Education Uninterrupted

Disruption of Education Environment in Global Pandemic

We are witnessing extraordinary situations across the Globe with almost every nation imposing a Lock down on its citizen to safeguard from the Global Pandemic. These are extraordinary times and extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Other than the Businesses and Commercial establishments, the one area that's most affected is the Educational system.

Today we are seeing all the educational institutions shut down and children missing out their classes for a long period of time. And this is happening amidst the mid-term for most school Children, with some of them having worked hard throughout the academic year only to be deprived of the final term and many missing out on their annual exams.

So what do we do in these extraordinary situations? How do we ensure our children are not deprived of their right to education in times of calamity like these? What’s the solution we have for Children to continue with their education even if they are not able to physically attend schools and classrooms? How do we assess our Children’s capability and ensure learning is uninterrupted and keeps going even without schools and classrooms? The answer to these questions can be found with the help of Technology. Technology today has made much advancement to bring the classrooms to the homes of students. Yes, E-Learning is the order of the day.

What is eLearning?

eLearning as it says is the method of learning with the help of Electronic Technologies. With advent of today’s technology it is possible to create and develop educational curriculums outside of a traditional classroom and access it remotely with the help of Information and communication technologies (ICT). This is achieved through an integration of networks and hardware with the children who are the end users being provided with hand held learning devices accessing the content via internet connected via satellites even in deep and remote areas across the region. Apart from individual eLearning through handheld devices, group classes are also possible for clusters with the help of Smart Classrooms using Smart boards and projectors connected to the networks via satellite even to the rural areas where connectivity is a challenge.

All formats of Curriculum Education are possible with ELearning, starting from a Certificate course to program or a diploma/degree delivered completely online.

There are many terms used to describe learning that is delivered online, via the internet, ranging from Distance Education, to computerized electronic learning, online learning, internet learning and many others. We define eLearning as courses that are specifically delivered via the internet where the teachers or content is hosted virtually. eLearning is interactive in that you can also communicate with your teachers hosting the course or class. Sometimes it is hosted as a live classroom via a Video Conferencing platform and where the Students and teacher can interact in real time and sometimes it is prerecorded. The interactions and communications happen like the real classroom with the questions answered and doubts clarified. The grading are all done based on the student’s participation, assignments and tests. eLearning has been proven to be a successful method of training and education is becoming a way of life for many school children in the remote and rural areas where accessibility to School is a challenge.

The Challenge of eLearning in Rural and Backward environments

While eLearning has its own advantages it also throws some challenges that need to be addressed and overcome for successful implementation in the rural and economically challenged environments.

The main challenges thrown at eLearning in these environments are

a.     Availability of Resources

eLearning is fully dependent on availability and accessibility of Technology. For successfully deploying an eLearning module one has to mobilize all the needed resources like End User devices (Laptops, tablets etc.), Smart Boards/Screens and Projectors, IP Connectivity, Satellites in case of Remote locations where connectivity is a challenge.

Along with the hardware there is also a need for mobilizing technical support staff to install and maintain the Network Hub. Training the teachers to get accustomed to eLearning applications and operating systems by specialized trainers and keeping them updated periodically is also a parallel challenge.

b.     Funding of Budget

Another important challenge for eLearning is financing the project. While the urban situation is a different scenario with institutions following a self-funding model and offsetting the capital investment by the income through the fees collected for eLearning courses through the pupils registered for the curriculum.

The scenarios in the Rural areas and economically backward sections are entirely different. Many students are from a poor Socio-economic background and cannot afford to a pay fees for the course or able to afford to buy end-user devices. Hence funding of eLearning budget is a great challenge for the majority in economically backward and underdeveloped countries.

c.      Student Engagement

Education becomes a Secondary choice when your primary objective is to earn a living for your survival. This is an important challenge faced with the Rural population in the Underdeveloped countries. This is prevalent even among the Urban population in the big cities too which consists of a large chunk of economically backward section. When the day to living itself becomes a challenge, education is secondary and even becomes a luxury for some.

To engage students into eLearning there is a need to bring in motivation factors along with incentive measures. Providing education along with free food is one such measure to engage them into Learning. The education needs to be imparted at zero cost and the end-user devices provided free. Various incentive measures for continuous engagement also need to be explored and implemented so that the students don’t lose interest and drop out.

d.     Reliable Partners

Another main challenge is to establish good partner relationships, partners who are trustworthy and reliable, with a sense of social responsibility and willingness to work in challenging environments.

Finding such partners itself is a great challenge for many eLearning Solution providers in the Rural and backward environments. If your partner who is a key service provider for Network Connectivity, Software Application or Hardware devices fails to deliver, you might end up in trouble with the project failing to take off or even discontinue the project.

e.     The Right Technology

Another imposing challenge is to find the suitable and right technology for these challenging environments where connectivity is a huge issue. Since the remote rural environments lack a network infrastructure there is an over dependence on satellite connectivity.

Identifying the right satellite network that can give a good network coverage and bandwidth with low maintenance hardware is the key to success in these atmospheres.

Solution to the Challenges

While there are many eLearning Solution providers who are in the market promising to deliver, it is a challenge to find the right solution provider whom you can trust to provide the apt solution suitable for your operations. Continuity, timely deliverability, seamless support, affordability, upgradability are the key factors to be taken into consideration if choosing the right Solution Provider.

eSchools Africa Initiative brings you the answer to the above challenges with customized eLearning solutions to suit every indigenous environment along with easier adaptability to every changing scenario. We have devised this scheme to enable Schools in Africa acquire ICT resources for learning and school administration. Teachers and students are targeted through this scheme to enable them acquire basic ICT skills through our teacher training programs and student mentor-ship boot camps, to promote and nurture ICT culture in students.

We have partnered with the most reliable and efficient service providers in the ICT and Education domain to provide robust eLearning solutions.

eSchool Africa’s initiatives have empowered the rural schools with the latest technology to access eLearning solutions and has IT enabled the much deprived socio-economic and underprivileged students and youth of Africa. We aim to create an enabling environment for electronic-education and electronic-school administration for all participating schools in Africa and a drive to increase computer literacy to bridge the digital divide in African schools.

Our experience in working as eLearning solution providers comes as an advantage during these times of crisis where millions of students are missing classes as schools remain closed across the globe. During this time eSchools Africa stands with all the teachers, students and parents, making a owe to bring education uninterrupted to your homes, to enable Children learn from where they are.

We bring education to your doorstep through our eLearning Solutions. Stay at Home, Learn at Home.

For more details reach us at [email protected] or visit our website https://eschoolsafrica.org