Schools to invest more in tech infra, colleges in online assessment tools: Pearson study 

Schools and colleges will have to invest in permanent technology infrastructure in the post-coronavirus-lockdown world, teacher training will focus more on digital skills and higher educational institutions may replace traditional exams with online assessment tools, according to a study by Pearson.

Based in London, Pearson is a leading education publishing and assessment service for schools and corporations, as well for students directly, offered across the globe. "COVID-19 outbreak is catalysing adoption of digital learning across levels as well as increasing popularity of short courses. These changes have certainly caused a degree of inconvenience, but they have also prompted new examples of educational innovation. There are signs suggesting that it could have a lasting impact on the trajectory of learning innovation and digitisation," the study on emerging trends in education post-COVID-19 said.

"Schools and colleges likely to increase use of digital learning platforms and continue leveraging platforms such as WhatsApp, Zoom, Teams and emails to achieve teaching-learning objectives. Academic institutions will see a significant development in infrastructure in order to facilitate teachers and students to continue learning even when away from campus and invest in permanent technology infrastructure to become fully equipped for providing quality access to online education," it added.

According to the study based on different practices being adopted in different countries, higher education institutes may replace traditional exams with online assessment tools and leverage online proctoring services to enable students to take exams from home. "Public-Private Partnerships to promote seamless education facilities will see a rise and government might take certain policy measures to boost the edutech sector and encourage education institutions to work out ways and means to integrate technology in their teaching learning process," it said.

According to UNESCO estimates, over 154 crore students are severely impacted by closure of educational institutions across the world amid the COVID-19 outbreak. More than 4.3 million cases of COVID-19 have been recorded worldwide, including at least 2,97,000 deaths. The deadly virus has brought several countries to a standstill with many of them imposing international travel restrictions.

In India, the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,549 and the number of cases climbed to 78,003 on Thursday, registering an increase of 134 deaths and 3,722 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry. The country has been under a lockdown since March 25, which has been extended till May 1.