CBSE schools go for alternatives to allot subjects to students

By : TNN | May 25, 2020, 05.53 AM IST

INDORE: Schools affiliated with CBSE are now opting for various alternatives to allot streams to students since they have been promoted to Class XI without writing all papers of Class X.

Emerald Heights International School has already conducted a psychometric test of all students of Class 10.

"The test was already done prior in advance and 75 % of the students are cleared about the streams that they had planned. With the remaining 25% students, we are conducting one on one zoom meeting to understand the aptitude," career counsellor of the school Vandana Murjani told TOI.

Schools are also opting for know your aptitude (KYA) test as suggested by CBSE via digital platforms to give subject stream for the new admissions in the schools. Daly College has been giving subjects to students as per their choice. "Only when we feel that they won't be able to cope up with the stream we try to counsel them and make them understand. However, the subjects are still given according to the choice of students," principal Neeraj Kumar Bhedotiya told TOI. Several private schools have also been opting to give the subjects on the basis of pre-board or other internal assessments conducted by the schools.

Schools, including Queens College, Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar, Delhi Public School and New Digamber Public School have opted to give streams on the basis of marks obtained by the students in their pre-board exam which used to get upgraded after the results of the board exam.

Some of the schools have also been opting for one on one counselling of the students along with their parents so as to analyse students' aptitude and give them the stream. Choithram School and many convent schools have given Google form to students to give their choice of subjects and after counselling the students along with parents via video conferencing or telephonic call, the streams are given.

Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

CBSE cyber safety handbook warns teenagers on revenge pornography, sets limits to online friendships

CBSE cyber safety handbook: While the digital exposure of students has increased due to teaching activities moving completely online during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, concerns about the potential threats have been brought to the forefront with the recent “Bois locker room” controversy.

By : Press Trust of India| Posted by Nandini | New Delhi | May 24, 2020

Warning against “revenge pornography”, setting limits to online friendships, valuing consent and reporting to elders if faced with a problem, are among lessons the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) wants teenagers to learn to ensure their safety in the virtual world.

While the digital exposure of students has increased due to teaching activities moving completely online during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, concerns about the potential threats have been brought to the forefront with the recent “Bois locker room” controversy.

The CBSE has shared a Cyber Safety handbook with schools for class 9 to 12 students. The handbook also details guidelines for students as well as parents, listing the do’s and dont’s and activities to understand the sensitivity of the issue.

“Students must learn to set limits to their online friendships as well as online communication with real life friends. There has to be a limit to what they share or exchange in terms of written words, photographs or videos. They must remember that, once online, they may not be able to control who will actually see it, prevent breach of trust and misuse and potential risk and harm to their person and reputation,” a senior board official said.

“Teenagers need to understand gender relations. Boys must learn to interact with girls on equal terms and respect them and their desires as those of human beings, not simply as objects of respect or desires,” the official said.

“Consent must be an important part of relationships. Pictures, videos and other material shared in confidence cannot be published on social media without the permission of the person just because the other person does not want to continue in a relationship. Youngsters must learn to cope with rejection as it is a part of life but not the end of the world,” the official added.

The board has advised parents to empower children to decide for themselves how others collect and use their information by requiring their consent. “As of now, there is no minimum age of digital consent in India. If there are people offline who you would be uncomfortable talking to about your physical or sexual experiences, chances are, you would be uncomfortable doing this with strangers online too. Cyber Groomers create fake accounts to befriend people, for the purpose of harming them whether physically, sexually or emotionally,” the official said.

“Students must be cautious when their chat partner gives them many compliments regarding their appearance within a short span of their acquaintance. Do not talk to people who ask you to share your sexually explicit photographs or videos. Never accept a friend request from someone you have never met in person. If you share your sexually explicit photos or videos with someone, the person can share those photos with others or post them on social media. They can also blackmail you,” the official added.

The handbook warns against falling into the trap of revenge pornography. “Teenagers in the age-group of 14 to 18 years are the worst victims of revenge porn as well as the perpetrators themselves, which is a matter of concern. Some teenage students who have been in a relationship and end it find their explicit photographs circulated on social media platforms. When such images go viral, students are often harassed and bullied by their peers – branded with insult and in the end, isolated,” the handbook states.

