Education - Where the puck is going

Wayne Gretzky a former professional ice hockey player was Nicknamed "the Great One", & could arguably be the greatest hockey player. Gretzky was average size and strength, but his intelligence, stamina, and reading of the game were unrivalled. He was adept at dodging checks from opposing players, and consistently anticipated where the puck was going to be and executed the right move at the right time , in fact his quote “ I skate to where the puck is going, and not where it has been “ is probably top ranked amongst most quoted.

Education is at its “ where the puck is going moment “

Indian education was slowly transforming in the past few years, there was some tinkering with the subjects, there were some advances in Smart Schools and there were few start-ups which promoted app based / online learning, when in 2020, came the fastest ignition one ever needed, COVID quickly accelerated couple of things real fast , the medium of communication quickly changed as one could see almost the whole world move overnight to teaching and learning online.

The other change which got highlighted is the changes in pedagogy & one must also give credit to NEP 2020, which also accentuated this change, there was a widespread awareness amongst educators and parents about need for learning of relevant programs like Coding, AI and what have you. This gave birth to many unicorns and decacorns, who seized the opportunity of not only changing the mode of learning, but also the modules of learning.

Where does the puck go from here ?

Schools will soon reopen, maybe not in November, but definitely next June. There has been a saturation of online learning and screen time & could there would be revenge schooling ?

The smaller children for sure have been exposed to compromised learning. Parents are equally worried and harrowed with social awkwardness beginning to creep up amongst children. There are stories of how children in lower grades after spending two years on their computers have been messing up their alphabets and writing skills.

Further the difference between Bharat and India has been stark in this lockdown in schools, while students in cities grappled with multiple devices to scan, read and learn their lessons, students in the interiors grappled with one speaker phone – smart phone over multiple children & this is hardly an India phenomenon.

The puck is headed to the schools. – We have the “ infinity stones “

Schools have changed their approach, especially in India, the averseness to change has gone and the movement from status quo has started. Ignited by Covid and NEP, there will be transformational changes in the approach and attitude of schools for learning and teaching. While two years of online remote learning has had some ups like more involvement & awareness from the parents and also higher flexibility in learning and opportunities to try multiple things, given the time saved in physically going to schools, the downs may be far more in the long term, social skills & sports have gone for a toss.

With schools becoming relevant again, we think that all is missing for them is some “ infinity stones “ to become all important again and to be able to successfully provide that vital link in the development of children. We have one of the infinity stones, FLITES, our PaaS for schools which not only empowers the schools to modify, adapt and transform their pedagogy keeping them not online abreast of the latest modules but also keep them in front of the changes coming.

With FLITES (Future Learning in Technology Education for Schools) & the ecosystem it provides , schools can independently customise and run their own STEM programs, independently and in a self sustainable manner which sets the groundwork for a culture in innovation & quality learning and eventually leading to nation building

Wayne Gretzky also said - Hockey is a unique sport in the sense that you need each and every guy helping each other and pulling in the same direction to be successful.” & similarly in Education, we need a lot of spokes in the wheel to be aligned to keep moving in the same direction and eventually be successful.