After the impact caused by the complete lockdown of educational institutes in 2020 due to Covid-19, the education sector recovered slightly in 2021. However, the second wave of covid in April-May 2021 had an irreversible effect on many students and families.
The complete shutdown of educational institutions from offering physical sessions was a big dampener in the initial days of the lockdown, in 2020. Institutes and students, however, were able to adapt to online sessions fairly quickly. While physical sessions are ideal, students realised that to make the most of the time at hand, online classes are a decent medium.
India is a significant participant in the global education market and has one of the largest networks of higher education institutions globally. For the Indian education system, on the other hand, there is still room for improvement, and with National Education Policy, there is an infinite scope of evolution.
Here are the key education trends as we enter 2022 with India’s education sector undergoing a huge digital shift.
Inclusion of soft skills training in curriculum
Educationists are emphasizing on the importance of building the aptitude around cognitive thinking, problem solving and management. The application-based syllabus which steers away from mere facts and figures and instead goads the students to apply the learning into real-life scenarios are surfacing more and more.
Parallelly, holistic development of leadership skills, team-building skills, communication skills is being imbued in students through classroom learnings. With the emphasis on both offline and online training, students are being prepared to face real-world challenges.
This is a drastic change from the traditional by-the-book teachings of schools.
Lifelong Education and material availability
One of the many trends of online learning is that it is highly accessible and convenient to uphold in any circumstance. The amount of time needed to complete a course online is significantly lowered as compared to the rate it took in the previous few years.
People from a wide number of backgrounds have been looking for an education that is interactive, fun, and easy to grasp while also being distanced from the educator. These are the exact characteristics of the method of eLearning that has been implemented all over the world.
More personalisation and immersive learning experiences
Technologies such as Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) were already on an upswing, but the pandemic has accelerated the pace of their adoption.
As classrooms shift to computer screens, there is more demand for aides that allow better engagement and visualisation of concepts.
These aides help students to immerse themselves in a more engaging learning environment that encourages them to explore new concepts further and apply them better in real life situations.
New assessment models and techniques to complement digital-heavy curriculums
While India shifted to the online mode of education, there were, and continue to be, significant gaps with regards to the outcomes.
As students gradually move back to campuses and education institutions establish a hybrid approach, the next few months will be crucial in order to assess the learning gaps created as a result of the online model.
A more personalized and customized assessment model will be required to assess individual students across both, the private and public-school systems.
Innovation in the subject matter
Detailing is extremely important in today’s day and age. In tune with that, another vital education trend in 2022 captures the variety of subjects that are being included in mainstream college and university curriculum. From applied linguistics to artificial intelligence, from food anthropology to ethical hacking, from culture studies to acabus science, the courses and subject choices available these days are indeed out of the box and revolutionary in many ways.
The course structure and assessment modules are also designed to maintain a practical outlook and take away the stress of memorisation. The acknowledgement that there is merit in studying and a need for studying non-mainstream subjects for better assessment of our current socio-political problems and deducing appropriate solutions is a far cry from the obsession with an engineering or a medical or a law degree. Newer specialisations have opened up more scope of innovations within the professional spheres.
