E-Learning | Is e-learning feasible in India's Education System ?

Illustrated by Pseudo Sanyasi

With lockdowns being imposed across the world owing to corona virus crisis, schools and higher education institutions have been shut down to protect students and prevent transmission. In India, more than 320 million students have been affected by the closures. As lockdown was imposed, faculties at schools had started taking classes through WhatsApp groups while those at colleges and universities had started giving lectures through online video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Skype and Google Classroom, among others.

In today’s world, e-learning is considered as the key to transform the education sector. Although its benefits are manifold, yet the immense digital, gender, and class divide in India mean that these benefits will only cater to those who have access to technology, those who can adapt to it, and most importantly, those who can afford it.

The Digital Divide

Access to electricity is crucial for digital education, both for powering devices as well as for connecting to the internet. The government's Saubhagya Scheme to provide electricity to households show that almost 99.9% homes in India have a power connection. But if we look at the quality of electricity and the number of hours it is available everyday, the facts speak a different story.  A nationwide survey of villages by the Ministry of Rural Development in 2017-18, showed that 16% of India’s households received 1-8 hours of electricity daily, 33% got 9-12 hours and only 47% received more than 12 hours of power supply daily.

Illustrated by Pseudo Sanyasi

According to the ‘Key Indicators of Household Social Consumption on Education in India’ report, based on the 2017-18 National Sample Survey, only 23.8% of Indian households have internet access. This statistic is even lower in rural areas, where just 14.9% of households have access to the internet–as opposed to 42% of urban households. Also, a mere 4.4% of rural households have a computer–compared to 23.4% of urban households. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, in 2018, total internet density in the country stood at about 49%. Of that, only 25%  lived in rural areas while 98% in urban areas.

Weak internet penetration has turned e-learning into a distant dream for many students in the rural areas. For instance, in Haryana’s Jhamri Village, to maintain social distancing, the students take notes from their homes as a teacher imparts lessons using the loudspeaker attached to the cart. Mobile phones at Umswai, a village about 60 km from Guwahati (Assam), come to life once every 20-22 days, that too for 30 minutes at most, making them impossible to be used for online learning. Such instances clearly portray the plight of the knowledge-seekers in the rural areas, that you and me sitting inside the comfort of our decent homes accessing the internet through a smartphone or a computer, with a stable connection, can’t even imagine.

While Jammu and Kashmir doesn’t have access to 4G internet, students are still staggering under slower internet for months and it’s tough for them to keep pace with students of other states. Educational institutions are finding it difficult to engage with students with available 2G internet. Needless to say, students have come under tremendous stress amidst this crisis, from coping with issues like weak internet connectivity, undependable power supply, e-assignments and e-exams. In fact, the final year students are worst affected as they haven’t passed out the course yet and preparation for placement and application to universities for higher education have all come to a halt.

The Gender Gap

The gender divide in internet usage is also huge. According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India’s (IAMAI) ‘India Internet 2019’ report, only 33% women have access to the internet. This statistic is all the more sobering when one considers that 67% men have access to the internet in the same country. The disparity is even more in rural areas, where only 28% of women have access to the internet, as compared to 72% of men.

These pitiful numbers strongly suggests that without a comprehensive plan of action, a majority of the country will be left out of the pursuit to achieve basic education in the months to come. As a primary solution, the government must improve internet infrastructure and connectivity, and subsidize mobile data to make learning through WhatsApp, or other media platforms more affordable. However, if the universities remain closed for a longer period of time, education inequalities will increase.

Learning over coverage

Merely moving classrooms online would not serve the purpose, as proper one-to-one interactions among students and teachers are very important for learning. On a digital platform, how students learn and communicate is largely dependent on the readiness of both teachers and students.

The sudden shift in focus to e-learning without any real planning has forced teachers not only to find ways to teach effectively virtually, but also to mold their curriculum to fit a format it was not originally meant for. Teaching a course online ideally requires designing a lesson plan and preparing materials in audio and video formats. If teachers are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with virtual platforms, it can affect their ability to communicate in a precise manner to their students.

Learning demands a peaceful environment for study. But, not all students have a quiet space for learning at home. While 37% of households in India have one dwelling room, it would obviously not be possible for many to attend lectures in an undisturbed environment.

Private initiatives

Various non-profits and public-private organizations are working to address the challenges brought on by the shift to online learning.

Avanti, a social-educational enterprise established in 2010, has launched a free learning app called ‘Sankalp’ for Hindi medium students of Class IX-XII. The app contains topics of mathematics and science, and includes classes being streamed on YouTube, TikTok(now banned), Facebook and other social media platforms. ThinkZone, a social impact start-up from Cuttack uses Interactive Voice Response (IVR), SMS and radio to help those who do not have access to the internet. Through the radio, it broadcasts activity-based modules for younger learners from age 3-10. Such initiatives have brought in some positive impact. 

Digital infrastructure

There needs to be a productive effort by the central and state governments to improve digital infrastructure for virtual learning and tailor school syllabi and teacher training to fit the format of online courses. Unfortunately, there has not been any significant expenditure to address these concerns. In fact, the Human Resource Development Ministry’s budget for e-learning in FY 2020-21 was actually reduced to Rs 469 crore (4.69 billion) from Rs 604 crore (6.04 billion) in FY 2019-20.

However, a positive step is taken by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to reduce the syllabus for classes 9 to 12 by 30% to ease the burden on students. It will be more helpful if the state boards also follow suit.

To conclude, it can be said that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the severe inequalities in India’s education sector that exist between, rural and urban, rich and poor, as well as males and females, even on virtual platforms. While a push towards remote learning is understandable in these trying times, the current system is insufficient to serve as a suitable alternative to in-person learning. In the present scenario, an inability or unwillingness to strengthen the education infrastructure in the country will only push the poor and disadvantaged even further into the margins of society, or even worse, leave them behind.