Page |1

PROJECT SYNOPSIS

ON

PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS OF ONLINE SCHOOL EDUCATION

FOR PEOPLE BELOW POVERTY LINE IN INDIA

Name: MRS VANDANA TANWAR

Enrollment Number: 2002406749

Course Session: January 2020 – December 2020

Mobile number:

(Submitted for the enrollment as a PGDEMA student for Post Graduate Diploma in the
University of IGNOU)

Supervisor: Submitted By:

Dr. (Mrs.) Verlaxmi Indrakanti Mrs. Vandana Tanwar

(School Of Education, SOE, PGDEMA Course, University IGNOU, Regional Centre Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh)
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PROJECT SYNOPSIS

ON

PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS OF ONLINE SCHOOL EDUCATION

FOR PEOPLE BELOW POVERTY LINE IN INDIA

Name of the Candidate: Mrs. Vandana Tanwar

Course Code: PGDEMA MES 49

ENROLLMENT NUMBER: 2002406749

STUDY CENTRE Code and Name: 1574 ANAND VIHAR COLLEGE FOR WOMEN

Regional Centre - 15: BHOPAL

Regional Centre Address: IGNOU PROG. STUDY CENTRE

TULSI NAGAR
BHOPAL
Madhya Pradesh

Student Address:
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Pg No 47 from Project work PDF

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Contents

1. Introduction
2. Need of Research
3. Research Objectives
4. Research Design and Methodology
5. Review of research
6. References
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Introduction
Education

Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values,
beliefs, and habits. Education methods include teaching, training, storytelling, discussion and
directed research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators; however
learners can also educate themselves. Education can take place in formal and informal settings
and any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels or acts may be
considered educational. The methodology of teaching is called pedagogy.
Formal education is commonly divided formally into such stages preschool, secondary school,
and then college, university.

Online Education

Online education is a type of educational instruction that is delivered via the internet to students
using their home computers or smart phones. During the last decade, online degrees and
courses have become popular alternative for a wide range of nontraditional students; include
those who want to continue working full-time or raising families. Most of the time, online degree
programs and courses are offered via the host school's online learning platform, although some
are delivered using alternative technologies. Although there are subtle dissimilarities, the main
difference between online and traditional learning is the fact that online education liberates the
student from the usual trappings of on-campus degree programs including coming to school,
planning their schedule around classes, and being physically present for each sequence of their
coursework.
As we all know most governments around the world have temporarily closed educational
institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These nationwide closures are impacting over 60% of the world’s student population. Several
other countries including India have implemented localized closures impacting millions of
additional learners.
UNESCO is supporting countries in their efforts to mitigate the immediate impact of school
closures, particularly for more vulnerable and disadvantaged communities, and to facilitate the
continuity of education for all through remote learning.

Education System In India

Education in India is primarily provided by public schools (controlled and funded by the
government at three levels: central, state and local) and private schools. Under various articles
of the Indian Constitution, free and compulsory education is provided as a fundamental right to
children aged 6 to 14. The approximate ratio of public schools to private schools in India is 7:5.
India has made progress in increasing the attainment rate of primary education. In 2011,
approximately 75% of the population, aged between 7 and 10 years, was literate. India's
improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to its economic
development. Much of the progress, especially in higher education and scientific research, has
been credited to various public institutions. While enrolment in higher education has increased
 Page |6

steadily over the past decade, reaching a Gross Enrollment Ratio of 24% in 2013, there still
remains a significant distance to catch up with tertiary education enrolment levels of developed
nations, a challenge that will be necessary to overcome in order to continue to reap
a demographic dividend from India's comparatively young population.
At the primary and secondary level, India has a large private school system complementing the
government run schools, with 29% of students receiving private education in the 6 to 14 age
group.[11] Certain post-secondary technical schools are also private.

Online Education in Indian Schools

India, 320 million students have been affected by COVID-19 school closures, and though the
government quickly recommended shifting to “online teaching,” this ignores India’s immense
digital divide—with embedded gender and class divides. The 2017-18 National Sample
Survey reported only 23.8 percent of Indian households had internet access. In rural
households (66 percent of the population), only 14.9 percent had access, and in urban
households only 42 percent had access. And males are the primary users: 16 percent of women
had access to mobile internet, compared to 36 percent of men. Young people’s access is even
less: A recent news report stated only 12.5 percent of students had access to smart phones.
Furthermore, most of the teachers are ill-equipped for online teaching.

