The 5th of October was marked by an annually celebrated occasion across the globe: World Teachers Day. This day brings together educators across the globe to appreciate their timeless passion towards  grooming generational leaders. On this day the WAC organised a global meeting which was attended by various educators from across India, the United States, Malaysia amongst other countries. Parul University's president Dr Devanshu Patel was privileged to partake and contribute to the session amongst educational leaders from across the world. Teaching is an art of selflessness and passion that seeks to uplift others more than the self.

The session was aimed at discussing and addressing the global challenges that today's teaching community faced during the pandemic and is facing today and how technology can resolve these challenges.  The event was phased into 5 sessions and PU President Dr Devanshu Patel shared in the second session which was centred on the UNESCO theme "Teachers at the Heart of Education Recovery". He shared his intellectual perspective  addressing the challenges that were faced by teachers during the onset of the pandemic. In his remarks, he spoke about the immeasurable loss of valuable knowledge, skills and innovation that has been made to the education community. He emphasised this by sharing the recent events surrounding the financial losses incurred by global tech-giant facebook inlight of the blackout.

“If a 6 hour Facebook blackout could result in such losses, how much more loss was incurred if we are to consider the blackout in education caused by this pandemic over the past one and a half years”, said Dr. Patel.

He highlighted some of the 5 challenges that educators from India faced during this uncertain period. The first point was a lack of adequate resources related to digital equipment in the communities. Dr Devanshu emphasised the great need for digital empowerment to improve the delivery of standard education over online platforms. He expressed his concern towards the connectivity issues faced by India and how there is an unequal accessibility of connection in rural societies. In addition, he mentioned the ineffectiveness of distance learning between learners and educators and how technology can be fully utilised to mitigate this challenge in his appreciation of WAC’s assessment technology and the newly launched learning platform Edorer.

He went on to share how the essence of contact learning is irreplaceable but it can be modified to save the lives of many in uncertain seasons. The Covid-19 pandemic shook the system and exposed a lack in the standard of assessment by digital platforms that educators encountered.

“Though the assessment challenge is a pressing concern, i am glad that Parul University was swift enough to employ the technologies of WAC for effective exam taking” added, Dr. Devanshu Patel.

Another factor that he shared was the lack of student engagement and motivation that came with digital learning which resulted in a sharp decrease of enrollments across the nation in both pre-primary, primary and tertiary institutions. The pandemic was unavoidable but what counts is that the world has gained valuable knowledge. Fast forward the world can look back to make adjustments and better prepare for a recurrence of this event.

Parul University, being India's top ranked universities, continued to make strides in ensuring that the process of learning continues for the students. However, education is shifting to the next age, therefore educators are the key element in ensuring the  possibility of this shift. Through the support and guidance that they offer these gaps will be closed. The  distinguished academic leaders shared their insights on various methodologies to enhance hands-on learning experiences for learners. The one and a half year of the pandemic has  not only imprinted valuable health lessons but it has taught the world that education goes beyond the borders of the classroom .

“Online evaluation should be implemented and continuously enhanced to ensure best practices in the long run,” Dr Devanshu pointed out in his conclusion.