Page 14 - Seniors Today - March Issue

First Person
Pathashaala
Parampara
While digital learning has made up for lockdown losses to some extent,
nothing can quite replace actual human interaction, writes Nagesh Alai
The other day in the course of teaching basic
English over a WhatsApp audio call to two
young siblings aged 10 and 11, residing in
a remote village in Haryana, courtesy an
NGO’s outreach initiative, I happened to ask
about their day school and if it had reopened.
It had not and continued to remain closed
for over 10 months. They wistfully said
that they wish it would soon open so that
they can meet their school friends and
live the school life full of class bells, desks,
bags, plays, class admonishments and
punishments, fights, breaks, shared lunches
and all that makes for a complete experience.
Clearly, they were tired and bored and
strained of the 9 to 4 virtual school over the
past several months depriving them of the
release of chats and smiles in the classrooms
with their friends. Over the past several
months, I have noticed their extraordinary
glee and enthusiasm on receiving my call
soon after their virtual school class ending
at 4 pm. No tiredness or boredom, but sheer
delight to have a one-on-one conversation
with me to learn a new language. It is so
heart-warming to see the two young children
trying to monopolise the conversations with
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me and each trying to outdo the other in
learning in a sisterly way.
The soundbites are no different from some
school teachers whom I happen to know.
They too were missing out on the vim
and vigour of physical interactions with
chirpy and moody students and the fun
and satisfaction of teaching and the thrill
of setting papers and checking homework
of students. They were finding the virtual
classes enabling, but certainly not enthusing
or energising. S Kumar
E-ducation has a field day
Given the compulsions of the lockdown and
the uncertainties, almost every school worth
its salt has put in place some sort of digital
teaching so that the students don’t miss out
on the learning and can progress to the next
class. E-learning platforms like Educomp
Solutions and BYJU’s are having a field day
and making a song and dance about their
enabling quotient. There are indeed several
pros about digital education in terms of
reach, penetration, content, engagement, etc.
But, given the surfeit of existing social media
platforms, the digital education platforms,