This crisis is teaching teachers to reinvent their roles from that of transferring information to
enabling learning. The shift to distance learning has afforded many opportunities to teach
differently, encouraging self-learning, providing opportunities to learn from diverse resources,
and allowing customized learning for diverse needs through high-tech and low-tech sources.
But continuing education amid school closures has also taught us an important lesson about the
role of the community in teaching our children. If it takes a village to raise a child, we must
empower the village to teach the child. Improving the education system requires a decentralized,
democratic community-based approach, where community ownership of education is cultivated.
Important for this is the hiring of local teachers (with adequate female representation), which
increases teachers’ accountability to children’s families and their ability to empathize with
students’ lives.

If COVID-19 school closures and their related challenges with distance learning have taught us
anything, it is that we must liberate learning from outdated curriculum and the disproportionate
emphasis on information transfer.
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Need of Research
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed how rooted structural imbalances are between rural and
urban, male and female, rich and poor, even in the digital world. As an immediate measure to
stem the spread of Covid-19, most educational institutions have been shut since the end of
March. It is still difficult to predict when schools, colleges and universities will reopen. There are
few options other than to shift to digital platforms from the traditional face-to-face mode of
classroom learning.

Teachers and school administrators have been advised to continue communication with
students through virtual lectures or portals like Massive Open Online Courses. However, in the
absence of physical classrooms and proper digital infrastructure, both teachers and students
are facing unprecedented challenges.
The major challenge of remote learning is disparity in access – from electricity and internet
connections to devices like computer or smart phones.

Access to electricity is crucial for digital education, both for powering devices as well as for
connecting to the internet. While the government’s Saubhagya scheme to provide electricity to
households shows that almost 99.9% of homes India have a power connection, the picture is
less luminous if we look at the quality of electricity and the number of hours for which it is
available every day.

Mission Antyodaya, a nationwide survey of villages conducted by the Ministry of Rural

Development in 2017-’18, showed that 16% of India’s households received one to eight hours of
electricity daily, 33% received 9-12 hours, and only 47% received more than 12 hours a day.

While a computer would be preferable for online classes, a smart phone could also serve the
purpose. However, the phone might be convenient for apps, but not for carrying out lengthy
assignments or research. While 24% Indians own a smart phone, only 11% of households
possess any type of computer, which could include desktop computers, laptops, notebooks,
palmtops or tablets.

Even the penetration of digital technologies in India has been haphazard and exclusionary.
According to the 2017-’18 National Sample Survey report on education, only 24% of Indian
households have an internet facility. While 66% of India’s population lives in villages, only a little
over 15% of rural households have access to internet services. For urban households, the
proportion is 42%.

In fact, only 8% of all households with members aged between five and 24 have both a
computer and an internet connection. It is also useful to note that as per the National Sample
Survey definition, a household with a device or internet facility does not necessarily imply that
the connection and devices are owned by the household.

The digital divide is evident across class, gender, region or place of residence. Among the
poorest 20% households, only 2.7% have access to a computer and 8.9% to internet facilities.
In case of the top 20% households, the proportions are 27.6% and 50.5%.

The difference is apparent across states too. For example, the proportion of households with
access to a computer varies from 4.6% in Bihar to 23.5% in Kerala and 35% in Delhi.
 Page |8

The difference is starker in case of internet access. In states like Delhi, Kerala, Himachal
Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand, more than 40% households have access to
internet. The proportion is less than 20% for Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
The gender divide in internet usage is also stark. As per the Internet and Mobile Association of
India report, in 2019, while 67% men had access to internet, this figure was only at 33% for
women. The disparity is more prominent in rural India, where the figures are 72% and 28% for
men and women, respectively.

If the governments continue online education without necessary supportive measures, the
prevailing disparity in the virtual world could translate into widening educational inequalities
among learners.

Apart from access, digital education also requires regular and predictable internet connectivity.
To support online work from home during this lockdown period, telecom operators and
broadband service providers like Vodafone, Jio and BSNL are offering facilities like additional
data and free internet to their subscribers.

Would these offers really ensure a sound transaction of online classes to students across the
country?

A report by Quacquarelli Symonds on usage of internet in India reveals that both the state and
the private players have not yet accomplished assured connectivity to all subscribers. The
survey shows that among respondents who use home broadband, over 3% face cable cuts, 53%
face poor connectivity and 32% face signal issues. In case of mobile data, 40.2% face poor
connectivity and 56.6% face signal issues.

Sometimes, the lack of connectivity is not a technical glitch. In Jammu and Kashmir, for instance,
students could not access online classes because a government order restricted network
connectivity to 2G instead of 4G.Even if the basic infrastructure was in place, a whole set of
additional gaps are evident.