“A teenager may be targeted by her jealous classmates, her ex-boyfriend or even an unknown friend on social media who may be victimising her because she stopped communicating with him when she realised the dangers of online relationships,” says the handbook.

Earlier this month, a massive outrage erupted online after it emerged that an Instagram group named ‘‘bois locker room’‘ was being used by some persons to share objectionable pictures of minor girls and discuss illegal acts including rape.

People posted purported screenshots of crude conversations among members of the group – believed to be students of some top schools in Delhi and some allegedly as young as 13. It is alleged that they shared photos of teenage girls and made explicit comments about their looks.

However, during its investigation into the ‘Bois Locker Room’ case, the Delhi police has stumbled upon a conversation on Snapchat where a girl, posing as a male, suggested a “sexual assault plan” to a boy just to test his “values and character”.

Source : /www.hindustantimes.com/

Maharashtra: ‘School hours will be shortened, only one student will be permitted per desk’

Maharashtra, India’s worst-hit coronavirus state, is keen to reopen schools gradually from June 15 onwards. State’s School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad speaks to The Indian Express on the plans, safety measures and new SOPs. Excerpts:

Written by Sandeep A Ashar | Mumbai | Updated: May 24, 2020

What is your plan regarding the reopening of schools?

We’re examining the option of gradually reopening schools from June 15 onwards, but a lot will depend on the clearance from the Union Home Ministry. The reopening can be done in a phased manner. Schools outside containment zones in non-red zones can open first. For non-red zones in Vidharbha, the proposal is to reopen schools from June 26 onwards. But we will first take several steps to maintain a safe environment for the students when they return to school. While schools have switched to e-learning in the big cities, our bigger concern at the moment is continuity of education of poor children from rural and tribal areas who do not have access to a smartphone or live in areas without internet connectivity. Classroom lessons are vital for them.

But some of the campuses are being used as Covid-19 quarantine facilities?

We’re compiling a list of all such campuses. The district Collectors and Chief Executive Officers of zilla parishads are helping us with it. Obviously, they can’t be put to use immediately. We won’t reopen any school before undertaking a proper disinfection in even those that are not being used for Covid-19 measures.

What about schools in Mumbai, other red zones?

They may have to wait longer. We’re closely monitoring the situation but the situation needs to improve a great deal before we can plan the reopening of schools in Mumbai. While the schools remain closed, our teachers are doing their best to make sure the students do not miss out on lessons. We are running an hour-long televised show on DD Sahyadri, Balbharti has also designed customised e-learning solutions, schools have switched online. But one thing’s for sure.

E-learning cannot entirely replace classroom experience. Young kids, especially, find it difficult to grasp lessons online. But we are planning to appoint teachers to follow up regularly with the parents to check how they are coping with it. We’re also exchanging notes with other states.

Will reopening make children vulnerable?

Incidence among children has so far been lower as compared to adults, but we do not intend to take any chances. The plan is to reopen the schools slowly in a manner that lowers the risk for the children and the teachers. We are formulating new SOPs for schools. Schools will have to follow strict hygiene guidelines and social distancing will have to be maintained at all cost.

What will a post-Covid school look like?

Maintaining a physical distance between students at all times will be key. We’re discussing running of classes in two shifts or calling one batch of students every alternate day. School hours will be shortened. Only one student will be permitted to sit on one desk. There will be no morning assemblies or sporting activities. Parents won’t be permitted inside school complexes. Teachers who have cold, cough or fever will be given the day off. There will be a strict hand hygiene routine for students. Toilets will be cleaned twice daily. Classes will be disinfected every day. We’re also examining the option of holding outdoor classes wherever possible. The feasibility of identifying spaces within educational complexes to separate and nurse students, teachers and staff who fall sick will be explored. The Diwali vacation calender may be shortened to make up for lost time.

How do you convince parents to send their children to school?

