Sapna Sangra
Our education system is rapidly transforming, and we are embracing the change without being conscious of the impact it may have on our society in the years to come. The use of technology for mass reach has been around for a long time, and there is no denying the positive role it has played in improving the quality of the content delivered. In the early 80s, India developed a satellite and it was named as the Indian National Satellite (INSAT). The University Grants Commission’s (UGC) INSAT programs, for example, were on the scene way back in the early 90s that glued us to television back then. It aimed to provide holistic education to all sections of society and delivered content that varied greatly in nature. Awakening, educating, and stimulating the interest of the masses in the development of society were perhaps at the heart of these scheduled transmissions. The technological interventions in our educational system have grown manifold since then. But is it justified to allow technology to completely prevail upon us? Shouldn’t we be seeking a middle path? Can classrooms be replaced by online platforms? Is Artificial Intelligence capable of replacing human tutors? These are some of the questions that a progressive society like ours should be asking.
The first and foremost question is: How do we perceive our classrooms? Are our classrooms just the physical spaces where students cover the course contents with the help of their teachers, write exams and move on to the next grade? To me, these classrooms go way beyond the physical spaces, and we must resist them being replaced by technology altogether. I often wonder what would I have been had it not been for the classroom discussions that shaped my ideas and helped me evolve into the person that I am today.
Ask anyone with a formal degree which stage of learning influenced them the most; I am sure the answer would be school. The reason is precise; school not because of the years spent there but because of the depth of engagement. When a teacher enters the classroom, she brings with herself an institution. Rather, a good teacher is an institution in itself. The real conditioning of minds takes place in the classrooms. Most often the discussions are free flowing and go well beyond the prescribed syllabi. Syllabus often gives the direction to the discussions. Students are encouraged to express, ask questions, and bring in examples, helping them evolve in the process. They learn to critically engage, agree and disagree. These physical engagements, the face to face interaction instills in students a sense of camaraderie, a sense of belonging to the institution and to their peers. To be able to reach the institution and the class in time instills in one a sense of responsibility and discipline. The expected behaviors, the normative pattern students are expected to follow generate the idea of the Social that cuts across the caste, class, regional and religious lines.
Scientific temper and research are paramount to any progressive society, and they have a close connection with classroom conditioning. It’s time we realize that research does not happen in isolation. Good researchers emanate from good classrooms which rest on the shoulders of the teachers who push their students to bring in the ideas and express them without fear. Academic stimulations in the classrooms generate ideas to ask questions that impact us all and when we seek answers to these questions, we generate a body of knowledge that is applied to the betterment of our society and that is the purpose of all human knowledge.
The day we decide to replace these classrooms fully with technology driven platforms, where a teacher is replaced by AI, we will be generating slaves and not thinking minds capable of leading the world. It’s time we give due credit to our teachers and recognize them for their contribution not just to our society but to the world at large. The world leaders, the pilots, the scientists, the doctors and the engineers – they are not born but nurtured in the classrooms. It’s time we maintain the sanctity of our educational institutions and allow our teachers to prevail rather than be replaced by technology.
(The writer teaches Sociology at
the University of Jammu)
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