With the outbreak global pandemic of COVID 19, the majority of the world’s population is under lockdown. With the outbreak of the pandemic, the government of India has decided to impose a nationwide lockdown. With the imposition of lockdown, all the social activities have been prohibited including the shutting down of all the educational institutions, this led to the problem in the student’s life and it has hugely impacted the life of the students who are presently pursuing their studies. Looking into the present scenario of the Nagaland state with regard to higher education based on the student perspective I find that the education system in Nagaland doesn’t reach a particular standard of education, where it lacks trained individuals, researchers, experts, etc. and knowledge-based individuals who can tackle any type of situation in a professional manner. Thus, this creates an enormous problem in the education system in Nagaland. As we all know the majority of the colleges and other educational institutions here in Nagaland follow the traditional form of teaching i.e. Classroom teaching. With the sudden imposition of lockdown and suspensions of classes due to the impact of COVID’19, has suddenly forced the students to adapt to a new form of teaching i.e. online education or virtual class. Few colleges are fortunate enough in providing the medium of online education which has created a medium that will make sure the proper functioning of virtual learning. Tetso college being one of the first colleges in Nagaland to provide online education. As a student of the college, I was able to get the opportunity to experience-learned and access online education, it has been a privilege and also an advantage from the other colleges around Nagaland as we are able to keep in touch with the teachers and subject matters which is being taught before the lockdown. But apart from those positive sides of online education, when we look at the present reality of our state the technological facilities of the state are under development, this makes online education, not much of a help for the students here in Nagaland. As it is a Morden method and ways of learning it is hard to adapt in the first place, apart from that as mentioned earlier due to lack of technological development there are network issues and connectivity according to the geographical location which does not give equal opportunities among the students across the state. But looking on the other side of the picture majority of the institutions are waiting for the news of lockdown to be suspended in order to begin again.
With the result lockdown, there are some following impacts which I can observe and say from my day to day scenario and experience:-
Firstly, with the suspension of schools and colleges, it has a massive impact on students, with the closure of educational institutions it has indicated that we can’t have access to the resources and materials that we usually get from the institutions. This can create a lot of anxiety and tensions among the students as they are not accustomed or use to such change. Secondly, Final year students have lost placements and track pursue for future studies and working life. It takes huge efforts and perseverance for students to prepare themselves to graduate and get into the world of employment, where the students work to their best to crack a job or find a way to earn a livelihood which they can start after their graduation or even before that. Hold in their final exam the students also lost track of their flow of study due to the cancellation of the exam. Due to lockdown, it has hugely impacted the mental health of the students causing anxiety and depression and also the future of the students getting ready to face the next stage of life is also being distributed. Thirdly, and my last point is that due to this lockdown the students routine has been hampered as a majority of the students or most of the people have enough free time due to the lockdown, where it has drastically changed the habit of the people, here talking in the students perspective we can find that most of the students are found spending most of their time in their smartphones and laptop where one is not aware of the time due to lockdown, this results in keeping awake of individuals till late night doing their past time activities due to lack of proper time management and not utilizing their time in the proper direction. This can develop a bad habit in them which will again be a problem when they get back to their normal schedule after the pandemic impact is less.
With this huge impact of a global pandemic, it may lead to this possible outcome to the Naga society particularly in the educational sector, where we might face new challenges and find some changes in the educational system, one of the probable outcomes of this post-lockdown is that online education or virtual classroom will become popular not only that with the delay of the academic session the duration of the academic session can be changed with the reduction of vacations and leading to usage new method in teaching-learning method. With the post-pandemic due to problems and chaos will lead to a situation where these question arises when the Education sector is facing an alarming expansion in demand for online education across the globe. Has the pandemic played a role in making India and Nagaland in particular, lining up its education sector onto online platforms? Do the necessary political funds, administrative support, ad required infrastructure exist? Can the private sector aid financial investment to set up online education?
But with the uncertainty of the outcome of the post lockdown here in Nagaland, one should be mentally and physically prepared to face the post-pandemic. Talking on the educational sector here in the state, I find out that there is a need for a change in the system. With the global pandemic, it has become an eye-opener for the Naga society in common. As we have experienced and witness that the people of Nagaland are still not ready to face the pandemic. Here, I want to raise a question on why the Nagas are still not yet prepared? Yes, many would say due to the lack of attention and efforts given by the government and the higher authorities. Yes, I agreed with that, but that is not the only problem. One of the major problems here is that the people of Nagaland lacks experts to handle the current situation not to say that we are not capable but in this case, due to lack of facilities and infrastructure most of the intellectual and well trained Nagas work outside the state. Here I want to raise another question which is that, are there any lab technician or an expert Individual to operate the BS 3 and BS 2 testing lab sanctioned by the Government of India?
Here, with the problems around us, we can come out with some solutions to tackle the present crises and hardships in the field of education. First and foremost the education system in Nagaland should start again from a grassroots level, which will help in identifying the developmental needs of the community people also prioritizing them and formulating with viable projects so that with limited resources maximum development could be achieved in a stipulated period. Another solution that is very essential in modern society is giving a common stage to the expertise from different fields and walks of life to come together in a common platform to debate, discussion and give critics on the situation and scenario. By observation, we can find out that with the lack of researchers and experts in Nagaland it will be better if the state government provide funds and sponsorship to the researchers and also set up archive and database centre to provide better knowledge and opportunity. Lastly, with the individual perspective, I want to encourage everyone that it would be good if we explore ourselves and find out own solution to tackle our own problem.
In the endnote, I want to conclude with a tweet from Haynes which says, “If you don’t come out of this quarantine with a new skill or more knowledge then you never lacked time but you lacked discipline”. And lastly, I want to reach out to all the people to stay safe, take care, and always be positive and hope for the best.