The demerits of online education far outweigh its merits. Online education has direct as well as indirect negative impact on education and all-round development of the children.
Online classes require students to sit through long hours by themselves. It is then understandable that they often get distracted during classes. The younger students especially have a limited attention span and can’t be engaged continually. Lack of consistent and good access to the internet also adds to the challenge. It is also challenging for the instructor to keep track of the engagement and thereby the understanding of each student. Assessment also suffers as digital reports cannot be invigilated as effectively as physical evaluations.
Even extracurricular activities are being carried out through the online medium. These activities are, more often than not, group activities. Physical activity has all but disappeared. Field-trips, educational tours and lab sessions are a crucial element for a complete education. Learning in school is not limited to formal education; children lose out on development of soft skills. It is disheartening to see that even the recreation derived by the children these days is through their gadgets.
For a lot of us, some of our best memories are from our school and college days. It is an upsetting aspect that a lot of our kids have lost out on a great chunk of those. And all of them feature our friends and classmates. These classmates were people from all demographics. All of whom were exposed to the same opportunities. Online education puts people from disadvantaged backgrounds on a greater back foot. Not all children have the access to higher technological resources thereby creating discrepancies due to social and economic status. This impedes on the doctrine of equality so specifically ingrained in our Constitution.
When children go to school, they follow an established routine which include specific grooming, following a schedule and travelling in communal transport. They spend a large part of their day away from their homes and interact with peers from all age groups. These interactions while largely friendly in nature, also involve altercations with their counterparts. Class activities require them to engage in exchanging ideas and voicing their opinions. These help the students become disciplined, confident and independent. These kinds of interactions are diminished in digital learning. The learning of these set of life-skills which are informal in nature suffer a major set.
Credit must be given to educators who are working harder than ever given the circumstances. In the quest to facilitate maximum learning, the teaching has evolved to supplement verbal explanations with learning descriptive presentations, detailed notes, pictures, activities, learning aids like models, etc. These are a great addition to the earlier teaching structure as they help students absorb information quicker and retain it longer. Elements such as these must be permanently incorporated into the education model hereon onwards.
It is hence deduced that while there are advantages in the online education system, it would be ideal to use online education as a supplement to traditional education and not as a replacement.
