Post Covid – CBSE 2021: Is this the beginning of a New Era to usher in Leaders trained to overcome all Adversities

As a parent who is walking the mile with my daughter in her quest to further her education I thought I will pen down my views on how things have changed and some interesting aspects that will forever change the world in higher education.

A world that was confined in classrooms basis the norms provided by the governing regulations in the country had to undergo a complete change keeping in mind the safety of the children.

What changed is fundamental and in my mind it is the power of digital and the lines between traditional routes of providing education and the new normal have blurred and the following things have changed.

The Modi government under, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s leadership, has ushered in a wonderful new National Educational Policy (@DrRPNishank) which is sure to change the education landscape forever in India.

I am of the believe that Covid is the Black Swan moment for the vision of NEP to take off as per @ Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s (DrRPNishank) vision.

The welcome changes are:

1. Traditional teaching styles have blurred and the teachers have had to re-learn digital techniques to keep abreast and stay relevant. Holding attention in digital platforms is an area that they will perfect with time. At the core the external and internal environments will adapt to the new normal.

2. The teaching styles have become more collaborative and guidance driven with a lot of open book referencing which in my mind will slowly drive the system of rote learning to application driven learning which is the need of the hour. We need more employable people that is able to drive relevance – the old saying “catch them young” – drive learners from rote driven education to application driven education.

3. Teachers have started using power points to highlight the important takeaways from the lesson and learners are able to understand the relevance of various topics by better understanding the relevance in the form of questions that can be asked.

4. Education (which the NEP advocates) would move away from the rote learning techniques to a more experiential form of teaching. I remember when I was in class 12 our Physics teacher was talking to us about the Zener Diode and I was dosing off into my dream world (last class of the day) – he suddenly saw me and said “Pallab – you will be happy to know that Mick Jagger uses this” and that was all I needed to hear and I was wide awake and learnt everything that I needed to about it aswell as the various applications of Zener diodes (microphones, amplifiers etc) and the backflow of current once when Zener voltage is hit causing reverberation. This is the big change that I am seeing post-covid. Teachers are using anecdotes and ensuring that students are opening up with their doubts cause a lot of reference and concept driven education is the new normal.

5.There is more transparency in the education system in a very positive way. I would like to narrate a story to explain this better. My daughter was in class 7 then and she comes back home with an incomplete answer to a history chapter. I spoke to her other class mates and all of them gave me what they thought they heard and wrote down. Finally when I spoke to the subject teacher (not something that is easy by the way) and eventually we solved the missing lines.

Post covid (Black Swan moment) all classes are recorded digitally and the child has the flexibility of going back to a lecture and ensuring she has understood the concept. The power of live classrooms getting converted into flip class rooms – which children can revisit on demand.

6.      According to me the most significant change is that technology has found its way into the education industry thereby becoming a very important building block in the NEP vision of the country.

Some weaknesses in the new normal:

1. You are not able to assess the actual learning of the child – online mode of testing the child is opening up a lot of helplines which is not always possible to curb.

2. Interactions with teachers and the teacher’s ability to access the class progress is limited to the willingness of the children to open up.

3. Routine of the child has been affected significantly – the discipline while attending off-line classes has been compromised as they move to on-line.

4. Children have gone into a complacency mode and this is not good for taking off-line exams. Regular analysis of their work has also been compromised significantly.

5. Too much of screen time causes a problem in the posture of the child and also results in many health ailments such as back and neck problems.   

CBSE2021 ushers in a new era of assessment basis the new normal.

My personal take-away from working with my daughter through this pandemic and preparation process is the following:

1. Time your papers such that you first complete the 5 and 3 markers.
2. After completing the 5 and 3 marker questions attempt the 2 and 1 markers.
3. There is a new section on concept based questions which the students must practice with more rigour.
4. On solving sample question paper, the students would be able to identify their weak areas. These weak areas need to be practiced with constant vigour.
5. Remember to Repeat and Repeat to Remember is the mantra that I would leave all of you with so that you can convert your weaknesses into your areas of strength.

The next 60 days are crucial and planning with purpose would be crucial.

So Remember to Repeat and Repeat to Remember so that you can convert your weaknesses into your strength.

Best of Luck to all the students for enduring this new normal and my best wishes to all the parents to appreciate that they have endured a lot during these 12 months and patience is only the mantra to help them overcome this feat.

These batches will be remembered in history as the batches that endured, re-learnt and came out with higher perseverance and ready for uncertainties.

I can see a new breed of leaders with attributes that will help them overcome unknown adversities since they are learning young.