COVID-19: How smart classrooms are transforming India’s education system?

India nowadays is regarded to be one of the world’s top education destinations with some of the best colleges and universities providing all types of courses and fulfilling all types of educational requirements of the students. With accompany to this, the education system of India is gradually shifting from traditional classrooms to virtual classrooms. Many universities and colleges have opted for online mode of education for its students keeping in mind all types of factors, providing quality material for studying and lectures through virtualization.
A virtual classroom is an online method of conducting classes, lectures for school and college students respectively. It is also known as the digital replica of the traditional classroom, where the teachers and the students interact, exchange ideas, and discuss topics related to their syllabus through video conferencing using different modes or applications which have been developed from time to time with the coming of virtualization.
The competition in the market is growing day by day and people with highly demanded skills, proper educational qualifications, and good personality traits are preferred in the job market and this is the reason people try to grab 2-3 degree certifications at the same time. But however, I find it difficult to manage their time and attend all the classes. This is where virtualization comes to a savior to them, where virtual classes can be held and students can complete their courses sitting and studying at home.
Advantages of Virtual Classroom:
1. Access to the material anytime required. Students can refer to the material whenever they find the need for it and save it all with them even for future reference. This makes exam preparation easier as it is not possible with face to face lectures to have access to them anytime.
2. Time management becomes easier and students are able to make proper use of their day and concentrate on other activities too rather than wasting time while traveling to different places for attending classes every day.
Disadvantages of Virtual Classroom:
1. The basic need for a virtual classroom is internet access. But not everyone is privileged with good internet facilities, especially in remote areas. This can be a hurdle for the students and they might not be able to attend all the classes regularly.
2. In the traditional classroom system, teachers have control over their students but they have no control over their students I’m virtual classrooms. Many times students do not concentrate on the lectures and use their mobiles which affects their results later on.
The sudden outbreak of the pandemic named Covid-19 Or Coronavirus has affected the economy and education system of India to a great extent. The traditional classroom had to be dismissed and virtual classrooms came into existence for everyone, all schools, and universities for all classes. The adoption of a smart classroom has transformed the traditional education system. Many people are facing difficulties in coping with the changes occurring all of a sudden and some of them found it easy to deal with new changes. Many schools could not arrange online classes for their students due to the lack of funds and could not find access to eLearning solutions, especially for government schools. Students have to face a great loss in their studies and are missing on many opportunities. Although all schools and colleges are making all the efforts to deliver services to whatever extent possible. They are conducting regular classes/lectures, providing study material, conducting extracurricular activities, competitions, webinars to keep students engaged and help them gain as much knowledge possible. It also helps them in enhancing their skills.
Education has to be a continuous process. Everyone needs to make the best use of this time and be more productive. It is also a fact that the use of technology in education has resulted in the shift from teacher-centric education to student-centric education.
Covid-19 has increased the adoption of technologies to deliver education and the government makes sure that students do not waste their time just sitting idle at home, be productive, and come out being a better person after lockdown.