Online education should continue even after pandemic ends: Study

Even as infrastructural issues such as internet connectivity and lack of instruments are prevailing, a research conducted by a team of faculty at Indian Institute of Teacher Education, Gandhinagar, has concluded that the online education mode should be continued even after the pandemic is over.

The study to assess the impact of online education in Gujarat school education was conducted by a team of 15, with two associate professors from the department of education as main researchers, over five months since July 2020.

“There were obvious issues such as internet connectivity but many cases, especially in pre-primary or lower primary classes, suggested that online education should be continued even after the Covid pandemic is over.

In addition to students



and parents, educationists too opined that there should be a mix of online and offline education,” said Prof Nishant Joshi from IITE’s department of education.

The study involved over 300 students, parents, teachers and educationists representing rural and urban areas, government, grant-in-aid and self-financed schools from pre-primary to secondary and higher secondary classes across the state.

“It is the reality of the ‘new normal’ situation and cannot be ignored. However, it is equally important to understand that the online education mode cannot be the alternative of face-to-face teaching, and it can always be supplementary. Considering the same, students, teachers, parents and schools need to adapt the online teaching process,” the report concluded.