, when the lockdown was announced andhad to be rescued and brought back home. The current situation of the pandemic has still not calmed down, so till the time everything gets back to normal, most parents will prefer not to send their kids out of town to study, and instead, they might choose an alternative by finding a nearby educational institute. Although, competitive exams are surely vital, when it comes to the safety of young ones, the priority changes accordingly.
Social distancing will be the common instruction heard, while at school
Under following new norms, fist-bump, high-five, warm handshakes, and hugs will be no longer seen. The classroom of the future will have no personal greetings, and the sociability will no longer be seen. The class of tomorrow will go from social to asocial. Invisible walls will be build up between each one, reducing all the ways of fun, they had in campus life.
The future of schools possibly will be shift wise
Schools will be strictly following social distancing, which means lesser students will be seen in each class. The only way will be to work for two shifts or maybe even three shifts can take place, each day. This can put more pressure on the administrative as well as teaching staff.
Social Distance may lead some to be unequal and socially distant
The classrooms that had equal seating and uniforms have kind of brought an unspoken democracy to teaching. Technology allows one student to access the class from sitting in an air-conditioned, hi-speed Wi-Fi home, while on the other side, the student who are underprivileged, will be seen trying to find a silent corner in an overcrowded residence with slow internet.
The future of education is personalized
The new form of education will be seen to address the need forupskilling and reskilling for the digital economy. The future of education will demand more work relevant courses/learning paths as well as learning experiences that will prepare students for AI, Blockchain, AR, VR, Big Data, ML, Cloud Data analytics, and more. Now, adult learners will also be seen to spend more time on ‘passion’ learning that they wanted to acquire but had no time for. Now, there will be more time for such learning indulgences. With the future of education being personalized, every student will witness a completely different experience of learning that is fully personalized according to their abilities.
Well, the future of education seems unique but we can’t ignore the truth. Like every coin has two sides, the same way, in this case, if the future of education will shift completely towards digital, it will kill the skill of handwriting, drawing by hand, and the fun of reading books, etc. now the whole new renovated form of education is coming forward and we will anyhow, have to accept the new learning in order to cope up with the future.
