How has Online Education Started a New Revolution in Day Boarding School Education?
Posted by Strategic Communications, JGI Group on 20 Sep 2021

The advent of the internet and digitization has disrupted almost every sector and education is not an exception. Online education was started in India primarily to make higher education and professional courses accessible to all. Schools had been long trying to adapt to the new model of education gradually. However, for the past year, the Indian education system has been in turmoil. At the onset of the deadly virus spike, the online platform was the only haven for providing quality education to children.

With the upsurge of Covid-19 globally, we experienced situations like quarantine, lock-down which negatively affected Indian education. What seemed to be an unexpected holiday of some days for kids, turned out to be a disastrous mess that stretched over a year. Students were locked in houses and deprived of regular classes, school, and friends. Not only did it affect the academic life of children, but it also had psychological implications on children. There was an ardent need for an alternative mode of education for which Online education became the solution.

A recent survey by UNESCO revealed that approx., 1.37 billion students belonging to 138 different countries have been hugely affected by the abrupt shutdown of schools and universities. The study further revealed that with the introduction of online education, almost 60.2 million classes and lectures at the school and university levels were no longer held in classrooms. In every way, online education in boarding schools both residential and day boarding has helped in streamlining the paused academic life of the students.

The Potential of Online Learning in Indian Day Boarding Schools

Due to the immense popularity of online education among Indian educational institutions (much before corona made its appearance), our Honourable Prime minister initiated the ‘Digital India’ mission with the vision of transforming the country digitally, creating equal opportunities for all. It was as a part of this “Digital India” mission that educational institutions of India were adopting the online mode of teaching. The Indian Ministry of Education (MoE) compared the status of eLearning in India from 2016 to the present year which revealed some interesting information about digitized learning status in India. Let us have a look at them:

• In 2016 the market value of eLearning was approx. $247 million which will reach a whopping value of $1.96 billion before the end of this year. The annual growth rate is calculated at 52%.
• In 2016 there were almost 1.6 million students in India who enrolled in online learning courses which are expected to reach 9.6 million by the end of this year.
• The cost of classroom education is 175% more in comparison to online classes, hence it is more preferable because of its cost-effectiveness.
• The acceptability of online education is comparatively higher among the younger generation.

All these facts clearly show that online learning is a future potential not just because of the pandemic spike, it has been there much before. However, the pandemic spike has speeded up its adoption pace.

Adoption of Online Education in Day Boarding School

Online education takes classroom education beyond the physical premises of the classroom. With the start of online education, boarding schools have collaborated with various universities of global standards to provide top-tier education to students. Online classes are flexible and can be recorded as well, so students can watch classes at their convenience.

Expert teachers who were inaccessible earlier due to demographic differences can easily guide students and enrich them. We are in a time when everything is digitized, available at the tip of our finger. Online education brings school to our fingertips.

The one thing that the pandemic has taught is life is unpredictable and we must be ready to face situations. When every sector is revolutionized by the touch of technology, why should education be left behind? The practice of online education in boarding schools is starting a new trend so that the relation between students and the school never breaks, no matter what the situation is! The digital way of learning is the new normal; there will be challenges in the implementation of the process but we will overcome and win over the darkness of illiteracy.