Online education promised to make learning more accessible, no longer bound by physical restrictions. It also introduced multiple learning tools, methods that would have been unimaginable with a simple blackboard. Students now have access to materials that incorporate stunning audio-visuals as well as technologies like Kahoot, for example, that gamifies regular school quizzes. Different students with different learning needs now have the choice to access what works best for them. I can now sit in a room in Coimbatore and attend a lecture by a top professor at Columbia University, New York. A wheel-chair user is no longer restricted by the lack of a ramp/elevator within a school campus. Everything comes to one’s own space, all you need is a personal device and a working internet connection.

However, these very same requirements have led to the toppling of the government school infrastructure in India. And these numbers are not minuscule. Only 27% of households in India have access to the internet, and less than 50% of them have access to a private device (a smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc). This directly impacts the number of students who can access online education, subject to the condition that their school offers it in the first place. Underprivileged students are the first casualties, widening the deep inequality already associated with education in the country.

But behind access to a good internet connection, three solid meals a day, and all the necessary infrastructure for online education, lies another epidemic: burnout. Students work under the assumption that they have the entire world at their fingertips and the illusion that everyone else is working at optimal productivity while they are not. Without proper mental health support, both within and outside the house, students become increasingly demotivated in the face of their lower-than-normal productivity. This is worsened by the narrow way in which education is understood, a system which prioritises a student’s performance on one day of their life, on metrics that are not conducive (or even sensible) to learning.

With access to most public spaces out of the question, students no longer have their social networks either: friends who would be similarly stressed about the exam portions, activities where their energy could be spent in an enjoyable way. Everyone they knew and saw and touched in the same physical space are now relegated to tiny boxes on a screen. And this isolation exacerbates burnout, because not only do people feel like they are the only ones facing difficulties, they no longer have access to their support spaces like before. And worse still, a lot of these difficulties go unobserved. Students are also often surrounded by unsupportive families who do not really understand them: they either think their child is just lazy or not smart enough.

It is really not a surprise, then, that during the pandemic, children started spending much more time chatting with friends on social media sites, playing video games, sleeping for long periods of time or not sleeping at all, eating a lot or not eating at all. The child may actually have been trying to replicate the different kinds of stimuli they would have encountered in a normal day at school. Especially if they are, like many other people, someone who relies on different kinds of sensory stimulation in order to feel inspired. These stimuli can be in diverse forms, but the basic idea is the same: we are not islands, we rely on other people, objects, animals in order to thrive and do our best. It would be a lie to claim otherwise.

But all this search for stimuli in the online world also causes reduced productivity: screen time. The screen demands a specific kind of undivided attention while offering thousand different tabs of distraction. It is a strain to the eyes, causes headaches, and is in general, a difficult medium to work in. Sitting in the same place constricts your muscles, tenses your back, and has very visible physiological drawbacks. Being indoors for long periods of time, along with reduced movement, increases lethargy and fatigue. It is a vicious cycle, one that is very hard to break through. And a regular school day, online, leaves no time for the student to move. By the time classes and homework (all on a screen, now) end, they are exhausted.

After 1.5 years of online education, there are many lessons to take away. Financial/physical constraints cannot and should not impede students’ access to educational spaces. But it is not enough just to get into an academic institution. These spaces should not treat their students like machines that can work optimally at all times. In order for students to thrive throughout their period of education, they need a holistic education that is sensitive to their needs and that develops metrics that accommodate differences. Online education has shown us the immense potential in the medium to invigorate our pedagogical processes, if utilised well. It is a continuous process, one that does not come with a one-shot formula. In the more domestic front, families must exercise compassion and gentleness towards their wards. The pandemic merely revealed issues that were already rampant around us. It is time to acknowledge them and do better for the future.