Learning demands a conducive environment for study. However, not all students have a quiet
space for learning at home. While 37% of households in India have one dwelling room, it would
be a luxury for many to attend lectures in an undisturbed environment. Having online classes on
a regular basis has a cost implication too, as students have to bear the cost of internet services.
There is no communication yet from governments on whether it is going to reimburse students
or will provide free or subsidized data packs. In the current situation, many students, especially
those whose families have lost income as a result of a lockdown-related job loss, will not be
able to afford this.

All above mentioned data and information gives good reason to research about the subject,
researcher wants to study. India is a developing country and we are fighting with a very critical
situation here. Pandemic has been changed so many things including teaching and learning at
all levels of education. School education is a very important and critical part of any country. With
this research researcher would like to seek appropriate and suitable solutions for the new virtual
teaching and learning. Teaching and learning would be available and affordable to all students
and teachers of India.
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Research Objectives

1. Right to education: The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or
Right to Education Act (RTE), is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted on 4 August
2009, which describes the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory
education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21a of the Indian
Constitution. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right
of every child when the Act came into force on 1 April 2010.

The Act makes education a fundamental right of every child between the ages of 6 and
14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools. It requires all private schools to
reserve 25% of seats to children (to be reimbursed by the state as part of the public-
private partnership plan). Kids are admitted in to private schools based on economic
status or caste based reservations. It also prohibits all unrecognized schools from
practice, and makes provisions for no donation or capitation fees and no interview of the
child or parent for admission. The Act also provides that no child shall be held back,
expelled, or required to pass a board examination until the completion of elementary
education. There is also a provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them
up to par with students of the same age.

Education in the Indian constitution is a concurrent issue and both centre and states can
legislate on the issue. The Act lays down specific responsibilities for the centre, state
and local bodies for its implementation. The states have been clamoring that they lack
financial capacity to deliver education of appropriate standard in all the schools needed
for universal education. Thus it was clear that the central government (which collects
most of the revenue) will be required to subsidies the states. In the present time with this
pandemic situation with funds and new strategies right to education act can be fulfilled
completely.

2. Economically feasible: Meanwhile, millions from Government schools and colleges,

especially in rural areas, will not even have access to education due to the lockdown.
According to the Key Indicators of Household Social Consumption on Education in India
report, based on the 2017-18 National Sample Survey, less than 15% of rural Indian
households have Internet (as opposed to 42% urban Indian households). A mere 13% of
people surveyed (aged above five) in rural areas — just 8.5% of females — could use the
Internet. The poorest households cannot afford a smartphone or a computer.
Governments, NGOs and other public-private organisations are trying to alleviate this
serious deficiency.
Avanti, a social-educational enterprise set up in 2010, has launched a free learning app for
Hindi medium Government school students in Classes IX to XII. The Sankalp app, which
has been installed from the Google Play Store by 1,000-plus users, has recorded video
content, solved examples and quizzes in the National Council of Educational Research and
 P a g e | 10

Training topics of Mathematics and Science. Avanti also conducts free live classes for IX to
XII 9-12 students on YouTube, Facebook and other social media platforms.
Akshay Saxena, Avanti’s co-founder, says his organisation has partnered with the State
Governments of Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh to make its free
content accessible to over one million students. “Students from private schools and those
from urban areas can access high-quality digital learning. But we aren’t able to help those
from the economically weaker parts in rural areas. There is no plan for them. The
Government needs to subsidise phone data and phones for people in rural areas. There
needs to be an aggressive push to do this as quickly as possible.”
ThinkZone, an startup from Odisha, is using Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Short
Message Service (SMS) and radio to help households with no Internet access. It has
partnered with a local radio channel to broadcast activity-based learning modules for
students aged three to 10. The activities are available in Odia, Hindi and English. “The
response has been good. We found that people from the neighbouring states are
consuming our content as well. In April, through SMS and IVR, we reached over 5,000
families,” says ThinkZone’s founder Binayak Acharya.

• Google Classroom is a free web service that schools can use to create and distribute
lessons and grade assignments.
• TED-Ed’s Earth School, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme,
offers lessons about the planet. Check out the quizzes and challenges as well.
• Discovery Education offers free educational resources about viruses and outbreaks for
different grade levels.
• Khan Academy has free lessons and tests in maths, sciences and humanities for various
grades.
• Education Nation Nordic countries have opened up their learning solutions to the world for
free, supporting teachers and learners during the school closures.

The implications of school closures in the country are not just about education; they are
manifold. An unprecedented social disaster can be avoided if more entities — Government
and private — pitch into short-term and long-term futures of the children in this digital divide.

