Author: Sumit Shukla
Case Study on Apar Technologies’ eSIS Online Enablement Kit and how the timely intervention of the system was able to help more than 200 Institutes / Schools to continue education in the uncertain times of Covid-19. This also enumerates the need of Hybrid Education as New Normal in the Education Industry and why schools should adopt a continuous learning model.
Coronavirus has been the latest buzz and also the most dreaded name of the year 2020 and major part of 2021. The world had never thought that such a disease would come in the modern era of advanced science and research that it would make all the world stand still and put almost all the world population under lockdown.
Lockdown and unlock became the synonyms of the spread of the disease and its control in patches. Nobody was prepared for such a measure to be implemented that would just put brake in lives of all equally. Despite of the World Government coming closer in working together to find a solution to the most unusual problems, the disease kept on affecting thousands and then millions in its progression. Industries were hit, production was cut down, jobs were slashed and hence the unemployment grew in leaps and bounds hitting the world economy hard on its back. Restrictions on Inter Country trading and exchanges led to an estimate of world GDP coming down by almost 5.2% in 2020 alone and the experts believe it to be taking some time to recover back to its pre-pandemic era.
Barring the Pharma Industry or the Health Vertical, there was one another industry vertical that was touted to be recession proof at any time. Though, this might be true in a hidden manner but Education Industry in its original and non-flexible avatar was hit bad and hard by the onslaught of the pandemic. Physical education covers almost 90% of the total education imparted to the students and with total lockdowns imposed in the countries, the education in person took the worst hit and Schools were ordered to be shut down within one day of the notice. Shocked, as it may be, but the industry was not ready for this kind of unsure future. There was no clarity on how long and how strict this restriction would be applied to the education industry especially the in-person teaching part of the education.
Expressed in the words of a few esteemed clients :
“ The sudden COVID-19 spread and due to that the sudden lockdown created a lot of haphazard in education sector itself as it was difficult for them to think about how they’ll be actually facing the challenges caused due to the pandemic as they had to think about how the classes would be managed for the students in the upcoming days. It becomes clear that schools were not prepared for this sudden jolt that they received. ”
Mr. Abhishek Singh,Range Hills Public School, Aligarh
“ The school management was shocked and didn’t knew what to do next. Within a few weeks, they started giving information related to study matters via WhatsApp and few weeks later, they began offering online classes through Zoom for higher classes. Therefore, it was clear that the confusion on what next was at its peak. The teaching fraternity was not clear on how to keep the student bond going when they are not able to communicate with them and above all, what will happen to the loss of education hours for the students who, in the end, are the building blocks of the nations. ”
Mr. Kesab Singh,Don Bosco School, Sonaighuli
It is a known fact that almost 88% of the schools in India do not have a proper IT infrastructure in place. This means that they did not have any help from IT within their backbone to help them plan something advanced in terms of carrying out the education to their students without going into an unwanted break.
Some schools started searching for the platforms that could help them communicate better with the students and Video Collaboration or Video Conferencing platforms became an obvious choice for the schools to implement as soon as possible and start the usual method of education, though now in a much-changed manner, in the online mode. The search for video conferencing channel was obviously bringing down the close fight between two of the rival platforms. Platform of Zoom and then a Video Collaboration and Productivity suite platform by Microsoft called Microsoft Teams. There was an initial surge in the usage of Zoom platform for the online classes but later on the reports started surfacing questioning the security and privacy for the students which raised a lot of doubt again in the technology safety in using such platforms.
Not only the security aspect, schools went into usual issues of managing classes, taking attendance, managing lesson plans, managing assignments and taking regular assessments. There were work arounds available for each of them but the need of a regular system encompassing all the modules in entirety and then giving out the desired features to the schools started becoming a necessity.
