Bihar: Demand for online education, good teachers to increase, says Anand Kumar

PATNA: There were some forced changes in the field of education due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but online education was still a long way to go to cater to the needs of millions of students across the globe in a realistic and meaningful way, Super 30 founder Anand Kumar said at a programme organised on the Indian School premises in Bahrain on 'The future of education in the post-pandemic world' on Saturday.
Kumar said the impact of Covid-19 was devastating across the globe, more so on the young minds. "We don't know if it was the last or will another such pandemic strike us. So, we have to be prepared, as students cannot be kept away from education for long period.
The impact of Covid-19 is manifesting through huge learning gaps. Though the situation demanded online education, we were not fully prepared for that due to glaring socio-economic disparities," he added.
The mathematician said while online education's demand has grown and would grow further, the value of good teachers would also increase. "Now, online teaching means the best teachers will be in demand and accessible. The ultimate objective of teaching is to ensure how much the students are able to absorb. It is where the role of more scientific innovations comes and researchers are working on making it more and more absorbing for the students. Just as a film keeps the audience thoroughly absorbed, the classes also need to do that by making them entertaining and gripping," he added.
Kumar said the scientists in Japan and other advanced nations had started working on use of artificial intelligence to make online education more receptive and absorbing. "It can map the learning outcome of students to make proper changes to suit students' needs.
The role of teachers will, however, not decrease; rather online education will be a supplement to it to help students in all possible ways and reduce the learning gaps. This will require a lot of finetuning and by using the technology and teachers, it can help a great deal to prepare us for future challenges," he added.