I’m aware that any announcement regarding the reopening of schools may meet some resistance. It’s not unexpected. That’s why we are planning to involve parents and teachers in the decision-making process. Next week, I’ll be holding an interaction with the parents to hear their suggestions and objections to the idea. We may even conduct a snap survey. Attendance to school might not be compulsory to start with.

How do you pull back children who have gone back to their native places? How do you minimise dropouts?

We’ll need to be more pragmatic. Not everyone who has gone to their native place will return immediately. So we are instead planning tie-ups with the local administrations to ensure that the children of migrants who have travelled back to their native villages within the state can be accommodated in local schools in that area. A more challenging response would be for children of migrants from other states.

We plan to map all such cases too. School managements will be asked to make sure that they continue to receive education, either by way of online classes or by their accommodation in schools in their respective states.

The lockdown has impacted both the schedule and paper assessment work of SSC and HSC board exams. Students are now worried about college admissions. What are the plans?

The future of more than 16 lakh children who appeared for their SSC exams, and another 12 lakh, who sat for the HSC exams, is at stake. Despite facing several issues, our teachers and my department’s staff are doing their best to announce the results as quickly as possible. We’ve allowed teachers to travel for assessment-related work. Moderators have also been permitted to carry answer papers home.

Normally, HSC results come out by the end of May, while the SSC results are out by June 10 or so. Our efforts will be to ensure that the results are out by the third week of June. Our aim is to complete the FYJC admission process, which is online, by July end.

Source : https://indianexpress.com

Public Notice :Rescheduling of JOINT ENTRANCE EXAMINATION JEE (Main) April -2020 Examination

Source : https://jeemain.nta.nic.in/webinfo/public/home.aspx

CBSE launches cyber security handbook for students

Apart from the lessons, the manual will also have activities to assess the knowledge of students on the topics covered. It is meant for secondary and senior secondary level students.

By: Education Desk | New Delhi | Updated: May 20, 2020

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched a cyber security handbook to ensure safe and healthy digital habits among students. The HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal tweeted, saying that the handbook has been prepared to aware students from classes 9 to 12 about various aspects of cyber security.

CBSE has prepared a ‘Cyber Security Handbook’ to make students from class 9th to 12th aware about cyber security. This handbook is available at the CBSE website, the minister tweeted.

The new module will cover topics in cyber safety, such as cyberbullying, including social exclusion, intimidation, defamation, and emotional harassment, online sexual abuse, cyber radicalisation, online attack and fraus, and online enticement. It will also introduce the nine elements of digital citizenship — digital access, literacy, communication, etiquette, health and wellbeing, rights, freedom and responsibility, security and law.

Apart from the lessons, the manual will also have activities to assess the knowledge of students on the topics covered. The manual, to be launched in collaboration with the Cyber Peace Foundation, is meant for secondary and senior secondary level students.

“Many young people are confident in using a wide range of technologies and often turn to the internet for information,” the board noted, “but the confidence with digital technology can also be misleading.”

“Many of them frequently struggle when applying them to research tasks. They can find it difficult to work out whether information on an unfamiliar website is trustworthy, and rely on their chosen search engine’s rankings for their selection of material. They may not understand how search terms work or of the powerful commercial forces that can result in a particular company being top of the search engine’s list. They may not be aware of the lurking risks and threats and the fact that some of their actions can invite them trouble,” the board said.

CBSE has recently announced to adopt a different form of teaching and learning for classes 1 to 10. Several topics will be taught through different modes of art to students. Students will be given projects as well for hands-on learning. One project for each class will include Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’ (united India, supreme India) programme by the government.

Download Manual : http://cbseacademic.nic.in/web_material/Manuals/Cyber_Safety_Manual.pdf

Source : https://indianexpress.com/article/education/cbse-to-launch-cyber-safety-handbook-for-students-6417835/

CBSE Launches Handbook On 21st Century Skills

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched ‘21st Century Skills: A Handbook’ consisting of learning skills, life skills and literacy skills.

