The Zero Year Theory - Is it viable?

The current COVID-19 pandemic has hit the education system hard. All the schools and Higher Education Institutions in India have been shut since the first 21-day national lockdown from 25^th March 2020 thus impacting over 253 million school going students and 37.5 million higher education students enrolled across India.

As the Coronavirus cases continue to increase in the country, looking at the current figures, it is inevitable that the coronavirus cases will increase in the coming days and health and safety of children are under question. Under such unprecedented circumstances demand is rising to call A.Y. 2020-21 as ‘Zero Academic Year’

‘Zero Academic Year’ means teaching and learning will happen to the extent possible by using various alternate instruction methods, but there will not be any examinations, grading or promotion to the next class.

A online survey conducted by Local Circles group with 25,000 respondents in India, found that a two third of respondents did not support reopening of schools on September 1 and were worried about the chances of infection to children and elders in the home.

International precedent also indicates that cases spread through schools, with the American Academy of Pediatrics reporting that almost one lakh children tested positive in the last two weeks of July, just as some schools began reopening classes.

Current Scenario of India’s school children:

Current educational situation of students varies widely, depending on age, location and socioeconomic status. Private schools have already gone online with teachers attempting to maintain a regular schedule. For Govt. schools, authorities have brought out an educational calendar with lesson plans and learning activities, and are also beaming classes through dedicated television channels in multiple languages, especially for older children. Government has also issued screen time guideline for pre-primary to Class 12^th students. Given that this kind of distance education requires digital access and/or self-motivation and parental involvement, the vast majority of children in government schools have spent the last three months on an extended summer holiday.

Challenges in reopening of schools in India

• No clear road map or timeline for school re-opening

• No clear health protocol for maintaining Health and safety measures while reopening schools

• Covering full academic curriculum lost due to school closures in remaining instructional days in academic year 2020-2021

• Un-equal Access to online and remote learning: only 24% of families have internet facilities in urban area which drop to 15% in rural areas.

Is Zero Year Theory, way ahead?

Although the adoption of blended learning (online + class) for curriculum content delivery is key to ensure the continuity of education following the physical closure of schools, children on an average, likely to experience a learning loss during this COVID affected academic year.

Online schooling requires a change in both the quantity and quality of the teaching capacity & revision in the curriculum,Students spend less time in online learning compared to in-school learning time Younger children may have problems in adapting to this model especially for the online learning sectionThe structure of many existing school buildings may not be appropriate if one wants to maintain physical distancing.

Hence looking at challenges in reopening schools and content delivery mechanisms many activists, teachers associations, parent associations in Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu have demanded to declare AY 2020 – 21 as Zero Academic Year.

Is there any academic loss when curriculum is reduced?

COVID-19 and blended mode of learning in schools may not affect students equally. Students from less advantaged backgrounds can experience more significant learning loss during this emergency period than their more advantaged counterparts. This may be due to differences in financial & non-financial parental support, digital access & students’ digital skills.

Loss reflected in reduction in test score students would be experiencing because of less time spent in learning compared to the amount of time they typically invest when they are in school, stressed environment because of changed delivery mechanism and lack of learning motivation

In broader perspective academic loss will translate into a reduction of available human capital, with negative effects on future productivity, innovation and employment including future lower earnings for the student cohorts directly affected by the lockdown

On the other hand declaring A.Y. 2020-21 a Zero Academic Year will ensure:

• Reduced stress level of blended learning in students.

• No Academic loss and in terms of curriculum and skills learnt

• Safety of children from schools with inadequate infrastructure where social distancing might not be followed

• It will also provide time to governments and schools to ensure teacher training on health & safety of students, digital access to all students, developing new pedagogies in blended learning and developing school infrastructure with better hygiene and health safety measures.

Health is Wealth and life has more value than anything else, thus it is more important to value children’s life and health over all other parameters. Protecting children from this dangerous pandemic is critical. Hence it will not be in common good to reopen schools in riskier environment. Zero Year Theory needs to be followed to mitigate academic loss of students if more than 33% curriculum reduction is needed to be able to reopen schools.

Enabling education for the masses through adoption of Ed-tech

The Indian education system is currently suffering from serious lacunae of teacher centered traditional schooling also known as ‘Factory model’ where in children are referred as products and where kids are treated as part of an assembly line, learning essentially the same things at an ‘average’ pace of the class without much personalization. This ‘Factory Model’ exists because it's the most economical or sustainable way to educate a large number of kids together with limited resources.

