India
oi-Deepika S
New Delhi, Mar 24: A year of learning in ”smartphone class rooms” and appearing for ”WhatsApp exams”, virtual campus tours to Zoom placement drives and ultimately massive increase in ”screen time”, the last academic session will go down in history as beginning of the “new normal” prompted by coronavirus-induced lockdown.
No packing up of bags for first day at school, cancelled sports day or farewells, no shared lunches and massively increased screen time, marked the 2020-21 academic session, which was about to begin just a week after the COVID-19 lockdown was announced last year.
Smartphones and laptops, which were not allowed in classes and meant for restricted usage at home as well, became the backbone of education throughout the year as COVID-19 pandemic prompted a 360 degree shift from classroom teaching to the online space, including YouTube…