Is E-Learning Possible In The Rural Area Of Meghalaya During Lockdown?

Sammy Ornella HuaMay 15, 2020

We are living amidst a gigantic educational crisis, one of our most potentially serious threats in our lifetime to global education. State governments have briefly shut down our schools and colleges as a precaution to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. It’s almost two months out and there is no certainty when they’ll reopen. This pandemic has the potential to make those outcomes much worse if we do not act quickly. As the virus has transformed online conveniences into everyday necessities, digital learning and online classes have made the best use of the internet in the town and city like the start-up of CR Projects, several schools in the state of Meghalaya like Seven Set School, Christian Academy, Pine Mount School, Jowai Public School, and B.K Bajoria to name a few have achieved great heights and has been able to provide the stranded students all the educational assistance they require and this is a great platform for students in the city but what about the primary and secondary school in the rural area? Most students in villages have been cut off when it comes to education.

Digital classes are assisted by computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones but schools in rural areas are struggling even before this pandemic with the lack of teaching staff and even facilities as basic as toilets and why is that so? And now we’re discussing about online classes? Is it possible? Most parents can’t afford to purchase several gadgets for their children and themselves. In reality, many children do not have a desk, books, laptop, a home computer, or supportive parents but even for those who can afford all these basic needs for learning, what about internet access and connectivity? The rural areas of our State remain untouched by a stable mobile service and the reliability of internet is not available. The State is provided with 4G service but yet the signal is imprecise in many parts of the state. And even with a good internet service available in their area having online classes on a regular basis also has cost implications since students have to bear the cost of internet services. The government have yet to clarify whether they are paying students or offering free data packs. As a result of lockdown employment losses, many families have lost income and they will not be able to afford this.

Electricity, network service, and lack of digital literacy has become a major challenge for the students and there are challenges for teachers too. Not only are many of them digitally incompetent, but a substantial number of teachers also have never used an online platform to teach in rural areas in particular. Ideally, teaching an online course requires preparation and planning such as drawing up a lesson plan and preparing teaching materials and resources such as audio and video contents. This has posed new challenges for many teachers as well. So If schools remain closed, will this mean that students who do not have access to a device or internet connection will find it difficult to keep up their education? Dropout rates have always been very high, and a long period of disengagement could lead to further increase.

Home-schooling is most definitely not a choice or an option for them, just by owning a smartphone does not guarantee a ticket to education. In rural and marginalized communities digital literacy rate is very low and most of the parents or relatives in the villages are uneducated so how can they support or aid these young people? In this period of this crisis, We should be worried that this will immediately affect the losses in education and learning and also the increase of drop-out rate for children and young people. This lockdown is undermining the schooling of a generation. Certain fundamental sectors such as education cannot simply be left as the last primary concern.

What needs to be done if the school remains closed for a long time?

In conclusion, internet connectivity at home is piteously low in many parts of Meghalaya but even so, as the Covid-19 infections are on the rise in India, it is necessary for our Government to expand the bandwidth in rural areas and to subsidize low-cost smartphones for students to get on with their education because, without such help, online teaching and learning is a non-starter without that aid.

If there is one message from this lockdown, then it must be an integral, essential element of the general educational system that online education cannot be a “nice to have” but it has to be a “must-have,” essential component of the overall education system. Students are at the root of the country’s development. If there are no educated people and policies for better education, you can never hope for a prosperous and successful country Students who learn today will work for the future of the country.

Let us try to build a solution around these problems which will resolve the overall issues of rural education during a crisis like this. Education must be an equal opportunity for all.

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Sammy Ornella Hua                                     
Ph.D. Scholar | Amity University Mumbai.