Challenges in Synchronous Online Education during Corona virus Pandemic in Context of Developing Countries: Parents’ Perception in Indian Urban Schools

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Corona virus pandemic has lead to sudden shift towards online education. Due to this, many challenges have developed, related to content and delivery of the lessons. The urban schools in India opted for synchronous online education for better outcomes. This study aims to present these limitations and challenges in Indian context.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: An online survey was conducted on parents of primary standard learners in various urban schools. A total of one sixty Responses were recorded in google forms and analysed.

RESULTS:  The parents’ perceive that lack of direct face to face interaction and interactive strategies in online mode with large class strength hampers learning in online platform. Many teachers and parents are not well trained for online lessons which  has caused technical problems. The developing countries have additional issues of poor connectivity and limited number of devices in a family.

The issues related to online engagement, technical aspects, learner motivation, parental involvement, social interaction in synchronous online education and the possible solutions are addressed in the study. 

CONCLUSION: The emergency online education has posed new challenges especially for young learners in developing countries. These issues need to be resolved for better lesson execution and learning outcomes.