Impact of COVID-19 on Indian Education System

Four months after the lockdown in March, Temples, Mosques, Gurdwaras, and Churches opened, but schools, colleges—universities, etc. are closed. Although, online education is continuing, but can children be given real education without going to a school-college-technical institute?

 

Obviously, millions of students of the country are not Nobel Laureate poets, writers, painters, philosophers, who will be able to convince the whole world of their scholarship because of their education at home. While the health services structure is crumbling in the service of the wildly growing infected, the education system is reeling under lockdown.

Students are at the highest risk of opening educational institutions, but the closure is on the verge of extinction of many colleges and institutes. Online education is also reaching out to a handful of children in states where children have a broadband network of internet with smart mobile phones. Most of the villages in India do not have a board band, but in many villages, not every household has any luck. How will children be able to get education online? Obviously, those children can get education only in school.

According to a recent survey, about 7.7 lakh graduate students enrolled in private universities in the academic year 2019-20. The number of girls was less than that of boys. It is clear that in the economic crisis arising out of the epidemic, girls are being first deprived of education.

Violence and child abuse on women has increased tremendously during the lockdown period. The number of girl child marriages and child labour has also increased rapidly. This is taking them away from education. The fees of private universities are much higher than that of government universities, but in this hour of unemployment, children are being brought up for middle class families, so where should they get their education fees?

While lakhs of students will be deprived of education forever, many private educational institutions have been put on the sword of ban. The government should come forward by law to bail out the country's younger generation from this crisis, but it has no fragrance!

Many students from India go to foreign universities to pursue higher education. Some of them take scholarships and most of them take education at parental expenses.

The government has set a target of providing quality education in institutions and technical colleges across the country in the new education policy 2020. The government will have to take concrete initiatives to help students continue their education

 

Parents who have been hit by the epidemic are now looking for an alternative to private education. Financial constraints are trapping educated youth in the trap of suicide. Such utter disappointment among students who dream of becoming IAS, PCS officers is raising questions about the society and the government. Despite the education received by paying lakhs of rupees in fees, sitting vacant has been constantly bothering the students. 

According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, about 1.89 crore Indians have lost their jobs in the first two weeks of lockdown. In the month of July itself, about 50 lakh jobs were lost. In such a situation, where will the parents collect the hefty fees of private universities? This time the crisis is grim, the Government will have to take concrete initiatives to help the students continue their education. 

The Government has set a target of providing quality education in institutions and technical colleges across the country in the new Education Policy 2020 for which colleges will have to adopt the latest technology. This will enable them to compete with the best colleges in the world. There is a shortage of many facilities in the Indian education system which the government can help overcome only then the students will get quality education. 

While recovering from the epidemic, the Government has to solve the problems of teachers, educational institutions and students only then the future of India's promising people will be secured. This will not only continue their studies but also reduce the pressure on fees and jobs.

In Indian democracy, governance is a priority for the people, for the people and by the people, so it is the responsibility of the Government of India to protect the people from the epidemic and continue the education of the students with their survival. Only then will the future of the youth be saved.

Author:

Dr. Amit Gupta

Professor & Head, Mechanical Engineering Department