Author – Mincy Mathew

Educational institutes all around the world are facing great troubles in adjusting to the recent changes made in the teaching-learning process due to the pandemic, Covid-19. The deadly disease has immensely affected the global economy and the effect of this outbreak can be seen in education sectors as well. This tragedy called the Covid-19 has forced educational establishments to rethink their approach to continuing the academic year and open up more options as long as it is called for. As Rieley (2020) puts it, it is in fact these circumstances that call our attention to the importance of planning in an academic institute. As we are already adjusting to life amidst Covid-19, we realise that online teaching and learning is no more an option rather it has emerged as a necessity.  

Rapid development in technology has made finding different ways of ensuring the continuation of our academic sessions much easier. Considering the dire need of the situation, many universities, colleges and schools have started to fully digitalize their works in India. Although one may say that online teaching and learning is more student-centric, flexible and innovative there still exist several criticisms that have surfaced during this period. Two of them being: Affordability and accessibility. There are a plethora of arguments associated with affordability and accessibility.

Online mode of learning is considered to be comparatively cheaper in terms of the cost associated with the overall cost of institute-based learning, the cost in relation to transport, accommodation etc.. However, what one often miss out is the assumption behind affording online education. The above argument holds true in its own nature but it denies the possibility of how people from marginalised or economically weaker sections may have trouble to manage enough money to buy a device that fulfils the criteria for receiving this e-learning. Moreover, the additional charges it comes within the name of usage of internet to stay connected and updated of what is to be done, how it is to be done and when, causes glitches at a new level. The affordability takes a whole new definition in this context. The negotiations that these families may have to go through just to keep their children in schools or colleges or universities is often missed out. It is mostly the marginalised communities that suffer from these indifferences. 

It is from this we come to the issue of accessibility. The argument concomitant to accessibility ranges from accessibility to afford the education to availability of space. One of the major contentions in favour of e-learning is that it is easily available and students can learn anywhere and everywhere as it can reach even the remote areas of the country. However, in the current times with universities withdrawing financial assistances and excluding provisions of welfare, it becomes imperative to ruminate how the marginalised community may have access to education itself let alone to classes conducted by them. The recent incident of diluting the fee waiver for ST/SC/OBC/PWD by Ambedkar University, Delhi may be taken as an example. It is crucial to ponder upon that for many students access to higher education is a door to climb the social ladder. The replacement of such a provision not only puts these students’ position in the university in question but also threatens to put a stop to their entry to the educational station. Such provisions may only increase the hostile environment for students belonging to marginalised sections. 

Additionally, what is often not cogitated is in fact that the students who may be able to afford the education may not necessarily have a private physical space to sit and attend those e-learning classes. The context of an individual hugely affects the opportunity they get and shape access to resources. The boundaries of access are drawn and versions of who gets access to which system is laid out in different spaces. If we observe closely we see that the problems of access are often dealt with technically and as individualised solutions rather than making it a part of the whole process. Access should be understood in relation to the knowledge that emerges between bodies and environments. The issue needs to be tackled with an understanding that access has different meanings to different sections of society. Access to a Dalit student may have a completely different set of values from that belonging to any other. And therefore, merely looking at the benefits of e-learning at a superficial level may not be satisfactory. 

The overnight shift from physical classrooms into e-classrooms has brought out numerous struggles faced by the students. The entire shift in pedagogical approach to tackling the new situation and adapt to the changes not only points to a concern about the how the quality of education will be rather it also pinpoints the necessity of addressing how academic institutions need to plan in all aspects. The need to cater to all groups especially marginalized communities needs to be considered thoroughly. 

To make e-learning effective we need to focus on the efficiency of technology. In other words, we need to make use of technology that has minimum maintenance cost and procurement but can effectively expedite the teaching-learning process. The governments need to consider policies that can facilitate the process smoothly and there needs to be valuable research done on which technology may fit perfectly and fulfil the purpose. 

Reference:

Rieley, J. B. (2020). Corona Virus and its impact on higher education. Research Gate. 

– Mincy Mathew is a PhD research scholar at Ambedkar University, Delhi.