The education sector has seen a significant impact amid Coronavirus with the disruption of academic schedules at colleges and schools. Due to the pandemic, the world has witnessed an unprecedented situation that has resulted in large scale disruption in life as we know it. The scheduled plans for completing courses in schools and higher education institutes within the academic year has been severely affected by this unplanned closure. 

Educational institutions are exploring ways to keep their students engaged virtually and complete their course syllabi, as school faculty and students are confined to their homes. Many schools and higher education institutions have started leveraging meeting applications and platforms like Google Meet and Zoom to run online classes. Given the current situation, there are still many educational institutes that are not fully equipped to conduct classes and connect with the students virtually. Teachers are connecting at a predetermined time with their students to conduct online classes. 

However, this mechanism is largely adopted in urban areas and limited to educational institutes catering to affluent sections of society. The COVID-19 outbreak is shaping the education system, in many ways, which has also brought in light some significant challenges for holding online classes. With significance to the challenges associated with online learning, Private School Review penned down a set of questions and answers to cover teachers’ and parent’s concerns. Besides, here are some signs suggesting that Coronavirus have a lasting impact on the trajectory of the educational sector:

  • Educational Sector could lead to surprising innovations

The moderate pace of progress in educational institutions is deplorable, with hundreds of years old, the lecture-based approach of teaching, old fashioned classrooms, and settled in institutional inclinations. However, COVID-19 has become an impetus for educational institutions worldwide to search for innovative solutions in a moderately brief period. Many countries started learning at home to curb the spread of the virus via interactive applications. Some countries implemented creative solutions and others, opted for simpler ones. With 5G technology becoming more prevalent in many countries, the students and teachers will truly embrace the concept of digital education in a range of formats. From live broadcasts to virtual reality experiences, traditional classrooms will be complemented with new learning techniques.

 

  • Public-Private Partnerships 

The world has seen the learning sector, whether public or private taking shape, in the past couple of weeks with diverse stakeholders, including publishers, governments, technology providers, and educational institutions. As a temporary solution to the crisis, they all come together to utilize digital platforms. It has become a consequential and prevalent trend to future education, in many countries, where the education system is run by the government. In China, the Education Ministry and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, has led an assembled group of continents to upgrade a suite of educational infrastructure and develop online learning and broadcasting platforms which are cloud-based. 

Also, Hong Kong took a similar step by providing over 900 publishers, media, educational organizations, and entertainment industry professionals with assets including book chapters, assessment tools, videos, and counseling services for free. With these sets of initiatives for the education system as a whole, it is evident that the education sector is receiving attention from the typical public or private project. 

  • Digital Split Could Widen

In affected areas, most schools are finding stop-gap solutions to continue teaching. However, the quality of education is extremely dependent on the quality and level of digital access. Not neglecting the fact that only the globe’s 59% of the population is online. In less developed countries, many students are relying on assignments and lessons sent by their teachers via mail or WhatsApp. Furthermore, the less digitally savvy and affluent student’s families are, the more their children are left behind. While the commencement of online classes, these students left behind because of the hefty cost of data plans and devices.