By: Education | Edited by Maitree Baral | Updated: May 20, 2020

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched ‘21st Century Skills: A Handbook’ consisting of learning skills, life skills and literacy skills. “Simply teaching to test or learning for exams is not going to help a student face everyday life situations. 21st Century Skills are key to the empowerment of children and adolescents to deal with the issues and concerns related to their life. They experience a number of feelings, many of which are related to their growth and development from childhood to adolescence and beyond,” the Board has said.

Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' has tweeted about the book. Students, this book will empower you with learning skills/transversal competencies for your holistic growth, he has said.

The 21st Century skills are essentially the outcome of experiential learning, i.e. they are imbibed through observing, understanding, practising and experiencing, it added.

The Board intends to implement 21st century skills in the teaching-learning process through core subject areas like Native Language/Reading, World Language(s) including English, Arts, Geography, History, Mathematics, Science, Government/Civics and 21st Century Themes like global awareness, Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy Civic Literacy, Health Literacy and Environmental literacy.

It emphasizes on enhancing the learning skills of students through critical thinking, creativity & innovation, collaboration and communication.

The handbook has list of activities. “These activities can be blended with the subjects during classroom transaction, or can be conducted in the zero period or integrated with Art and Sports,” CBSE has said.

Source : /www.ndtv.com/

Download Handbook here Link : http://cbseacademic.nic.in/web_material/Manuals/21st_Century_Skill_Handbook.pdf

CBSE students to take pending board exams in their own schools, no external centres; results by July- end

According to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) officials, students will appear at their individual schools for the exams and not external test centres.

By : Press Trust of India| Posted by Nandini | New Delhi | May 20, 2020

    

Students will appear for pending class 10 and 12 board exams at the schools where they are enrolled instead of an external test centre, according to the HRD Ministry.

The Ministry is also planning to declare the board exam results by July-end and evaluation process has already begun for exams which were conducted before the lockdown was announced.

According to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) officials, students will appear at their individual schools for the exams and not external test centres.

“Students will appear for the exams in their own schools and not external test centres to ensure minimum travel for them. Schools will be responsible for ensuring social distancing norms are followed and students will be required to carry their own sanitiser bottles and cover their face with mask,” a board official said.

The information was also shared by HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in a live interaction with students aired on DD News on Tuesday night.

Usually, board examinations are held at designated test centres for students. This is to ensure minimum bias from schools for their students and to enable independent external invigilators to monitor the examination process.

The board on Monday announced the date sheet for the pending class 10 and 12 board exams, which will now be held from July 1-15 with strict distancing norms in place.

The exams were postponed due to the nationwide lockdown imposed on March 25 to contain the spread of COVID-19.

While class 12 exams will be conducted across the country, the class 10 exams are only pending in North East Delhi, where they could not be held due to the law and order situation in the wake of protests against the amended citizenship act.

The HRD minister said that efforts are being made to ensure that the result is declared by July-end.

“Efforts are being made to declare the result by July-end itself. Evaluation process has already begun for the board exams and will continue to be held simultaneously with pending exams. Teachers who are involved in the evaluation process will be exempted from delivering academic and administrative work for the tenure,” he said in the interaction.

The CBSE class 10 and class 12 board exam evaluation is being carried out from home. Further, the HRD Ministry had earmarked 3000 evaluation centres from where answer sheets would be distributed to teachers at their homes for evaluation and then collected.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

Later, a 21-day nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, which came into effect the next day. It has now been extended till May 31.

The board was not able to conduct class 10 and 12 exams on eight examination days due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Further, due to the law and order situation in North East Delhi, the board was not able to conduct exams on four examination days, while a very small number of students from and around this district were not able to appear in exams on six days.

The board had last month announced that it will only conduct pending exams in 29 subjects which are crucial for promotion and admission to higher educational institutions.

The modalities of assessment for the subjects for which exams are not being conducted will be announced soon by the board.

The schedule has been decided in order to ensure that the board exams are completed before competitive examinations such as engineering entrance JEE-Mains, which is scheduled from July 18-23, and medical entrance exam NEET, which is scheduled on July 26.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com

CBSE date sheet for remaining class 10, 12 exams released

The board exams will be conducted for the remaining 29 papers from July 1 to July 15, CBSE said.