On the 2018 Legatum Prosperity Index, an annual study which evaluates 149 countries on several factors, India stands at the 104th spot in education. In India, the percentage of Class II students who could not read a single word of a short text or perform a two-digit subtraction is higher than in Uganda or Ghana. These facts indicates that India children at large scale lack in access to quality Education, educational resources and opportunities to learn beyond schooling.

Major Challenges in Education System in India

• Lack of Infrastructure: Shortage of schools and classrooms with basic amenities like electricity, drinking water and toilets

• Unavailability of quality teachers: Teachers are less qualified, lack professionalism and grappled with absent-ism

• Shortage of quality study material: Shortage of study material leads to disinterest among students

• Language issues: With 1500+ languages available, it is difficult to teach students in their respective languages with limited or no regional language content available 

Technology in Education (Ed-Tech) for large scale adoption

There is urgent need to implement technology enabled solutions and services that can redefine how education is imparted to students in lower strata of society in efficient format at all levels of education.

India is at the cusp of experiencing the growth curve in Ed-Tech & online learning the way the US or China had in the recent past. The current COVID-19 crisis has made use of Ed-tech more pertinent than ever.

 I. Going Digital:

 In online education, content delivery consists of text, audio and video to teach and elaborate on classroom subjects with experienced teachers. Thus fills-in knowledge gaps when teachers are absent or less educated with certain materials. These materials are also more streamlined, making topics easier to understand for a multitude of students. Video lessons make classes more consistent in all schools, eliminating the variation of teaching materials around the country and allowing student at large scale to learn in self-paced manner.

II. Specialized and Individual Learning through Massive Open Online Courses

Traditional schooling system is proven to be less effective at aiding students individually to learn core concepts; through the implementation of MOOC’s, schools will be better able to cater to students’ needs and adapt specific programs to better suit individual learning styles and educational requirement.

III. TV channel-based learning

Poor internet access in rural population is major challenge; with only 15% of families have internet facilities in rural areas. Thus making implementing online education difficult, hence makeshift technology uses such as TV channel based learning in regional languages in particular time slots. This can be crucial in providing instant access to learning content without onboarding.

IV. Open Schooling

Ed-tech can help in strengthening open schooling initiatives such as National Institute of Open Schooling with further to help curtailing School drop-out rates in senior secondary and higher education by creating Open Educational Resources (OER) across streams and allowing studnets to choose multiple subject of choice.

V. Resource-centric social network for educators

Rural area teachers have to be made at par in quality with their counterparts in urban areas, this is possible by developing Resource-centric social network for educators where teachers can interact and seamlessly share educational resources across states and country.

While a number of states in India have initiated Ed-Tech enabled programs to improve education levels, we believe Ed-tech start-ups companies would require extensive partnership with authorities to bring more technology into Indian classrooms for addressing current challenges.

Government should work towards providing digital access such as tablets, SD-Cards, Desktop computers and projectors to lower strata of society making Ed-tech educational programs more accessible to the multitudes. Many state-run schools have some access to these resources and Government needs to make consistent efforts towards providing EdTech for students in all regions.

Examinations Amidst A Pandemic - Are online exams an option?

The already struggling schooling industry, has recently been thrown another challenge of conducting safe and secure examinations for their students. Amidst the tussle, the industry opinion is split between parents increasingly leaning towards postponement of examinations and the authorities that are focused on creating a safe environment for their conduct. As a consequence, critical state sponsored examinations stand cancelled for the moment. While student safety is central to both stakeholders, it is also important to investigate the approach to examinations and their conduct as well as adapt to the latest trends and practices being employed in the assessment and examination vertical.

So what options are out there?

With greater amount of industries going digital and embracing the influx of technology, the assessment and examination community has also come of age. Online Examinations have emerged as a credible alternative to traditional pen and paper examinations that schools and educational institutions are adept to. While concepts like these are unheard of in the Indian ecosystem, there are ample examples internationally, of schools and universities leveraging technology and conducting safe and secure examinations using online solution providers. With the efficient use of state-of-the-art technology coupled with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, online examination portals have been able to overcome all malpractices and unethical behavior impacting exam integrity.

Why should schools opt for Online Examinations?

Online examinations are the natural progression for the schooling industry as they increasingly become aware of the benefits and effectiveness of bridging the digital divide. As schools have now become acquainted with the many benefits of online learning, it is only natural to look at other aspects of a child’s education that can be leveraged online. Moreover, schools stand to benefit from both proctored and un-proctored assessments that merge human oversight with AI based indicators that limit the possibilities of cheating, impersonation and other unethical actions.

Schools should see the advantages in opting for online examinations as under:

• Cost Savings – When an online exam is conducted, there are direct implications on the costs of paper and stationery that are required to conduct exams the traditional way. The elimination of paper costs alone is extraordinary.