3. Teaching and Learning resources: Online education plays a crucial role in the current
setting, where every student (especially in rural areas) doesn't have equal access to educational
infrastructure. It levels the playing field for all students by providing them an equal and
accessible platform to receive education.
The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) on Tuesday announced guidelines
for online classes by schools and recommended a cap on screen time for students. On the
appropriate screen time, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said that two online sessions of up to 45
minutes will be held each for classes 1-8, and four sessions for classes 9-12. He said that
COVID-19 pandemic has led to the closure of schools and has impacted over 240 million
children of the country who are enrolled in schools.
India houses 430 million children in the age group of 0-18 years with a considerable number of
students residing in rural settings. The status of education in the rustic villages of India is
deplorable, evidently. There are several challenges faced by children and student alike,
including archaic teaching methods, shortage of teachers, poor teacher-to-students ratio and
outdated teaching material. Although with the surge in digitization of education during the recent
times, it has become plausible to mitigate the above-mentioned challenges. Providing
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multimedia teaching tools to teachers and students and utilizing smart classroom equipment like
virtual classroom, digital board, digital teaching system, digital content, digital language lab, etc
can help teachers boost education scenario in rural settings. At the same time, digitization of
education can make it feasible for one teacher to deliver information remotely across various
locations via virtual classroom. Even when the teachers and students in rural India have
become accepting to the implementation of technology to deliver quality education, the basic
ground realities pose as a barrier in the way of complete digitization of education. Poor
infrastructure, lack of strong internet connectivity, no electricity, lack of safety and many such
problems are still needed to be addressed in remote village areas for a convenient access of
quality education to students. Though government has taken several initiatives in order to
elevate the level of education via technology in rural villages but there is still a long way to go.
Use Instant Messaging/Chat groups/emails involving parents (wherever required) for sharing
important information, resources, suggestions and follow up activities

• Post a weekly announcement to provide an overview of the coming week’s topic or a recap of
the previous week’s work, or both.

• Teachers may share e-content with students and parents and guide them how to use those
contents using available gadgets at home.

• Provide time to time feedback on the responses and performance of students in the assigned
tasks.

• School head may interact regularly with teachers and parents (at least once a week) to get
feedback

• Where parents are not in a position to support students in digital learning, suggest alternative
support like peer learning and seeking help from neighbours, identified
local volunteers, etc.

• Teachers may themselves select the contents based on the following criteria and circulate
among students and parents to help them choose appropriate digital media:

• ‘age-appropriate’ that it matches with children’s needs, abilities, and interests

• clear learning goals

• content meaningfully presented

• contextualized and culturally responsive

• Suggest activities that:

• are age-appropriate, simple to do at home and have learning goals that focus on building
concepts/ skills among children.
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• are meant for holistic development, and parents can easily assist their children in doing the
activities.

• encourage children to explore, observe and experiment using objects easily available in their
surroundings/ localities.
With the current scenario of Covid-19, it has become the need of the hour to resort to modern
means of learning since most of the educational institutes have been shut since the end of
March. There is a looming uncertainty about when the schools, universities and colleges can
resume functioning at a normal capacity. At such time, focus has been shifted to virtual
education and online learning that provide limitless opportunities to students to receive
education remotely. With the synergy of the public and private sector in education, rural areas
have been equipped with multimedia teaching tools, Digital classrooms and have facilities to
learn through e-lectures. This partnership is also helping mitigating the problem of shortage of
teachers in schools. These new methods of teaching can pose initial challenges to teachers and
students in remote areas. Gradually increasing their exposure to digital technology and proper
training to teachers can help achieve the goal of complete 'digitization of education in rural India'
and reduce drop-out rate. However, simply introducing modern methods of education won't be
sufficient for quality learning. One-to-one interactions among teachers and peers are very
crucial for learning. On a digital platform, how students learn and communicate with others is
hugely reliant on the readiness of both students and teachers to accept online education.
Development and evolution of any society depend on its availability and access to information,
and the same is applicable to rural India too. Online education can work wonders in this
direction and help the socially marginalized community to attain their entitlements given a strong
and equipped basic ground infrastructure.

5. Right to online Education: Post-Covid-19, online classes may have to be continued for some
time in order to avoid crowding of schools and ensuring social distance. With migrants moving
from cities to villages, the rural spread of Covid-19 is not ruled out. This would mean that
schools in rural areas would not open up soon. So for maintaining some continuity in education
one may have to opt for online classes. Government, therefore, must look at certain long-term
measures to satiate the needs of students. A Cost analysis between traditional education where
you need to build classrooms, provide study materials, build accessible roads along with public
transport for students to commute from home to school and back vis-à-vis the initial cost of e-
learning deployment show that e-learning is far more economical and cost-cutting in the long
run. That it helps rural students to get access to quality teachers from all over the country and
have hands-on experience with new technological tools is an advantage that far outweighs
whatever little burden it puts on the exchequer. An online education that stresses on vocation
education based on regional curriculum would ensure lesser school drop-outs and better
horizontal spread of education as has been the experience in a few Latin American countries.