  

Published: 18th May 2020 06:02 PM  |   Last Updated: 18th May 2020 

NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which operates under the Union Human Resources Development ministry, on Monday issued the revised date sheet for the remaining class 10th and 12th board exams.

The board exams will be conducted for the remaining 29 papers from July 1 to July 15, CBSE said.

Class 10 students from the North East Delhi — where riots had disrupted the exams, will appear for Hindi Course A, Hindi Course B, English Communication, English Language and Literature, Science, and Social Science papers.

The remaining papers for class 12 students from across India include Business Studies, Geography, Hindi (Elective), Hindi (Core), Home Science, Sociology, Computer Science (Old), Computer Science (New), Information Practice (Old), Information Practice (new), Information Technology, and Bio-Technology.

The papers for class 12 students from North East Delhi, on the other hand, include English Core, Mathematics, Economics, Biology, Political Science, History, English Elective-N, English Elective-C, Physics, Accountancy, and Chemistry.

Source : https://www.newindianexpress.com

CBSE Class 12, CBSE 10th board exam dates to be announced today at 5 pm

Know about CBSE 10th result and datesheet, and CBSE 12th exam 2020 date sheet, CBSE result and other details

By : BS Web Team |  New Delhi | May 16, 2020

CBSE exam 2020: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) would announce dates for CBSE class 10 and CBSE Class 12 exam 2020 on Saturday, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said. The education board had announced that the pending board exams for Classes 10 and 12 will be conducted in 29 crucial subjects from July 1 to 15.

CBSE 2020: Subjects for which exams will be held for CBSE class 10

For class 10, CBSE will conduct the examinations of only those subjects whose examinations were postponed by the board because of law-and-order situation because of rioting in the capital's North-East Delhi District.

The subjects are:

1. Hindi Course A

2. Hindi Course B

3. English Communication

4. English Language and Literature

5. Science

6. Social Science

CBSE Board Exam 2020: Subjects for which exams will be held for class 12

Examination for the following main subjects would be conducted by CBSE for class 12:

1. Business Studies

2. Geography

3. Hindi (Elective)

4. Hindi (Core)

5. Home Science

6. Sociology

7. Computer Science (Old)

8. Computer Science (New)

9. Information Practice (Old)

10. Information Practice(new)

11. Information Technology

12. Bio-Technology

CBSE result 2020

CBSE result 2020 will be released soon after CBSE 10th and 12th board exams are held.

Source : https://www.business-standard.com/

Beware of fake datesheet of CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 exams being circulated: PIB

PIB urged people to beware of this fake datesheet claiming to be that of CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 exams.

By: hindustantimes.com | Edited by Akhilesh Nagari | : May 16, 2020

    

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) on Saturday said that a fake whatsapp message claiming to be the datesheet of CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 examination is circulating on the social media. PIB urged people to beware of this fake datesheet claiming to be that of CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 exams.

PIB has tweeted a fact-check regarding this on its official twitter handle.

“Claim - A whatsapp forward claiming to be Date Sheet of #CBSE Board examination for Class 10th & 12th.#PIBFactCheck: #Fake forwards. Union HRD Minister @DrRPNishank will be releasing the date sheet for the same at 5 pm today,” PIB wrote this on Twitter.

Earlier today, Union HRD Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal informed the students that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will release the complete date sheet for the remaining board exams of class 10th and 12th, today at 5pm on the microblogging site, Twitter.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com

CBSE gets IAS Manoj Ahuja as new Chairman

Education | Papri Chanda | Updated May 13, 2020

CBSE has appointed IAS Manoj Ahuja as the new Chairman of the Board on Tuesday. Manoj Ahuja, a 1990 batch Odisha cadre officer would be replacing Anita Karwal.

As a major bureaucratic reshuffle by the Centre, Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE has got a new Chairman for the Board. IAS Officer Manoj Ahuja has been appointed as the new Chairman on Tuesday. Among the 19 appointments that were approved the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet, Ahuja was one among them.

