This year has shown us several developments and unfortunate events. Almost every institution in India stepped forward towards the online world to educate its learners. By going online, school education in India has taken a new form as it has become the need of the hour.
What Is An Online School?
Online school is a school that operates entirely on the internet, using learning management systems. Such schools do not have physical classrooms like traditional schools. Instead, they implement the teaching of students using virtual classrooms for an innovative, convenient, and safer learning experience.
The digital infrastructure provided by the schools helps the students do their assessments, assign their daily tasks, support them with allocating the academic material according to their schedule, and schedule their online school classes.
Because of our Indian education system and the very few reliable online schools in India, the programs provided by these schools has their own merits and demerits. Both learners and educators of an online learning platform connect via digital sources only. One-to-one student-teacher-interaction sessions also take place regularly using video conferencing software.
According to the students, online schooling is a very preferred education system, especially for kids, as it provides a lot of flexibility and saves a lot of funds. Moreover, digital schooling is also a good alternative for students who focus more on extra-curricular activities. In contrast to the traditional schooling method, online schooling saves more than 30% of the time as every student can schedule their school classes according to their timetable.
How Do Online Schools In India Work?
- As the name suggests, the complete methodology of any online school in India is entirely dependent on a digital device, an active internet connection, a teacher, and a learner. Some educational institutions are only operational online, while others operate both offline and online.
- Various institutions offer online courses and programs where learners enrol, learn, complete the program, and take the certification. These schools also benefit the ideals of homeschooling in India. Schools, colleges, and universities also operate virtually either fully or partially using their learning management systems.
- LMS (Learning management systems) are virtual systems where students of an educational institution can create their profile and learn irrespective of their location of residence. LMS offers several services like assessments, automatic grading, academic material, etc.
- On the other hand, some institutes implement virtual learning using just the video conferencing software such as Zoom, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet without the help of LMS’s. Both educators and learners connect digitally, using this software, and interact.
Pros And Cons Of Online Education In India
As there are two sides to every coin, online education has its own merits and demerits. A lot of the students achieved digital literacy because of virtual education. Meanwhile, many students have also been using digital sources unproductively. Here are a few primary advantages and disadvantages of online education in this blog.
Advantages Of Online School Education
- Time-Saving: Digital learning doubtlessly saves a lot of time if we compare it with the traditional method of education. As mentioned above, virtual education preserves more than 30% of a student’s time as the student can use the merit of scheduling and rescheduling the classes according to the personal schedule.
- Digital Literacy: Digital literacy has been rising at a pace because of the new-era learning methodology. Once again highlighting the role of education in life. More students enrol in online school programs to learn many new processes to compose, research, and share information.
- Cost-Friendly: Many students state that digital learning saves them more than half of the education funds. Digital institutions or cyber schools charge comparatively low education fees. Moreover, there are no overhead charges as the student only pays for a digital device and an active internet connection apart from the school fees.
Disadvantages Of Online School Education
- Technology Issues: India is a developing nation. Therefore, some towns and villages experience issues in technology like slow or lagging internet connections and lesser availability of high-specification electronic devices like tablets and laptops. Thus, problems like the unavailability of obsolete/incompetent technology can be considered a significant demerit for many students and teachers.
- More Screen Time: It increases the screen time of every individual as it requires several hours of engagement with the digital device, which can further lead to several health issues. In the case of screen time more than 7 hours a day, individuals may develop serious health issues.
Looking for schooling options with minimal continuous screen time and reducing the time spent in front of televisions and other unnecessary media can help balance things.
Concluding Words
Online schooling in India is a growing succession towards the movement of digitalization in our country. Considering the increasing interest of students towards the same, the future of online education seems brighter and more stable. Since the traditional education system consists of various errors and deficiencies due to human-run management, the new-age learning will eliminate all such deficits with the help of technology-run and automated operations.
After a complete analysis and comparison of India’s best online schooling platforms, we can conclude that online schools can either be productive or unproductive based on their usage. Also, the pandemic has made most of these educational institutions operate online for both educators and learners, which is another reason for the increasing demand for digital learning, cyber schools, and online education in India.