A more balanced education model that reduces the gap between rural and urban children
and minimizes the divide between private and government schools is a boon for the economy
and the country as a whole. A PPP model of public-private-partnership has been tried in other
developing countries and can be replicated in India. IBM is partnering with KENET (Kenya
Education Network) to develop state of the art education hub for African children. Foreign aid
from UNESCO and other NGOs are available to support developing countries and India can try
to access such help.
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Presently, online learning has been a priority area of the Ministry of Human Resource
Development (HRD). That it needs the support of the Ministry of Finance (MOF) for resources
goes without saying. However, better results can be achieved if the HRD Ministry works in
tandem with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). The joining of hands of the concerned
ministries would help develop a holistic approach to the issue of e-learning which must be
broad-based, skill-based, infused with regional content and lastly, user/learner-friendly.

Research Design and Methodology

Area of study and Secondary Data:

As researcher’s topic suggested online school education problems and limitations for below
poverty line people in India. For the research purpose the study area would be Madhya Pradesh.

It has been clearly mentioned in the Directive Principles of our Constitution that Government
has to ensure ‘free and compulsory’ education for children up to 14 years of age. This provision
was advocated for children of this age group, by the turn of century, while formulating the
National Education Policy in 1986, duly amended in 1992. Since we are already in 21st Century
now and while discussing the status of primary education in Madhya Pradesh, it reveals that
literacy level in the Madhya Pradesh is 63.7%, which is slightly less than National level.

S.No. Type of Schooling Total

facilities number in
M.P.

01 Government Primary 81,335

Schools

02 Financially Aided Primary 961

Schools

03 Private Primary Schools 13,221

04 Government Secondary 24,293

Schools

05 Financially Aided 370

Secondary Schools

06 Private Secondary 11,236

Schools

07 Ashram Schools 878

(Opening level)

TOTAL NUMBER OF 1,32,294

SCHOOLS:
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As the data shows number of students are much more in Government schools than other types
of school. The nationwide COVID-19 lockdown has forced K-12 schools and universities to
close and send their students home which, in turn, has impacted over 91% of the world’s
student population. The closure has placed unprecedented challenges on governments,
institutions, teachers, parents and care givers around the world. Nearly 16 lakh children from
poor families studying in government and municipal schools in the national capital are staring at
disruptions in their studies without access to mobiles, internet and laptops or desktops, even as
privileged students from private schools are taking online classes amid the coronavirus
lockdown. Schools has been started teaching Class 12 students on the Zoom app, but most of
the students in primary and middle schools are struggling as they have either no access to
assignments, or find it virtually impossible to study mathematics and many other subjects
through WhatsApp or other platforms.

Municipal schools appear to be even worse off — authorities of the north, south and east zones
of the MCD might have issued orders on paper to school principals and teachers to assign work
on WhatsApp, but the ground reality is quite different. The Print’s interaction with primary school
students, their parents, and teachers from MCD schools revealed how everyone was struggling
to bridge the digital gap — many families do not have smart phones, let alone computers or
laptops. Some said they don’t know how to use WhatsApp, while some parents are engaged in
essential services and need to take their only phone with them on duty.Madhya Pradesh
government school teachers, meanwhile, are encouraging simple activities that are easier for
parents to monitor.A senior official of the Madhya Pradesh education department said: “We are
trying to overcome challenges and hence started an SMS system to assign work, as even if
families don’t have internet, nearly every household has a phone.”

However, the official said there were constraints like a household with three students
having just one phone.

Neetu, daughter of a domestic worker in Dronachal, can no longer use her mother’s second-
hand phone as it broke recently. The father’s employer offered to buy him a simple smartphone,
but realized delivery of non-essentials online wasn’t possible amid the lockdown. The employer,
who did not wish to be named, said: “I felt very bad, so I give my phone every morning when
Neetu has her classes. The teacher now has my number. I guess that’s the least I could do.”

Lockdown has brought to fore the digital divide among students- specially those belonging to
Economically Weaker Section (EWS) who got admissions in private schools under Right to
Education Act. There are more than 1.77 lakh students like Aradhya, who took admission in
good private schools under the RTE Act (2019-20) but are now on the receiving end because of
online classes. Moreover, the digital content created by the schools also poses a challenge
before them to comprehend it properly. Most of the parents of such children are unable to help
them. Girls suffer more as they are expected to help in domestic work as well.