Manoj Ahuja is a 1990 batch Odisha cadre officer and is currently working as Special Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Department of Personnel and Training. Ahuja will be replacing Anita Karwal, who has been appointed as Secretaryin the Department of Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development in April.

CBSE has released an official statement that read, “CBSE gets new Chairman Manoj Ahuja, IAS (OR:90), Special Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Department of Personnel and Training.” The Board has also shared a tweet in this regard.

Ahuja will have to take charge to complete the annual Board examination process of both Class 10 and Class 12. The remaining CBSE Board Exams would start on July 1 and would end on July 15, 2020. Soon after the completion of the Board examination, the evaluation process would begin. The evaluation process would be a challenge for the Board amid the social distancing norms.

CBSE Board functions under the overall supervision of the controlling authority which is vested with the Secretary, School Education, and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/

CBSE evaluation: Board to issue security guidelines to evaluators working from home

TNN | May 12, 2020, 11.23 AM IST

CBSE evaluation: Board to issue security guidelines to evaluators working from home

With taking the new route of ' from home' amid the lockdown, there may be several concerns about the handling of answers sheets. To address this, board will soon issue security and privacy guidelines to to avoid any mishandling of the answersheets, a CBSE official told .

The board is set to roll out the evaluation process following the approval given by the Ministry of Home Affair to the MHRD. Answersheets will be moved from 3,000 designated schools to the residences of qualified evaluators who will correct it at their homes. The process is expected to be completed in 50 days as 1.5 crore answersheets of class 10 and 12 in 173 subjects needs to be evaluated.

"The guidelines on transportation and security are being formulated and it will be released soon," said the official.

The permission for evaluation has been granted for all areas except the containment zones.

Meanwhile, many state boards including UP, Bihar have resumed evaluation in green zones while in Odisha, this will kick start from May 20.

“The evaluators in green zones are allowed to travel to the evaluation centres. They are using their personal transportation and adhering to all sanitisation and social distancing norms,” said , secretary, . The evaluation is being conducted in 20 green zone districts while for orange zones the evaluation will begin from May 12.

Odisha’s Board of Secondary Education (BSE) has identified 60 centres and around 6000 more evaluators have been appointed to assess the copies.

Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

HRD Minister to conduct webinar for teachers on May 14

Union human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank will conduct a webinar for teachers on May 14 from 12 noon onwards. Teachers can connect with the HRD minister through his Twitter handle or his Facebook page

hindustantimes.com| Edited by Nandini , New Delhi | May 09, 2020

Union human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank will conduct a webinar for teachers on May 14 from 12 noon onwards. Teachers can connect with the HRD minister through his Twitter handle or his Facebook page.

The HRD Minister on Saturday tweeted to announce about this webinar.

Teachers can join the webinar and interact with the minister live using the hashtag #EducationMinisterGoesLive .

“I have always had a special place for teachers in my heart and hence I am very excited to announce my next webinar exclusively for teachers on 14th May at 12 noon. Looking forward to receiving your queries and suggestions.#EducationMinisterGoesLive,” he wrote in his tweet.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com

How The Pandemic Could Forever Change Higher Education

POST WRITTEN BY Tal Frankfurt | Forbes Technology Council

The historic havoc COVID-19 has wreaked on modern society has been, and continues to be, well documented.  It's time for some good news. These moments of global emergency have the invariable ability to progress technology and the wide-scale implementation of technology, in ways previously not thought possible. With a positive outlook, this crisis can be viewed as a sort of "bypass" button for the application of technological processes and thought patterns that would have taken many more years to adopt in a time of relative peace. One could say that a positive takeaway from disaster is its recurring ability to turn something once viewed as impossible into an accepted aspect of a new reality.

Discussions debating the viability of higher education institutions moving to virtual teaching environments have been taking place for well over a decade. Once COVID-19 was brought stateside and steadily increased its spread, those years' worth of deliberations, evaluations and concerns were all addressed in a matter of hours. With swift intention, educational institutions nationwide were forced to reevaluate their delivery methods across all aspects of teaching, campus life, extracurricular activities and so much more. There has simply been no time to delay. The steps being taken by nations worldwide are proving just how viable the online learning experience is and can be.