• Time Management – Online examinations generally employ pre validation of the test taker to ensure that there is no impersonation or compromise of testing environment. This helps to overcome the lengthy formalities of the prevalent testing model and ensures that the test taker is able to maximize the utilization of his time. Moreover, as objective tests can be evaluated instantly it saves on the time of answer sheet evaluation and result declaration to a large extent

• Security & Confidentiality – The traditional testing model requires creation and protection of question papers in a secure environment. In fact, many schools take extra care to ensure that their question papers do not leak into the hands of students. Online exams ensure that the test taker does not have access to the test unless authorized by the proctor. Systems in place can also ensure that the candidate does not have access to the internet or has limited access in order to maintain test integrity. Questions can even be randomized and presented as tests. This is why many schools have already adopted the practice of online examinations.

• Flexibility & Accessibility – Online examinations make it possible for test takers to take an exam from the comfort of their homes. Some online service providers even allow test takers to schedule their examinations as per their availability. Schools can consider similar options for low stakes exams allowing their test takers to conduct examinations 24 x 7.

Administratively as well, online exams are a lot easier to conduct as compared to traditional tests. Schools are undivided on the toil and effort that goes into conducting examinations the present way. Online examinations enable a one stop solution for creating, conducting, evaluating and analyzing exams. Test results can be mapped to test takers along with their progression history to understand the developmental areas of the students and help them precisely.

What kind of examinations can be conducted?

Online examinations can be used to deliver all kinds of tests. Certain service providers also allow examiners to align learning outcomes to the tests that they choose to conduct. Such deep analysis is not possible with the traditional testing set up. Listed below are a few aspects of student development and supporting question types that can be tested via online exams:

It is relatively difficult to refute the many benefits of online examinations. Schools have an opportunity to ensure academic continuity for their students and rise above the ill effects of the pandemic. It is important for schools to recognize their infrastructural challenges and work around them to execute online assessment strategies that can help set the pace for all future assessments. Student’s should also be well prepared to be introduced to an online testing environment that is both safe and secure while being highly effective.

Teaching Online – The pedagogical shift all teachers must embrace.

The modern educator, in its true sense defines a skill that has come off age. Imparting education has become more an act of teaching the way learners want to learn rather than following a mechanical and archaic process. The approach to teaching or pedagogy has evolved into a more child centric, result oriented and skill driven. Educators in schools and other educational institutions are united on the idea of revamping the traditional approach to teaching and discovering modern and efficient ways of connecting with the students.

Teaching in today’s schools requires educators to be more welcoming of the use of technology beyond the basics. As educational institutions today, have gradually started to offer job-oriented learning, there is absolutely no doubt technology would be an essential enabler in the process. With the increasing demand for students in the country, there is a natural push towards shifting teaching and learning online in a manner that is both effective and innovative. It is a well-known fact that learners today can associate better with video lessons rather than text books. In fact, technologies can enable standard text book material to come to life thereby establishing an engaging contact with the learner.

What does teaching online entail?

Educators that can leverage technology today, can ensure that student learning continues with minimal hindrances. Contrary to popular belief, teaching online is simple, efficient and easy to learn. It takes a small amount of willingness to adapt to the teaching environment and get acquainted with the tools and platforms. Most of online teaching is extremely similar to classroom teaching. Teachers can do everything over learning platforms such as design curriculum, conduct assessments, allocate assignments and design progress reports for their students. Infrastructural requirements are fairly limited as all that is needed is a computer with a stable internet connection.

Why should educational institutions push for online teaching?

When employed efficiently, online teaching offers a load of benefits that enable education in a way that has never been possible before. The most noteworthy of these benefits being:

• Online teaching renders geographies pointless. Since teaching online is managed by a system over the web, students can log in from their respective residences and do not need to travel to school to attend sessions. This opens the playing field to students beyond the immediate vicinity of the school’s location.

• Online teaching makes asynchronous teaching possible. Present day teachers find it difficult to ensure that every student has understood a course or lesson. The commitment to provide individual attention to each student therefore remains unfulfilled. However, online teaching enables students to schedule one to one session with their teachers and allows teachers to do exactly the same, thereby ensuring that student queries are timely addressed and their learning continues.

• Online teaching makes it easier to monitor student progress. Since learning platforms today offer the possibilities of associating learning outcomes with lesson plans, teachers are able to monitor in real time, which students are lagging behind and require personal attention. Analytical summaries are a great way for teachers to ensure that all their students excel academically.

• Online teaching helps make monotonous lessons more engaging. Traditional teachers often struggle with certain topics that do not inspire student attention and focus as the rest. Subjects such as history, sociology etc. can be made more interesting with the use of videos, slides and other support material that are otherwise absent from a traditional classroom.

