It is not uncharacteristic that in this pandemic when most of the activities have stopped or slowed down, at that time also the IPL is being organized by taking it to a far country and in the middle of empty spectator gallery. One reason may be that the organizers are trying to provide food supplements to sports lovers, but there is also a macroeconomic aspect to this lofty vision that made its event unavoidable. This economic Mahakumbh is also indicating the changing educational scenario of India this time. At first glance, it may seem strange that what the playing field is dealing with! But it is so. If you look at the IPL this time, its two main sponsors are related to the education sector. These enterprises, which become sponsors of such an expensive sporting event, are associated with digital education.
Not everyone’s opinion about this changing world of education is the same, nor will it have the same effect on everyone. Scholars and activists associated with the education world have been constantly watching digital education with skepticism. There are two main reasons for this, one is the means-gap and the other is to change the purpose of education itself. The physical infrastructure required for digital education is not accessible to everyone equally. Children from families with high status will readily adapt to this change, but relatively weaker sections of society, for whom laptops and the Internet are still an inaccessible item, will find it difficult to get education. In such a scenario, the class-based education gap will widen, which will create widespread imbalances. The second reason is deeper.
Actually, education is not just a means of learning a skill for economic gain, but it is also an opportunity for a person to understand his society and environment. It is also an opportunity for personality development under a continuous process of learning. The child learns not only from the teacher’s words or books, but also from mutual companionship. Socialization of the student takes place in more detail than getting education in a group. The digital form of education is contrary to this original objective, as it defies the environment and the group. Doubt is expressed about digital education about this. Then what is the reason that this education is expanding? Is the society not understanding this basic thing of education?
To understand this, it is necessary to see a second picture. Actually, digital education enterprises are not new in their nature, but they have given a big shape to the already running parallel educational format and have made technological changes in its structure. The philosophy which has been discussed for the purpose of education is for formal education. That is, education from school to university, which aims at achieving a larger goal, and which is not limited to just passing an exam to get good marks and earning a particular skill. But in the last few decades, a parallel structure of education has also been developed which helps students in achieving a particular objective.
It has a large number of coaching institutes ranging from single tutoring to teaching limited schools. Our society has become so dependent on this system that it is impossible to return from here. Coaching from school to tuition and engineering to IAS has become a necessity, for which there is no solution to denial. So these enterprises of digital education are addressed in this area. That is, they are expanding, not as an alternative to formal education, but as a subsidiary. Therefore, it is a kind of excess to look at the value of formal education. Yes, there are solid reasons to view this experiment with skepticism in formal education. This is the reason why it is also gaining widespread social consensus.
In fact, digital education has increased the facilities of resourceful people, so there is no reason why society will show a sense of neglect towards it. One, it increased the options for the people and they were not compelled to depend on the regional supply. Secondly, now it is also relieved from this compulsion to go to distant city only to prepare for a particular exam. Thus, it is also a particularly beneficial situation. The biggest thing is that the ease of this medium of society will bring new opportunities for all the talented young people who have better teaching skills but could not find a meaningful platform. The world of technology has now erased this distance. A small investment can step into a promising world, and people are keeping up. Emerging start-ups in education are proof of this.
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