SRINAGAR: HKM Govt Degree College Bandipora conducted national level online Lecture/Webinar entitled ‘The Impact of Pandemic on Higher Education in India’. The lecture was delivered by renowned academic Prof Sudhanshu Bhusahn, Head Department of Higher Education National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi. Faculty of different colleges/institutions, scholars and students from different parts of the country participated in the webinar on ZOOM cloud.
In his speech, Prof Bhusahn mentioned how pandemic cast dark looming shadow over the entire education system of the country and left the fate of millions of students in a limbo. He questioned the pedagogy of teaching, research, professional development, assessment and employability and talked about how the Higher Education Institutions have reacted positively. He mentioned about the digital initiatives like, Swayam, Gyandhara, e-Pathya, e-Adhayan, NDLI, FOSSEE, Virtual Labs, etc. which helped teachers and students to deal with in such a stressful conditions. He concluded his lecture by giving some suggestions to bridge the digital divide in the country and need to invest in health and education sector by the central and state Governments, training of teachers with ICT know-how. Prof. Sudhanshu Bhushan has published important research works on Higher Education Policy issues, Planning and Internationalization. He conducts policy research and provides policy support to the Central Government, University Grants Commission and state governments.
In the welcome address, the Principal of the college Dr Mohd Amin Malik, while introducing the guest speaker talked about disruption in educational activities in institutions and the problems faced by the students belonging to remote areas. He said that digital-divide results in loss of academic learning and may result in increased drop-outs that needs a fresh look and solutions from government and civil society. The lecture was followed by a question answer session, in which a number of questions were asked by the students and the speaker satisfactorily responded to all of them. The proceedings of the event were conducted by Dr. Manzoor Ahmad Parey, Department of education, the organizing secretary of the webinar. The technical support was provided by Dr Parvaz Ahmad, Deptt of Computer sciences. The session concluded with the vote of thanks by Prof. Shabeer Ahmad Parey, Deptt of Political Science.

KR Desk