“ The online platform helped in managing the online video classes on teams and also the proper data management for no. of video lectures, automatic attendance management, lesson plans and numerous other management system was a big relief to actually implementing a system for monitoring and management rather than providing just a tool to the teachers to conduct video classes. ”
Mr. Panna Singh ,Pioneer Residential School, Bihar
The birth of “eSIS Online Enablement Kit” as a part of their eLite Suite was the effort of 8 engineers working almost 24 hours a day for 15 days to create a value system for the schools. Most important ingredient of the system was Microsoft Teams that helped the system achieve its objective in shortest possible time. The APIs from Microsoft Teams were implemented with the help of Microsoft Engineering Team which made the system seamless to be used from both desktop and any of the mobile devices.
The primary features of the system included:
“ The promised turnaround time of 7 days was followed and the school was live with the system within the required timeframe. She also quoted that the personalized training to the school faculties and the students were given so as to ensure that the student and teachers have a proper knowledge to operate the system without any major issue. The validation from Ms. Monica Dutta was the testament of the belief that a fast turnaround was an important measure of the system which formed the base of a large clientele in the shortest possible time. ”
Ms. Monica Dutta ,St. Georgia Girls School, Bihar
This was not the only favorable thing provided to the schools. The lecture scheduling time was reduced almost by 30% and with the presence of an automated Lesson Plan mechanism, the assignments were easily manageable by both the students and the faculty equally. Above all, the school management was able to track the progress of the teaching faculty with aplomb.
Also, we went ahead and asked the schools on what did they like the most in the system and much to our predilection, the answer was within our expectations of the online collaboration platform.
It is always a heartfelt occasion when the hard work put in by team is applauded and well received in the market. We are glad that we were able to make life of a few schools better and helped them impart better education to their enrolled students. We thank all our esteemed clients and customers in making this system a success and giving us the satisfaction of serving them well.
The journey does not end here.
The constant innovation and improvements in the system are the need of the hour to make it much better when the transformation to a whole new normal of “Hybrid Education” is taking place. With the announcement of the NEP, the schools now realize that online education is going to stay in the system and hence the need and demand of the schools is rising on a daily basis. Innovating a system to match up to the expectation is a challenge that drives us in the long run and the satisfaction of the client is our reward.
About eLite Suite of Products –
About Apar Technologies Pvt Ltd
About Microsoft Teams
Microsoft teams provides tools enabling businesses to be productive and communicate effectively regardless of location. Our organization has done Video Collaboration with Microsoft Teams which enables classes, ensures the productivity and education of your students while being away from the classrooms.
Study together in one solution for real time communication and collaboration with:
- Easy access your file, chats and apps in one single study space – across desktop, Mobile and Web.
- Co-author Files simultaneously with popular Microsoft apps – Like words, excel and Power Point.
- Stay in sync and Collaborate through 1:1 chat and conversation centered around study stream.
Information on the schools listed in the case study
Mr. Panna Singh
Nursery to class 12th
About him- Panna Singh from Kolkata, who is currently residing in Bihar has been associated with Pioneer Residential School from 5 years. He is a person who always tries to show the new and ease way for the betterment of the future for the students.
Ms. Monica Dutta
Nursery to class 12th
About her- Monica Dutta has an experience of 27 years in education sector. Currently, She is working in St. Georgia Girls school, Bihar as a principal. She believes in giving her students deep roots along with a set of strong wings which may carry them far and wide but still continue nourishing with rich moral values.
Mr. Kesab Singh
Nursery to class 12th
About him- Kesab Singh from Assam, Who is Currently working as a principal in Don Bosco School. He has an experience of 10 years in education industry. He believes that school should focus more over hybrid learning solution these days to keep the students updated with the education system and let them have a good knowledge about the technology.
Mr. Abhishek Singh
Nursery to class 12th
About him- Abhishek Singh from Aligarh. Currently designated as a Chief Administrator in Range hills Public School. He believes that this era is rapidly changing with rapidly transforming and innovating technologies. In this new environment, Knowledge and learning should be looked differently.
Ms. Mamta Mehrotra
Nursery to class 12th
About her- Mamta Mehrotra is a Social Worker and a social Thinker, At present working with Bishop Scott Boys’ School, she is a Social & Human Right Activist and Founder of PARIVESH (http://www.parivesh.org) and established the women cell under the name of Surya Mahila Koshang. Works in remand home and helps the inmate have non- formal education.
