COVID-19: Game changer for NEET, JEE aspirants
Opportunity India Desk
Jun 12, 2020 -
3 min read
The students preparing for JEE and NEET exams are stepping into their career at the most volatile and uncertain time. Our prevailing condition, given the pandemic sweeping the world, is of anxiety. Yet, there is one thing we know with conviction that this phase is going to pass.
A crisis is also a great opportunity to learn and develop new forms of learning. It has paved the way for education going online to conduct regular classes and students are adapting to learning on computers and smartphones. With NEET and JEE aspirants now completely depending on online learning to fulfil their preparation, the ongoing crisis has caused a paradigm shift, making online learning a vital part of mainstream learning. Online learning app and platforms are available that provide a virtual classroom ambience with complete notes, expert opinions, online classes, mock tests, etc for best student preparation.
The ‘classrooms of the future’ will have technology at its core. The future will provide students with the best of traditional classroom learning with digital learning.
Smartphone and internet access reduce the disparity between students from a rural setting and those from an urbane one by providing them with equal and personalized learning opportunities along with access to the best teachers. In a diverse country like India, it provides equal opportunities for learning so that a student in a small town gets the same education material as that of a student in metros. This will ensure that no aspirant is left untouched by the power of technology and education.
Live classes bring scheduled engagement to students’ everyday learning routine while also connecting with virtual friends preparing for the same. Juggling between various subjects, chat windows, watching online videos, or switching between various windows, could become both overwhelming and comforting for most students. Students are in a familiar and comfortable home environment, but perhaps face challenges that of balancing exam preparation with the rigours of being in a classroom.
In some forms, this crisis has benefited students with added preparation time. Besides, the online world has the advantage of flexibility, along with reduced commuting time. While adjusting to a first-time public health challenge of this magnitude to ensure academic continuity, students learn by staying in the safety and security of their homes and ensure better learning outcomes, save time and increase the effective utilisation of time. With no waste of time in travelling, there is an opportunity to also indulge in leisure activities but did not have the time to do before.
The pandemic has presented new challenges and also opportunities for our NEET and JEE aspirants. Even as we hope they never have to go through times like this, the aspirants should develop skill-sets over time to enhance their resilience to respond to unpredictable events like pandemics. Students need to take conscious resilience-building measures to withstand and overcome unpredictable events that have an adverse impact.
This article is written by Pramod Maheshwari, Managing Director & CEO, Career Point Limited.
