Welcoming The Reforms to Embrace the Future of Education

 An Enriching Article on Reforms in Education System

Amid the Covid resurgence and the looming uncertainties of life and livelihoods, the Centre has decided to cancel class X CBSE Exams and postpone class XII examination casting a shadow on the myriad dreams of joining desired universities and the future plans of higher education. Despite being incredibly resilient throughout the year of despondence now the aspiring High School students are fed up when forced to be driven by the juggernaut of the global pandemic and systemic failure. Thousands of students are swinging between academic anxieties and the financial pressure of their families with the education system swamped completely for not having planned assessments and evaluation well in time. We could not develop our ‘Plan B’ with an innovative approach  to avoid such ramifications.

Examinations for class XII is a practical necessity as admissions to universities and higher education courses are aligned with the entrance examinations for the professional courses. However, the students are kept on tenterhooks as the pandemic has inveigled itself into the education spectrum and this has to be realized that we were not planned with an alternate mode of Virtual Assessment in order to bear the brunt of the second wave of Covid-19. We cannot deny the fact that we have to embrace the future of education by introducing technology to the process of assessments and evaluation also.

Last year when I was studying Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching of English from the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad; our examinations were scheduled in the month of June-July but due to the coronavirus outbreak, in-person Examination-cum-Contact Program was cancelled but the university came up with Online Contact-cum-Examination Program. It was planned so effectively that none of the candidates lost their precious year and completed the course in the expected duration. Needless to say, meticulous planning and rigorous efforts were put in by all the professors at EFLU and they were incredible. All the question papers comprised analytical and application based questions so no chances of fraudulent activities or use of internet for writing the answers. In addition with, to ensure, no student is at disadvantage due to the pandemic, the University confirmed that if the participants were unable to attend the online examination they would be given another opportunity as and when feasible.

If CBSE could have planned an online assessment for class XII students, they would have been at ease and could prepare for other entrance examinations. As we all are aware many institutions and universities have already been in process of adopting digital exams with great success, it’s high time to opt for these strategies. With the virtual &hybrid model of education it is considered that in-person examinations are highly expensive and ineffective as the excessive manual data entry can be subjected to human error. The other benefits of online exam can be a substantial reduction in the paper used and time required to conduct and mark the exam. Many universities across the globe are conducting online exams such as the University of Bergen, the University of Agder and the University of Oslo where 75% of all exams are now conducted digitally. In the month of March, Imperial College London had successfully conducted the assessment of the sixth-year medicine undergraduates via two online exams.

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The Much Needed Reforms In Education System

As we all know that Byju’s has purchased Aakash Educational Services for $1billion. The recent deal between Aakash and the edtech biggie Byju’s is a clear example of the emerging reforms in education sector of India which will help us witness the new hybrid model of education spreading in coaching centers also in our country.  There is no doubt that the future of education will be the hybrid model where the students will go to the centers only once or twice in a week to clear their doubts and rest of the days they will be studying at home through the online classes which will be saving their time and energy in commuting. As the institution was already working on online education model for past six-seven years, it took no time to transition all physical classrooms to virtual learning at the very moment lockdown was announced. Let's not forget that switching to online teaching for thousands of teachers is also one of the most important Teachings of 2020.

Hybrid Model of Education

Hybrid or blended learning is a method of teaching learning that combines both, physical classroom teaching with online activities to foster the individual and customized learning. With the hybrid model, Educational Institutions can easily set up the new exam pattern through online assessment platforms. There is a plethora of options available with the features of auto evaluation and rapid result generation. We know that various technological advancements have radically changed the teaching-learning environment today and the pandemic has given a momentum to this reform and hastened the use of technology in education; the changes we were expecting in coming ten years have now become an integral part of our day-to-day life.

Let’s welcome a new era of education that opens up new vistas of learning and dreaming. It will be available to a larger section of population by breaking the boundaries of geographic locations and time constraints. Students and professionals will be able to continue their study courses with their job commitments and other responsibilities.

 I always had a dream to study Child Psychology from one of the renowned universities of the US and now it seems that my dreams will soon get a flight!