Similar problem is expected to arise in government run schools as the department has prepared
DigiLep- digital learning programme, considering spread of corona pandemic.

Situation in government schools could be worse as most of the children in rural areas do not
have smart phones. Moreover, connectivity is also a major issue there. Although about 78
percent of India's 1.3 billion populations has mobile phones, tele-density in rural areas is around
 P a g e | 15

57 percent, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. MP has lower tele-density of
70.28% against 78% at national level (TRAI figures, September 2019).

Based on Report of Socio-Economic Disparities in Madhya Pradesh, the households of Madhya

Pradesh have been classified based on type of activity undertaken by head of household for
earning such as self-employed, regular wage/salary earning, casual labour and others in urban
area while in rural area the classification is slightly different, the classification adopted in rural
area is self-employed-non agriculture, agriculture labour, other labour, self-employed in
agriculture and others. Survey results revealed that in urban area 44.19 % household earning
income from self-employment, 32.61 % from salaries/regular wages, 17.18 % earn their
livelihood by working as casual labour and 6.02 % from other activities.

Table 1: Distribution of households by Type of Households: Urban (in %)

Type of Households Urban

Self Employed 44.19
Salary Earner 32.61
Casual Labour 17.18
Others 6.02
All 100.00

Table 2: Distribution of households by Type of Households: Rural (in %)

Type of Households Rural

Self Employed-non agriculture 11.73
Self Employed- agriculture 47.28
Agriculture Labour 29.03
Others Labour 6.58
Others 5.38
All 100.00

With the help of this above mentioned secondary data it is clear that with all this income
disparity and along with this pandemic situation below poverty line people are facing lots of
problems. Initially mentioned data about poor connectivity in rural areas, number of students in
government and semi government’s school children are facing problems in this pandemic
situation. To provide basic education with normal schooling to theses children is a challenge for
government. Now when children cannot come to school and online education is the only way to
continue with their regular studies, neither the employment in country is in a good situation. As a
researcher with this research I would like to present the limitation and problems of the rural and
lower middle class people of India have. This basic problem affects daily requirements of a
family. How students of this community will continue with online education which required
minimum a Smart phone/ Laptop and good internet connection? With this research we will try to
find out the solutions for those problems and limitations.
 P a g e | 16

Proposed Actions For The Problem:

1. Address the digital divide. Technology has the potential to achieve universal quality
education and improve learning outcomes. But in order to unleash its potential, the digital divide
(and its embedded gender divide) must be addressed. Digital capabilities, the required
infrastructure, and connectivity must reach the remotest and poorest communities. Access to
technology and the internet is an urgent requirement in the information age. It should no longer
be a luxury.

3. Empower a wider cadre of teachers. This crisis is forcing teachers to reinvent their roles
from that of transferring information to enabling learning. The shift to distance learning has
afforded many opportunities to teach differently, encouraging self-learning, providing
opportunities to learn from diverse resources, and allowing customized learning for diverse
needs through high-tech and low-tech sources.
But continuing education amid school closures has also taught us an important lesson about the
role of the community in teaching our children. If it takes a village to raise a child, we must
empower the village to teach the child. Improving the education system requires a decentralized,
democratic community-based approach, where community ownership of education is cultivated.
Important for this is the hiring of local teachers (with adequate Dalit and female representation),
which increases teachers’ accountability to children’s families and their ability to empathize with
students’ lives.

4.S.M.A.R.T

In the current era, the S.M.A.R.T goals technique is a popular method used for goal setting as it
is a simple way to engage and collaborate which leads to success. Although there are a few
variations of this technique, the most common and well-set goals which should meet the criteria
for setting effective eLearning goals are illustrated below:

• S: Specific
Focus on the primary intended outcome for eLearning and have a specific goal for
success.
• M: Measurable
Select eLearning tools which can be measured but beware of the timing of the data
to ensure the collection of feedback for further improvement.
• A: Attainable
It is a consensus to use common tools available to avoid any conflicts in opinions
especially if it is a shared goal, and always remember that all goals should be
achievable.
• R: Realistic
Set a goal that aligns with the potential unique inputs as the right goal will realistically
challenge eLearning circumstances. So, be realistic to set a timeline.
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• T: Time-Based
Set a proper timeline for the accomplishment of the goal. Allow time for changes
before the datelines as there is a present of learning curves for both educators and
students when implementing a new eLearning tool.

