Parents, students asked to take part in education survey

Dimapur, Jan. 9 (EMN): Traditional pedagogy has been disrupted across the globe over the past year due to the pandemic and most educational institutions have had to resort to digital education. The transition, for technologically-crippled states like Nagaland, has not been seamless having been ill-prepared for a paradigm shift such as this.

With this in mind, education technology company NagaEd is conducting a statewide digital education experience survey “to better understand the challenges parents and students have been facing during the pandemic”.

“With the drastic changes to learning and teaching in Nagaland and across the globe due to the impact of the Covid-19, the survey hopes to learn the experiences of parents and teachers to better address the challenges that confront them,” read the update.

Therefore, NagaEd in collaboration with the department of School Education (DoSE) is inviting parents and students to participate in the survey.

The update also informed that a research undertaken by NagaED found that the key barriers to taking up digital education were behavioural, lack of contextual localised solutions and a rising digital divide.

“In partnership with the DoSE, NagaEd is working towards designing a digital education delivery model to provide students with access to quality educational resources,” it read.

“Another year of disrupted education is something our community cannot afford. Nagaland already has the highest rate of unemployment in the country at 21.4%. Many graduates already face significant barriers to gainful employment due to limited access to quality education resources. Unless we can provide access to quality educational resources, this will only get worse. The Covid pandemic has forced us to adapt to digital education. By embracing the changing education environment, we have a real opportunity for Naga students to leapfrog into the 21st century. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity we cannot forego. The voices of students and parents of Nagaland must be heard if we are to seize this opportunity to benefit this generation and the next,” said NagaEd founder Kevisato Sanyü.

Principal Director of School Education, Shanavas C, shared that ‘the present scenario in the country emphasises that blended teaching learning techniques need to be adopted by all concerned without delay for keeping in pace with the developments taking place in other parts of our country’.

It informed that multiple surveys are being conducted both online and offline by NagaEd and DoSE. “In July last year, NagaEd conducted phone interviews with 22 schools and colleges to understand the current state of digital education. The interviews revealed several barriers for institutions, educators and parents to access digital solutions,” it read.

Shiroi Shaiza, co-founder of NagaEd, added that ‘while there are existing digital platforms in the market, there is resistance towards utilising technology solutions due to limited knowledge, awareness and understanding of digital education’.

“There are currently no solutions available that understand and cater to the local context and needs. Moreover, the poor network connectivity, lack of devices and varying socio-economic backgrounds are leading to a widening digital divide at an alarming rate. We need a unified effort of our citizens and the public and private sectors to come together to resolve this,” Shaiza said.

The department of School Education and NagaEd has encouraged all students and parents to fill out the digital education survey by visiting www.nagaed.com/survey.

Survey findings and analysis will be made available to the public on the website.