'Classroom in the Cloud': How technology is transforming education in Tamil Nadu

Don Quixote is pronounced “dawn kih hoh tee”, colonel is pronounced “kuh nuhl”. English teacher Chitra learned this only after she got a smartboard. “Switching from blackboard to smartboard is one of the major changes in the past two decades,” says Chitra who teaches at a Chennai school. Her students now make PowerPoint presentations which are captured on mobile phones and uploaded to a YouTube channel, with the link shared with all students.

Technology has changed the way teachers teach and students study. And the pandemic has accelerated the change. “When I started as a teacher in the 1990s, classroom instruction relied heavily on textbooks, explanations, and exam preparation,” says G J Manohar, a retired economics teacher. “Now, if students don’t understand something in class, they go online to access videos that explain things better.”

University professors say online education has flipped things around in colleges and universities. “Students come to class to discuss and clarify what they read online. Classrooms have become more interactive, less about information delivery and more about engagement,” said T R Gopalakrishnan, head of the department of journalism and communication, University of Madras.

Students are more comfortable with gadgets than books; it helps that online books are more interactive. “These days, students are preparing for exams entirely based on online books on laptops and mobile phones. They also prepare their own notes as PowerPoints,” said professor D Arivudainambi, department of mathematics, Anna University.

In higher education, more and more students have started to enrol for degree, diploma, and other courses in Tamil Nadu in the past two decades. The Gross Enrolment Ratio increased by around five percentage points to 47% in the last 10 years alone in Tamil Nadu. There is also a greater emphasis on employability than a couple of decades ago.

But the standout change is the shift to online mode. Online courses and certifications from portals such as NPTEL and SWAYAM have more takers after the pandemic. But even legacy institutions such as IITs have embraced the change. The online BS degree in data science by IIT Madras has attracted thousands, including working professionals from across the country. “More than 35,000 students are enrolled in two BS programmes, with nearly 35% from families with less than 5 lakh a year income. This combination of access, flexibility, affordability, and value is possible only by using digital means,” said professor Andrew Thangaraj of IIT Madras.

Since the turn of the century, deemed and private universities have also come into their own. “Moving away from the affiliating system of education helped us transition from ‘standardisation at scale’ to ‘quality and innovation and scale’ in education. It’s similar to moving from Henry Ford’s Model-T to the Tesla model in education in the past two decades,” said Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, partner at Catalincs and former CMD, Cognizant India.

But as digital tools reshape education, experts emphasise the need for a balanced approach. “While technology has made resources more accessible, it has also shortened attention spans in classrooms,” says Dr Sangeetha Chandrasekaran, a psychiatrist at SCARF and a school counsellor in Chennai.

What has changed

• Use of technology in classroom learning
• No takers for BSc maths, physics and chemistry courses
• More focus on skilling college students
• No takers for core engineering courses
• Online courses and accessing e-content in mobiles
• Attention span; excessive use of gadgets

What has not changed

• Preference for computer science-related courses
• Assessment of students
• Teacher shortage in primary and middle schools
• Faculty shortage in colleges, universities
• Poor learning outcomes
• Unusable toilets and hygiene issues

Events that shaped education in the past 25 years

• 2007 | Abolition of entrance exams

On the grounds that rural students are unable to get into professional courses including BE, BTech and MBBS, BDS, then CM M Karunanidhi abolished The Tamil Nadu Professional Course Entrance Examinations. Admission was based on Class XII marks in maths, physics, chemistry & biology.

• 2017 | NEET-based medical admissions

Introduction of NEET-based medical admissions left aspirants in shock in Tamil Nadu. Students were not used to competitive exams. The syllabus had also not been updated for more than 10years. First-year, only four students from govt schools got MBBS admissions. This led the govt to introduce 7.5% special reservation for them three years later.

• 2020 | Pandemic and thereafter

The long period of online education and lack of in-person classes created learning gaps. Students struggled to write exams after returning to school. It took 2 years for normalcy to return.

• 2021 | State Education Policy

Following differences with the Centre on the National Education Policy, 2020, Tamil Nadu announced that it would bring an exclusive State Education Policy. It formed a panel headed by Justice D Murugesan, which has submitted recommendations. The panel’s report is yet to be made public

• 2022 | Breakfast scheme

A flagship scheme of the Stalin-led govt, it offers free breakfast to nearly 20lakh children in govt schools. Govt says it has improved academic performance. State govt also launched a skilling initiative called Naan Mudhalvan, Ennum Ezhuthum to ensure all children below eight age can read and write by 2025.

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