4. Support from NGOs

India has four NGOs for every 1,000 people in the urban areas, and 2.3 NGOs for every 1,000
people in rural areas. The importance and impact of these organizations in various spheres are
on the rise. The development sector has been given an impetus with the Companies Act 2013
laying down guidelines for Corporate Social Responsibility. Credibility and potency have
become essential features in the sector. This is the list of 10 amazing education NGOs which
are driving the change in the education sector.

• Make A Difference (MAD)

• Pratham

• The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF)

• Akanksha Foundation

• Child Rights and You (CRY)

• Bachpan Bachao Andolan

• Deepalaya

• Bhumi

• Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS)

• Teach for India (TFI)

If government could empower those NGOs and other state NGOs to provide basic things
required for online teaching. Volunteers are already involved in educating and mentoring
children from orphanages, slums and village community centers, they can teach online too. It
strives to build an equal and socially conscious society. Ignite is the
organization’s supplementary education program (belongs to Bhumi) which provides
underprivileged children support in English, Mathematics, Science, Computers, Robotics,
Mentoring, Arts, Sports, and life skills. Over 10,000 children are benefiting from one of the
above mentioned NGOs. We can help break the vicious cycle of poverty.
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5.Technology-Enabled Learning

To address these structural imbalances in how low-income communities accessed online

education for their children from age 3 to 11, Saarthi Education leveraged their model of parent
engagement to find solutions. As stated in this article, the model includes what are known as
‘relationship managers.’These are women from the same community, who are either mothers or
young graduates and trained in early childhood content, parenting and counselling, and are
assigned families in the area to whom they provide support through calls and home visits.
Currently, these sessions are done over calls and WhatsApp.“The same relationship managers
were still catering to the same 30 families each they were catering to earlier. What they are
doing now is they send one worksheet to the child every single day over WhatsApp. Now the
worksheet is designed very simply keeping in mind that WhatsApp is going to be used as a
delivery platform, but the actual learning is not going to happen on the device,” says Ankit Arora,
Founder and CEO of Saarthi Education.

Every morning between 9.30 and 10 am, the relationship manager sends a worksheet in a .jpeg
format to the child who copies it out either by themselves or with the assistance of one of the
parents. The child completes the worksheet, taking their parent’s help wherever required,
following which they take a picture of the completed worksheet and send it back to their
relationship manager. When the relationship manager receives the completed worksheet, they
check through it and gives them feedback on the performance. That is how the feedback loop is
complete. Thanks to a relationship manager, if those at Saaarthi Education see that on one
particular day the parents are unable to help their child, the relationship manager is just a call or
message away for any sort of personalized support.

6. App-based Learning

iDream Education, an education-tech startup, fast tracked the launch of their iDream Learning
App, which is completely free for government school students, particularly in rural areas where
there is access to 2G internet, NGOs and vernacular language learners. It can be downloaded
by anyone from the Google Play Store. The app offers digital content in most major regional
languages including Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali for all
Classes 1-12 and in all major subjects. The content is aligned as per the state board syllabus. It
also offers activity and project making videos, which students can use to make models and
experiments with free and everyday material easily available at home.

Meanwhile, students can also use the app to prepare for the pending board exams by
continuing to learn and review their academic concepts from the animated videos iDream has
put together for all subjects and classes. Their long term plan is also to add practice and test
questions in all regional languages as well.“In terms of improvement in learning, I think it’s too
early to come to a final assessment. What we seek to understand and hope to achieve is that

these students are able to continue their learning at home sometimes under the guidance of the
teacher or even independently. We are seeing regular use of the app, particularly in vernacular
languages. In a lot of these places, the app is being used under the guidance of teachers,” says
Rohit Prakash, the co-founder of iDream.
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Researcher believes online education requires a hybrid approach, wherein some synchronous
learning happens via Google Meet or other online platforms, where the teacher is directly
engaging with the student. But a large portion has to be in the form of asynchronous learning,
where the teacher is guiding the students, but the latter has access to online or offline tools
which they can utilize to continue learning at home. iDream Education collects student-wise
data . NGOs, school principals/teachers and even State government officials have access to
this data where they can see the usage and learning data of all their students. This helps all the
relevant stakeholders to understand their learning behavior, patterns and levels of each child.
This data is used by the stakeholders to guide students with a personalized learning plan to
achieve the best of learning outcomes. It is important to note that technology is just a tool.
“Technology will never replace the teacher, but it can be a great game-changer and facilitator,”
says Anil Swarup, former Education Secretary, Government of India. It’s an assumption that
Rohit notes as well.“If a child does download the app independently, he or she can still learn. If
the child is highly motivated and inspired to learn, the app is a great enabler. For teachers, the
app can complement their classroom or online teaching process. This gives students the best of
both worlds. They can continue to interact with their teachers and receive their guidance, while
at the same enjoy their learning in a very personalized way,” he says.

