Dealing with online and blended education in India

The COVID-19 outbreak has caused disarray in the country's formal school education system (Ministry of Education in Initiatives by School Education Sector in 2020–21 for Continuing Teaching and Learning. https://dsel.education.gov.in/sites/default/files/update/covid_initiatives.pdf, 2021). While some children had engaged in learning from home using digital devices, television, radio and also with the guidance of volunteers and peers, dropouts and out of school children have become a major concern as a result of school closures, with other areas of concern also including teaching and learning for children with no access to digital gadgets, continuing learning for children with special needs, teacher’s reach/unavailability, access to engaging learning material, internet connectivity, etc., and in this frame of reference, digital divide-free online and blended learning has become a much-needed demand of the hour. Addressing these challenges for a diverse nation, however, necessitates an effective policy and implementation framework to ensure its reach at the grass-roots level while accepting the challenges of operationalization. This paper discusses the challenges of effective digital learning and recommendations for overcoming the barriers of Online and Blended Learning, with a focus on how technology would then take over and shoot through the roof of learning in the future.