We have discussed a lot about online schooling and all its existing challenges in our native land, India.
Despite all the hardships and challenges, virtual learning still has great prospects in the years to come. Because it is the face of new-age learning not just in India, but across the world. Post the pandemic, it is now impossible to imagine our Indian educational landscape without digital learning.
As a parent/stakeholder, you must know what all should an online school have because you cannot enrol your child in an online school unless it fulfils the prerequisites of a credible educational institution.
Is Online Schooling Valid in India?
Every school’s validation directly or indirectly depends on its recognition and accreditation in India. As the education system of India only recognises those online schools, that are affiliated with a valid educational body.
There are currently very few online schools in India that are 100% operational and are affiliated/accredited by a recognised educational body. Therefore, a certification of completion only from an online school that is accredited or affiliated with a recognised body is valid worldwide.
Let us take you through some mandatory pre-checks before enrolling your child in a valid online school:
1. Accreditation
In India, many of us are not familiar with terms like accreditation much. But before enrolling a child in an online school, you need to know enough about it. Just as you check a typical affiliation before enrolling your kid in a normal school, check the online school’s accreditation as well.
For example, if an institution claims to be accredited by a specific accrediting agency, you must know if that particular agency is a bona fide accrediting agency or not?
Be proactive about this aspect and double-check with the school before investing your hard-earned money and your invaluable time with the institution!
2. Teacher Qualification & Quality
Most of the online schools provide virtual school tours to parents, And this is a chance to interact with their representatives or academic staff members. Make use of this opportunity to gauge the level of teaching provided by their teachers.
Do not hesitate to test their knowledge through which they engage students during online classes. And ask for the online pedagogies used by them with the existing students on board.
If the teacher is not present in this particular session, do put forward your request to interact with him/her virtually (at any preferred time).
All in all, you need to know if the teacher is qualified to teach or not, before you go ahead with the enrolment process.
3. Online Learning Platform
Another basic pre-check is about its learning platform. Ideally, the learning platform of an online school should be developed according to the curriculum and must be easy to use. This means that a student with mediocre tech skills should be able to use it. In any case, we cannot expect our young Indian students to handle complex digital platforms and yet thrive conveniently. With online schools, a student attends online classes, submits assignments, views lessons and modules all through the learning platform.
Hence, for both parents and students both, the handling of this platform and its first-hand troubleshooting should not be a concern.
The best way out is that you ask the school about their technical support team (if any) and simultaneously note down the ways to connect with them.
4. Content Quality & Relevance
This one is another important thing that YOU CANNOT IGNORE!
The biggest reason for choosing online school programs is that it has better quality resources and content. Before you go ahead with online school enrolment, make sure you view its sample videos, worksheets, and all the other available demo content on the platform.
Be sure about the quality of this content. Because a well-prepared online curriculum is a game-changer. The learning content must be relevant to the curriculum. Scrutinize the quality part during the demos and check for minute errors or mistakes (if any).
5. Suitability for Indian Students
Never get carried away with the hype created by online schools that claim to be beyond the Indian education system. Do check the relevance, connection, and practices used by them in purely Indian settings.
Being in India, a student has to thrive within the country’s approved education system. And there cannot be a mismatch at a level that becomes chaotic someday.
Unless and until it is relevant for an ‘Indian child’ do not give it a go-ahead.
Check how the curriculum is matching the expectations of the Indian stakeholders. And also figure out the types of courses, options, focus areas, and broad educational goals of a schooling platform.
6. Virtual Classes and Schedule
Online schooling cannot be 100% asynchronous in India. Most online schools provide virtual classes. And the frequency of these differs from platform to platform. Do figure out the number, frequency, schedules, duration, and the required infrastructure for virtual classes.
If you miss this aspect, your child might end up with loads of harmful screen time. And you might find yourself stuck with his/her education all the time.
Conclusion
A structured online school takes care of all this and has pre-defined class calendars for prospective parents. Take a look at all this and see how it suits your job and lifestyle patterns. Before finalizing, do visualize a day with the virtual school and it should be ‘MANAGEABLE’ for you.
A promising platform will certainly convince you!
So, the next time you go looking out for a valid online school, add these points to your checklist!
Enrol your child in an online school that can convince you of all these aspects.
Your decision will decide your kid’s future, so be careful with it!