7. Government’s Initiatives:

Large parts of the country are still not connected by the internet, and the Government of India is
trying to address this issue through its Digital India initiative.“The government is trying to reach
out to the farthest places. They have laid down cables, but bandwidth has been an issue and
cabling has not happened everywhere. Optic fibers have not been laid down in every corner of
this country. Since the private sector may not be able to achieve this target, the government will
have to reach out to create that technological infrastructure for enabling use of the internet,”
says Swarup. Also, there is a jungle of information on the internet, so a navigation tool that can
lead you to the appropriate material is always helpful.

“We had set up a portal called DIKSHA, which has the facility of identifying appropriate online
videos for teaching. DIKSHA was originally set up for teachers for their understanding or training.
Government will have to continue to work on that in terms of providing a navigation tool to
teachers as well as children, but this discussion is about places where you have the internet,”
he says.

8. Online Education without Internet

“In some states, they are using radio very effectively to reach out to children. Outreach of radio
is much more than the internet. So, this medium can be used very effectively, but as I reiterate,
it cannot replace the physical teacher and it’s not the best substitute. Given the circumstances,
radio can be used very effectively. That remains an option,” he says. Secondly, the penetration
of television is pretty high. Early in May, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)
was planning to beam 12 Direct to Home (DTH) channels on televisions with appropriate
educational content to help the school students. But the major problem with television and radio
is one-way communication.
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These mediums are no substitutes for a physical teacher or two-way communication, but given
the limitations these are options governments and the private sector could explore. Both parties
would have to come up with radio and TV programmes that are attractive enough for a child to
sit and learn in places with no internet connectivity.

Another possible solution that Saarthi Education came up with is a grade agnostic model which
is dependent entirely on incremental learning of that particular child. They adapted it from a
Japanese pedagogical model called Kumon. Instead of one worksheet for all 40 students, each
student receives an individual worksheet based on where their learning levels are. The
curriculum is designed to ensure that there are very small increments from one phase to the
next. The focus is on mastering the concept instead of completing the syllabus.

Until the child has mastered a particular concept, they are not going to move onto something
else with the rest of the class. Clearly, the current online models adopted by many schools for
low income families are not working. Maybe, arriving at the Kumon model for an Indian context
could go some way in addressing key lacunae in online education.

It can be concluded that eLearning is an innovation in the current era as it clearly has an impact
on the Education. Since it is very useful and becoming more popular and necessary, eLearning
is a good solution to create an active platform for learning. Therefore, it is important to
understand on setting the right eLearning goals to enhance better teaching and learning for both
educators and students. If COVID-19 school closures and their related challenges with distance
learning have taught us anything, it is that we must liberate learning from outdated curricula and
the disproportionate emphasis on information transfer.
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References

1. The Better India, Web Page, Blog Written By Rinchen Norbu Wanghchuck.

2. Mehta, Arun C.(1998), Education For All In India – Enrolment Projections, NIEPA and
Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi.

3. Government Of India, (2000), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan: Framework for Implementation,

New Delhi.

4. The New Indian Express, Web Page by News letter. Published 2020.

5. Free Press, Scroll In web page, “Digital Divide” Article written by Protiva Kundu.
Published 2020

6. Community College Research Center, Columbia University, Research Paper on Online

Learning: Does It Help Low-Income and Underprepared Students? By Shahana Smith
Jagggars. Published 2020

7. India Times.com, Web page, Reader’s blog by N Pradhan, We The People. Published
2020

8. Hundred Research Report, Spot Light: Quality Education For all During Covid – 19 crisis.
Authors: Chris Petrie, Katija Aladin, Pukhraj Ranjan, Romayne Javangwe, Danny
Gilliland, Saku Tuominen, Leponiemi Lasse. Published 2020 (OECD)

9. India - State Education Report - Madhya Pradesh, Report by Centre for Education
Innovation, Prepared By Anju Gupta, Independent Development Consultant, Catalyst
Management Services (CMS) | CEI – India, Published 2020.

10. Report on Socio-Economic Disparities In Madhya Pradesh, Working Paper I, By Poverty

Monitoring and Policy Support Unit State Planning Commission, Bhopal Madhya
Pradesh, Prepared By Mangesh Tyagi, Advisor SPC,M.P., & Nodal Officer PMPSU
CELL. Based on data of State Sample of 61st round of NSS (July 2004-June 2005).