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Siddharth Chaturvedi, executive vice president – AISECT
Since the pandemic, skilling has made a significant shift with the quick adoption of e-learning methods especially in the remote parts of India. With traditional classrooms closing for long periods, students and teachers faced challenges while learning and imparting skills, upskilling and reskilling programmes. The problem was so pressing that it was one of the focus points during World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) in 2021. The discussion was on apprenticeships, online learning, and the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The pandemic and lockdown challenged the education and job sector in ways that were unimaginable before. With public and private sectors working to implement deeper penetration of the internet to rural and Semi-urban India, to a large extent students could successful move to online learning. They are now taking up digital internships getting counsel from leaders in the corporate sector on the landscape. By continuously adding skills and upskilling whenever required, learners of digitally adept rural India now have an equal opportunity to get a podium to exhibit their skills and carve a niche for themselves.
The past two years have been a testimonial to India’s massive growth in internet-based learning and skilling. This is indicative that as a country we have the potential to revolutionize skill-sets & vocational based education in India. Pre-pandemic, there was an influx of students moving to the cities to look for employment and better job opportunities. With the introduction of practical demonstrative learning and skilling courses from institutes, students can now prepare for a long-term career in different sectors.
Higher education in India has always had a traditional system of imparting practical and theoretical learning in classrooms, with real-time interaction with teachers. With the introduction of MOOCs, there was a massive shift in this practice. Education focused on classroom education, knowledge and skill-sets is now a virtual space of infinite opportunities. Another factor that heavily weighed in to bridge the gap between education and employment is course material in regional languages. This can help in the scalability of the module reach.
The pandemic brought the existing disparities in urban and rural India to the limelight with inequalities in the education system. To resolve these problems, the government, companies and most important universities have to work to address the existing digital gap. Technology can provide quality education with better outcomes, but its potential needs to be optimized. Digital mediums and the necessary infrastructure and connectivity must reach the remotest parts of the country. Access to the internet and technology also needs to be treated as a necessity and not a luxury. Apart from that, this is the right time to pay attention and train teachers as well. The current digital education landscape has witnessed teachers struggling to grasp the digital ways to communicate with students. Even the increased expenses owing to digital education can be overwhelming for the teachers. To address this, educational institutions should subsidise and reimburse the costs incurred by teachers for online teaching. The government and institutions should also invest in mass-scale teacher training initiatives and workshops to resolve the problems faced by teachers.
India is at a crucial stage where it is imperative to address the digital gap and gender divide to understand the potential of technology. Rendering exposure to skills across sectors most understandably and practically is what the industry would require, along with a better workforce that can drive its digital operations. Besides, the curriculum should stimulate critical and creative thinking.
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Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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