“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Nelson Mandela
We are tired of hearing “unprecedented times”. As the coronavirus takes a toll on our lives, it has a much bigger impact on the education system and the forthcoming generations of change-makers. The college and school students sit on their chairs and think about how they long to go back and study with a hope that this will all be back to normal again. But, will it really? Let’s see the routine tasks which are bound to change.
1. Offline to online- the biggest change:
As much as we like sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher explain to us the fundamentals of the unexplored, it is a harsh reality that we may have to continue sitting in online classes owing to social distancing shortly too.
2. Practical knowledge from the comfort of our home:
When we dive into the routine of making ourselves familiar with how theoretical concepts come to life in practical, it helps the human brain develop and think. But given the crisis of coronavirus, industrial visits may be put on hold and we may have to learn a lot of things without crossing our home’s threshold.
3. Job scenario, opportunities, and growth:
Coronavirus has indicated a threat of recession over many countries. According to Inshorts, Japan, the world’s third-largest economy has filed for recession. This is something appalling and heartbreaking as the country possesses some of the greatest minds and technology. So, as the companies are bound to cut short on their expenses to sustain, the competition will increase for the decreased number of openings.
4. Mental health – time to be more considerate:
Our education system promotes the well-being of a student i.e. no one should feel the pressure and stress lest it should lead to any mental health disorders or mental drainage. With coronavirus, our brain has been experiencing more stress, anxiety, and tension. This has led to an increase in empathy in our education system and the schools/colleges will leave no stone unturned to be more considerate. That’s a great thing!
5. Learning, instead of studying:
Many students did well in exams by studying overnight. This has been never promoted. But today they are exposed to the greater benefits of understanding rather than mugging up because they now understand how innovation is birthed by learning. The pandemic has put us in a place where the students realize the wonders their imagination can create combined with education. Just the other day, the news narrated how a child raised 60k INR for the poor just by selling hand-made sketches. Hence, in addition to being innovative, the students are more considerate than ever and develop kindness, empathy, and compassion, and those are some important life skills.
As we list the things that would have to change, we have a silver lining to look for i.e.
Education won’t stop, won’t degrade. The teachers work hard enough to convey the ideas and fundamentals to us. They also don’t lack any energy to motivate us to be at our personal best in quarantine. Also, in this quarantine, they focus on overall development and hence the total banishment of rote learning. In these times of crisis, I believe what is stronger than before is our will, our strength, our capabilities. Our will to learn, our strength to fight back the coronavirus, and our capabilities challenging our minds to help the community by innovation.
CONCLUSION
Coronavirus may have made our stay at home necessary, may have changed the education pattern, and may have driven the students to pressure but it has not broken us. We fight back harder. We fight back with education as our weapon. Education, which opens the doors to innovation creating multiple masks, devices, websites, etc to fight with all might.
Author: Jyoti Bisht