The prospect of hundreds of thousands of professors and students venturing into academic cyberspace for the first time has prompted some commentators to take to social media to predict that this period could alter the landscape future for online education. "Every academician shall be delivering education online. Every student shall be receiving education online. And the resistance to online education will move away as a practical matter," James N. Bradley, chief information officer at Texas's Trinity University, wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Online teaching has off late become the face for the educational industry at large. As a consequence, to the pandemic, schools across the world have shifted curriculum online and are enabling teachers to conduct live lesson delivery using video conferencing and education management software. Teachers are able to conduct sessions, address doubts and deliver high quality education across the globe. This is an exciting opportunity for the uninitiated to be exposed to the many benefits of online learning and understand its importance for the future.

Opening School's Amidst a Pandemic – 5 things all schools must ensure

As schools and educational institutions prepare to resume activities across the country, the scare of the pandemic worsens with each passing day. While governments have changed the narrative around the severity of the disease seeking public cooperation, school owners and operators must be mindful to strengthen their defense and develop strategies to mitigate, tackle and overcome the ill effects of the corona virus.

Schools need to understand that their eagerness to reopen should not result in nearsightedness. The rush to resume activities can lead to managerial oversight leading to drastic ramifications such as school closures and containment. Keeping the safety of all teachers, students and staff in mind, the schools must work towards creation of a detailed recommencement plan in line not only with the national regulations but also by understanding international best practices and guidelines issued by bodies such as UNESCO, WHO, IIEP etc.

Amidst the many attributes of schooling that must be evaluated by the management, here are 5 key areas that require the highest attention:

1.) Identify High Contact Zones

It is imperative for schools to seek out and identify areas in the school where students and staff come in close contact with each other. The best way of doing so is reviewing a student’s typical day in the school and identify likely common areas and interaction points where the student is widely exposed. Beginning from the classroom, cafeteria, auditoriums right down to water coolers and play grounds will need to be individually assessed in order to adhere to social distancing norms. In accordance with the respective state government regulations, schools must devise a student attendance strategy and supplement the same with cordoning off areas that require physical engagement and supervising the same to ensure that social distancing is strictly followed.

2.) Develop Sanitation Strategies

All school inventories must be properly sanitized at the end of each school day in order to make the school a hazard free environment. Regular cleaning and decontamination of guard rails, door handles, classroom benches, lab equipment etc. must be undertaken. School cleaning staffs must be provided with adequate PPE gear and should be allocated rotational shifts to continually clean lavatories, staff rooms, auditoriums etc. If the school provides transport, then all vehicles must properly be inspected and duly sanitized prior to student pickups as well as after drop offs.

3.) Revisit Academic Calendars

As schools choose to reopen, and activities resume, time is of the essence. Schools need to act fast and assertively to deal with the ill effects of the pandemic as well as address the need for completion of course content. All schools should actively look into their academic calendar and re-evaluate their options to achieve maximum course completion before the next academic session. Of course, the guidance of all affiliated boards is critical to this aspect, however schools should be well prepared to explore concepts such as accelerated learning and new age teaching in greater detail. Academic calendars must be condensed and optimized to achieve the maximum within the available time. Schools need to chalk off all non academic events and repurpose their time towards core education. This is the time when schools would need to make up for lost time and get back on their path to normalcy.

 4.) Embrace Technology

The school education industry at large has been one of the worst hit industries across the world. In India, schools scrambled to shift curriculum online in the wake of the pandemic. COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities of the education system and it is important, now more than ever for schools to become more accepting of the use of technology within their pedagogies. In emergency situations like the corona outbreak, technology is perhaps an enabler and not a deterrent to education as schools still believe. Schools must invest in teacher education and infrastructural improvements in order to introduce technology and modern day teaching aids within the classroom and enable unperturbed education.

5.) Rapidly Evolve

Schools, like all other industries have now ventured into uncharted territory. While medical science makes quantum leaps everyday in seeking a cure to the pandemic, schools must have their eyes and ears open to any new information that comes to light. They must be able to adapt, improvise and overcome any situation down the line without an impact on student education. They must strategize in a manner that allows them the flexibility to swiftly factor in any new changes that emerge in the coming months. They must review at regular intervals and further refine elements that are not working for them. School management must enable all stakeholders including teachers, students and parents to be ready to transition with the school as it battles the consequences of the pandemic in its own unique way. Schools must also consult, communicate and coordinate with the right departments actively in order to be ahead of the curve if the situation worsens.

