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It’s been two whole years since the coronavirus pandemic hit us and changed our lives. Some changes were temporary, resulting from circumstances; others were more permanent in nature. Among the latter category was our approach to education. Since schools and colleges were shut for safety reasons, students missed out on some crucial years.
To cover up for the loss of learning, video communication platforms like Zoom and Google Meet came along. They reduced classroom interactions to a 4x4 inch screen, but did an incredible job at cutting out the fluff from formal education. Teachers had to make every minute of their students’ screen time count, knowing that many of them were dealing with health and financial crises at home. This meant that ‘studying’ took up far fewer hours of their day and made room for actual ‘learning’.
Edtech platforms saw an unprecedented surge in subscribers during the peak months of Covid-19. To make productive use of their free time, more people were signing up for online courses than ever before. They were not only taking up traditional subjects like the sciences and humanities, but also skills such as coding, foreign languages, music, writing and design. Boredom was not the only factor that propelled people. India was also facing an unemployment crisis at the time. Millions of people were laid off without warning, which opened their eyes to the fact that unless they make an effort to upskill and add value to their employers, they won’t be fit for the job market.
Why the edtech craze continues
Now that the world has opened up and life has reclaimed a sense of normalcy, people do not have as much time as they did during the lockdown to learn all the skills they want to. Still, many are going out of their way to continue learning new skills because they’ve realized that’s what will set them apart from the scores of people seeking university degrees and coveted 9 to 5 jobs. It will be their safety net in the face of other emergencies in the future – and after all that we’ve been through in the last two years, wouldn’t it be foolish to not expect the unexpected?
The world is changing
Besides emergencies, there are other strong arguments to educate yourself online. The guide to being financially secure is simple: Offer skills that are relevant and make you irreplaceable so that people are willing to pay you for them – and pay for them well! For that to happen, it’s important to take predictions for the future seriously, like the possibility that Metaverse will take over our lives, making way for a whole new set of career opportunities in the fields of art, design, and gaming. Or that investors will bet on green technology rather than profit-hungry, capitalistic ventures. It’s also predicted that remote work culture will condense large organizations into smaller teams and ultimately, solopreneurs who have complete control over their activities. So, it’s important to make decisions keeping these things in mind.
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