Rise of Digitalized Education: Effects of the Pandemic COVID-19 in the Sector of Education in South Bengal

Abstract (English)

COVID-19, which was a deadly strike on humankind, has changed the way of living around the whole world. Among all the diverse changes from economy to the health sectors, the traditional educational methods and institutions have gone through immense changes especially in India. The lockdown process to control the pandemic spread forced all the students of West Bengal to shift the studies on the e-learning method. Various online platforms boosted the e-learning process, but also created difficulties for a big section of the population with certain limitations since they did not have access to these learning platforms (and/or computers, tablets, mobiles etc. This transformation of teaching and learning methodologies have put the young generation into computers, tablets and mobiles which replaced traditional resources like books. However, the question is: even with the vast availability of e-materials, what hardships are the students and teachers still facing? Furthermore, how students and teachers in West Bengal respond to the tension between continuity and change? The sudden change of traditional teaching and learning practice effected a huge part of the population who didn’t have the new technological innovation before. In that case, how do people of entirely different conditions and geographical areas respond to the certain transformations from conventionality to new shifts? Can sustainable development in technology take place to preserve the previous practices side by side while developing digitalization for better opportunities? The objective of this study, which is based both on primary and secondary data resources, is to focus on the changes of the education system in South Bengal and find out the impact of COVID-19 on the education system, in order to understand the myriads of difficulties still faced by the students and teachers and their responses to new changes.