The coronavirus pandemic has delivered a blow to the economy with unprecedented challenges and the education sector is no exception, according to Acharya Nagarjuna University Ongole campus Special Officer B. Krishna.
Addressing the valedictory of a UGC-sponsored seminar on the ‘Impact of COVID-19 on Indian Economy’ on Thursday, he said the sudden shift to online learning without planning in India, where the infrastructure for it was not ready and the curriculum not designed for such format, had posed a risk of many students becoming passive learners due to low attention span.
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Most of the teachers were also not prepared for imparting online education especially in the absence of a dedicated online platform specifically designed for the purpose, Dr. Krishna observed, adding that the universities and colleges faced the risk of both students’ admission and their retention. However, the situation offered a great opportunity for companies which were into learning management systems for use by higher education institutions.
The pandemic had thrown many sectors out of gear and it was more so in the case of the mass media sector. Quoting figures released by the Indian Newspaper Society, he said the print media had suffered a staggering loss of ₹4,500 crore in March and April, 2020. The loss in the next seven months was estimated to be ₹15,000 crore, affecting the livelihood of three million people.
“The sitution calls for a sustained response from the government,” said Sri Nagarjuna Education Institutions chairman Vakulabharanam Rama Prasad.
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