The future of education looks as promising as never before. The two years of the pandemic have paved the way towards newer possibilities and innovative dimensions in learning. The NEP 2020 has laid down many structural and functional changes and updations are on the cards.
The education industry stood up with the help of technology and catered to the needs of the children. In the year 2021, many schools could not reach the very remote locations of India due to the lack of basic infrastructure facilities for electricity and internet availability. It got us thinking about reducing the future so that not a single child is left behind.
The year 2022 needs to get to the homes of the remotest location of India, not just on paper but physically too, so that education does not just remain as basic but more employable.
Today we are only making children learn facts and figures. In order to make them future-ready, we need to focus on making education more employable. We firstly need to reach every nook and corner of the country with better infrastructure and technological integration.
Alongside making the youth self-reliant through skill-based education as envisioned in the National Education Policy 2020.
1. Skill development:
Even after the six years of the formation of a separate ministry for skilling, the Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) continues to be scattered and fragmented. It is being supervised by 17 different ministries in their respective areas without any coordination among them. At present, the 'Skill India' mission is blowing at full steam.
India has the responsibility to employ about 104.62 million fresh entrants into the workforce in the coming years.
2. Metaverse or 'mirror world', or the 'spacial internet', or even the 'AR cloud', a virtual learning experience with enhanced physical reality, is the future of education in the coming years. Online learning will be more real with the help of metaverse, which involves the concept of Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR & VR).
The year 2021 had a large virtual format, almost real, like platforms for hosting school events. With the coming of metaverse events, the online classroom will look more real than ever. One can be both offline and online at the same time, leading to a surreal learning experience.
3. Blockchain in education for data security:
The use of blockchain in education is still in its nascent stage, but the future seems to come closer to using blockchain as a tool for data security. Gartner's survey of 2019 reveals that in the next two years almost 20% of higher educational institutes will be using blockchain. It will help streamline the tedious process of verification, transferring records, employee records, students' unique credentials, making the process easier and error-free.
Free digitalised teaching and learning materials, to be referred to as open educational resources, would be essential for increasing learning access to global learners. This is in alignment with supporting the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 4, as Blockchain will play a significant role in ensuring inclusiveness and equitable quality education across the globe, for promoting lifelong learning opportunities across all age groups.
Technology is being recognised as part of strategic development goals for inclusive education. Blockchain, makes it possible to provide cost-effective information, and makes it available for standardisation of quality educational content internationally. It is evident that adopting innovative technologies such as the blockchain can help in the effective planning of operations and resource utilization in education.
Conclusion:
However, technology takes over learning. What remains at heart is empathy, kindness and the virtue of giving back to society. The pandemic made children sit at home without a social life. Nevertheless, the year 2022 will open up children to the real world with more kindness as they will understand the value of a lot of many people whom they missed all through their home studies.
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