Technology in education: Is India abreast of its western counterparts?

The rise of technology in the education sector in India has witnessed a prompt growth in the past few years certainly. It has been observed that public schools now aim to provide at least one computer to every two students. Why just colleges, even in kindergartens one can find minds being enlightened with the help of e-boards, interactive media and what not! Surveys have shown that most of the teachers incorporated devices like tablets in their lessons and it showed improved results.

Not just this, India is in a constant struggle to make an effort to provide access to the Internet even in the remotest of villages and schools at an affordable price and speed. Ed-tech platforms like podcasts, apps, Twitter, Facebook and interactive virtual learning have all transformed the face of Indian education system. But still, are we abreast with our Western counterparts?

The answer is clearly NO. There is no debate in the fact that ed-tech platforms have offered valuable information regarding digital education which in turn provides knowledge beyond what a regular course offers. But still, a lot needs to be done and fine-tuned.

As per reports, India stands second with nearly 300,000 students next to China when it comes to studying abroad.
Isn’t the figure upsetting when it comes to India? What is it that we lack? We have the best of colleges, infrastructure, and teachers, then why do most students choose to study abroad? It seems that there is some flaw in our present education system. Guess, it is the lack of technology.

One of the primary reasons as to why we lack behind is that there are still a large number of teachers who are not acquainted with the use of digital technologies. This proves to be a significant barrier in the way as we need to focus into how government should undertake programs to train teachers and facilitate them in gaining technical expertise to create quality course material and help students in a better way.

Another aspect that essentially needs attention is the lack of digital records in most of the colleges which fail to provide secure and quality content. We are living in a world where online learning platforms have revolutionised education system, so in that scenario, a dearth of digital learning ideas needs to be looked at.

They say that “Everything comes with a price.” Though digital education is a dire need for aspiring India, it needs to be monitored as to what content is being served, as new technologies bring with them fresh challenges. For example, All sensitive information needs to be guarded well.

These are just a few loopholes to be named which should be solved at the ground level to raise the standard of education in India.

Whatever it may take, the solution lies in the fact that government should take initiatives to adopt an approach to join the dots together and reduce the skill gap in teachers thereby bridging the educational and technology gap.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the publication