Letter to BS: Online education can help maintain continuity in curriculum

This refers to the opinion column ‘Sudden rise of online higher education’ by Ajit Balakrishnan (July 20). The strap rightly posits the que­stion whether Covid-19 can permanently transform the method of teaching and render college infrastructure redundant. The answer probably lies in our thinking. Are we accepting Covid-19 to be a continual fixture on planet Earth? If so, it will necessitate large-scale idling or destruction of physical infrastructure, redesigning our homes to ma­ke space for setting up an ideal ecosystem in conjunction with the present practice of work from home.

Online classes are convenient, financially beneficial, bring education home, teach self-discipline and expose students to a global college. At the same time, they are more theoretical, create a sense of isolation, cast more responsibility on students and challenge their time-management skills, reduce interaction and feedback, make assessment difficult, and above all create myriad health issues like stressed vision and back pain. It also leads to information overload and less creativity. Let us remind ourselves that student suicides have gone up in India during the pandemic. As a stopgap arrangement, however, online education can help maintain continuity in curriculum.

Ganga Narayan Rath   Hyderabad

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