The Rise Of Remote Teaching

In a mere matter of days, educational institutions were forced to make major strategical shifts that had been in the works for years. China established a national cloud learning platform providing study materials for all students at the junior and senior high school levels. They've also incorporated public broadcast learning into their domestic education strategy with dedicated public TV channels airing primary school class material.

While these implementations aren't seen as a 1-to-1 replacement of the physical classroom learning experience, the Chinese government has invested considerable resources into the short-term viability of these supplemental programs: 169 lessons covering 12 subjects were introduced in the e-learning platform within its first week.  Major Chinese telecommunications companies, like China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, combined efforts with tech giants Baidu, Alibaba and Huawei to bolster the digital learning network with 7,000 dedicated servers and 90 terabytes of bandwidth.

What we've seen in the short amount of time since this pandemic first arrived is how impactful the virus has been in forcing widespread innovation across the higher education sector. For example, Common Sense Media (once a client of ours) is combating COVID-19-related complacency through the establishment of their Wide Open School: a free online resource powered by the support of over 25 organizations. Wide Open School's collection of learning experiences covers all major scholastic subjects for teachers and students alike while connecting families with programs offering affordable internet and low-cost technology assistance.

PROMOTED

The mindset and motivation inherent to this experience and others have the potential to cause wide-ranging effects on the higher education world. Like China's cloud learning platform, building a deep well of educational material that is freely accessible to students provides another knowledge base for their continued success and furthers the viability of the online learning experience.

Empowering The Virtual Learning Experience

Traditional in-person classroom learning is likely not going away entirely, but the opportunity for heightened virtual solutions complementing that in-class experience will be furthered with the arrival of 5G technology. By the year 2035, 5G networks are projected to generate $13.2 trillion in global sales. The increased, improved stability and revolutionizing of our devices as a result of widespread 5G implementation will likely allow our instructors, students and technology providers to take "anytime, anywhere learning" even further.  Tools like our partner Salesforce Advisor Link provide a unified network for advisors and students within their respective higher education communities. It's no longer sufficient to simply offer online courses. Modern students require greater virtual support, whether it be through advising or communication. Public health events like COVID-19 serve as catalysts of change, showcasing the importance versatile virtual technologies have on our ability to maintain educational standards.

Bridging The Digital Divide

More than 4.5 billion people currently use the internet, but that is still only 60% of the world's population. This gap between countries and socioeconomic equity must change if we are to broaden the viability of virtual learning. The negative effects of the divide are exacerbated in times of crisis, leading to a lack of information, education and opportunity for those offline. Now, more than ever, we must collectively strive for more readily available technology and move past physical limitations in favor of virtual solutions.

Those like California's Calbright College (a former client) understand that online teaching requires the right tools and for the playing field to be leveled for all students when it comes to access to technology. To that effect, Calbright launched a loaner library comprising over 500 Chromebooks and MiFi hotspots for students without economic stability or to those negatively affected by the novel coronavirus. The college's willingness to provide tools and reduce the digital divide speaks to their understanding that online teaching is about far more than just technology; it's about offering support to those who teach and to those who learn. This assistive mindset is so critical to both our short and long-term recovery from COVID's negative effects. The essence of online learning should be focused on providing flexibility and accessibility to all within higher education institutions, enabling students to reach greater heights and not be limited by a predetermined set of circumstances.

If this global pandemic has taught us anything, it's that the importance of online flexibility is absolutely critical for the sustainment of education and overall well-being. We should all take this time to assess our institutions, our organizations and our online habits in an effort to better prepare for such historic upheaval. Opening our minds while our doors remain closed just might put us all in a better position to succeed and educate once normalcy returns.

(Tal Frankfurt is the Founder and CEO of Cloud for Good, a Salesforce partner that creates transformational value with technology.)

Source : https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/05/08/how-the-pandemic-could-forever-change-higher-education/#4ede068f7b93