Gopal Talukdar
PGT-English
JNV Rothak
The year 2020 registers a milestone record of confrontation with COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Fighting against corona virus is, perhaps, the fiercest battle human race has experienced till today. The battle is not over. Human fortitude is still on trial. Various pandemics, natural disasters and different calamities have always acted as stumbling blocks to human progress, but got vanquished after taking a trial of human prowess and fortitude since time immemorial. This year shall, definitely, not be an exception. We must go ahead with immense hope and keep our cycle of activities on the move.
Education being the prime factor of human growth and civilization must go on unobstructed. In the midst of war against COVID-19, alternative mode has been improvised by all stake-holding functionaries to keep the process of education of students undisturbed in the juncture when all schools, colleges and educational institutions are closed. A sudden and quite unprecedented transition in the mode of education has undoubtedly rendered the multitudinous number of teachers and students overwhelmed. It is painstaking and of course time-taking to get accustomed to a new system. This transition has posed before us tough challenges and it is the moment for us to check and ensure our preparedness to confront the challenge. Untrodden paths are always thorny. So we are baffled. Our persistent participation in the digital movement and regular handling of the systems and apps shall make us techno-savvy and the entire system shall appear user-friendly.
Real challenges lie in the fact that we have become dependent on technology and technical failure renders all our ability useless. Reaching out to the students living in the remote location is a great challenge on the part of the teachers. Some locations are beyond cyber networking coverage. Many locations do not have desired speed of internet to open web pages and make video display. A big section of the poverty -stricken people do not have android phones and the purchase of the same is beyond imagination on the part of a multitude of village folk. In the midst of the obstacles, we need to keep our mission on the go. We must learn. Efforts must continue to reach out to all by alternative means. The obstacles must vanish with the passage of time.
This short piece aims at encouraging the learners to go for education through online mode, the only alternative to meet the present constraint. Checking our mental preparedness and our eagerness to learn are the main deciding points to make the online mode of education bear fruit. Learning through online mode or in virtual classrooms is more challenging because students need to be more dedicated and target-oriented and at the same time must have own sense of responsibility. Goal-oriented mindset is the guiding force to win success in this system. Parents have a larger role to play in monitoring their small children’s education. Proper time utilization and hard work are more necessary in case of online mode than in the normal classroom education system. Jotting down all the study materials from the soft copy sources is a time-consuming affair. It must be done in due time or the things may be difficult to get back afterwards. More sincerity and dedication is expected of all the learners. Side by side with the challenge to fight against corona virus, the challenge to overcome all the obstacles of online education will go a long way to decide a new destiny for mankind all over the world.
