Education In New Normal Age

Digital education is surely a valuable add-on, but education must primarily be face-to-face, encouraging collective peer learning, a sense of bonding and discipline, ensuring the mentors’ support and practical aspects being done productively. A pre-pandemic study in the US showed that students in online schools lose between 0.1 and 0.4 SDs (standard deviations) on standardised tests compared to students in traditional schools. Learning is a socio-human behaviour and engagement with peers is compulsory, aided by the mentors in a physical space, further amplified digitally. Youngsters, on the other side of the spectrum with digital access are being pushed towards too much screen time without much thought for the repercussions this has on their health or the development of social skills. We are thus in a state of an education emergency. Urgency to Restart Campuses The Assam Education...