Online Teaching during Covid-19

Thanks to the novel coronavirus, online education and online teaching have become the fad of the day. All of a sudden, “education” has become so very essential amid the pandemic that school after school, college after college, and university after university is vouching for online teaching and making it mandatory for the teachers to take online classes as if the students will suffer immensely if not taught for a few months. These institutions have not taken into account ground realities and its pitfalls in doing so.

Online teaching is not even remotely a good substitute to in-class teaching. Even assuming online teaching to be the last resort, it is best only in a small group of 10 to 15 students where there is some scope for interaction between the teacher and the students, without which imparting education is as good as politicians delivering speeches. Mass education predominates India, for which online education is a complete misfit.