As schools slowly grapple with the idea of running an institution amidst a global pandemic, here are a few safeguards that they can consider as part of their recommencement strategy:

• Installation of thermal scanners at school entrance to check body temperatures
• Setting up sanitizing stations around the school with contact less alcohol based sanitizer distribution
• Providing instant read thermometers to school infirmary and medical staff
• Suspend all activities requiring presence of more than 20 students such as morning assembly, sports etc.
• Keeping a mandatory safety kit in each classroom
• Ensuring classroom seating is such that 1.5m distance is maintained between 2 consecutive students
• Ensure sufficient signage and notices across the schools reminding everyone of the protocols at play  
• Ensure individuals without masks are not permitted on the school premises

Using these as starting points, schools can build onwards to a robust and flexible strategy to efficiently reopen and resume activities. Schools can also seek out the right partnerships from leading organizations that are closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on the sector and can shoulder the responsibility alongside the management to help them expedite their progress to normalcy.

COVID-19: A New Dawn for the Indian Edtech Space

The term EdTech has off late come to encompass a wide variety of business models and value propositions. As the global schooling model slowly warms up to the idea of technology enabled learning, the Indian market space too is showing a promising trajectory with massive investments being funneled towards Edtech initiatives. Both public and private players are rapidly diversifying to design and innovate more efficient ways of teaching and learning indicating a radical shift in market understanding.

As the pandemic hit the country, about 5 million students in schools were impacted. Schools had no contingency plans to tackle such events and the education system was on the verge of collapse. In an effort to salvage student learning, schools switched to online video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Skype etc. to push classroom teaching. These tools however, were never really designed for live lesson delivery and therefore lacked immensely in functionality and aesthetic. Moreover, students were able to take advantage of their schools unpreparedness and indulged in mischief and unscrupulous activities thereby completely defeating the true purpose of learning.

A closer look however, also brought forth a few schools that had invested in the idea of online learning and were able to swiftly move their curriculum online. Their teachers were well trained to use these learning environments and students were acquainted with E-Learning during normal schooling which cumulatively lead to minimal impact on student learning when the pandemic hit. Such incidents however, are a dime a dozen, and there is a vast majority of the Indian market space that is still searching for online learning models to support their recommencement plans.

In order to leverage staggering spike in demand, Indian Edtech firms have started offering a wide variety of features such as personalized learning, and expert led sessions as an alternative to traditional schooling. While these services were only supporting student learning prior to the pandemic, they have now been repositioned to be a replacement to regular schooling altogether. Leading Edtech players such as Byju’s, Vedantu, Unacademy etc. have expanded the scope of their services to offer live lesson delivery, digital lesson planning and personalization of learning paths for students to take advantage of. In fact, their efforts have yielded shocking results with some firms reporting a consistent month on month user base increase of 60%. Even top investors have significantly increased their investments in the Indian Edtech space which is estimated to be valued at over US$200 billion.

Learning management solutions are now being leveraged by schools for front end classroom delivery activities. Geared purely towards E-learning, Learning Management solutions are cloud based frameworks that emulate regular schooling activities, digitally. Schools can schedule classes, assign teachers, supervise lesson delivery while students can view their timetables, attend live classrooms and submit assignments all through the use of this learning management system. In fact, important aspects such as attendance, assessments and course material provisions are also possible through these learning management solutions. Global giants such as Google and Microsoft have also launched their schooling solutions to address front end aspects of schooling and cash in the momentum of the Edtech space.

In India, several universities have also adopted the use of highly sophisticated proctoring solutions to conduct their online examinations. These solutions provide web based candidate authentication and AI based supervision services which can perfectly be integrated with almost all leading Learning Management Solution providers. Government departments have also started using these proctoring solutions to conduct important competitive entrance exams such as those related to banking and finance.

Indian startups that primarily operate in the exam preparation market have also significantly increased their contribution to the overall Edtech pie. There has been an increase of over 14% in their addressable base in the last year. Studies also indicate that test preparation and online certification firms earned a whopping US$1.6 billion as revenue in FY19 and had the highest capital inflow in Edtech. This surge in adoption has also given rise to innovative propositions such AI based doubt clearing applications, designing of learning applications for the visually impaired etc.

It is safe to assume that the EdTech space in India is perhaps one of the most attractive sectors to be in at the moment. Even in the face of a worldwide outbreak, investors have been able to exit big and early stage startups have been able to ride the wave of technology driven learning. This trajectory is clearly setting precedent for the absolute requirement of online curriculum support systems and digital literacy in the education space in general. This is a great opportunity for thought leaders and critical thinkers to venture into uncharted territory to identify niche segments that can be developed into self sustaining verticals.