Delhi, October 30, 2024: There is a rapid increase in homeschooling and virtual schooling all across the globe. Most of these homeschoolers join some virtual or online school. Gradually it is emerging as a viable alternative to traditional schooling. As per their latest data collected in October 2023, 11.1 % of U.S. households with school-aged children reported that at least one child was homeschooled. Supporting this trend, data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows a decline in student enrollment in U.S. Public Schools, with 49.6 million students enrolled in 2022—down by approximately 1.2 million since 2019.
This phenomenon is seen all around the globe. And India is no exception. However, there is no reliable data on the number of homeschoolers in India. But the more important question is what is happening to those students who are opting for Homeschooling. Is the teaching methodology working for them? Are they able to score better? Is the quality of life of teachers and students getting better? Are the online schools preparing their students for the future jobs. In order to find the answers, a US-based nonprofit organization, Acumen conducted a lean data study. They interviewed parents of a popular online school named Vikalp India.
Durimg a survey Vikalp has found out that 80% of parents witnessed improvement in their child’s grades and 83% of parents observed a slight improvement in the quality of their child’s life.
Online school impacted the quality of life of students. This is majorly because of the method of teaching. Unlike traditional schools there are no lectures. Concepts were not introduced as a given fact. Every new concept is introduced using a learning tool. Students discover concepts while doing activities with the tools. They discover the concept on their own at their own pace. Learning continues on the learning APP. Once students understand the concept, books are introduced where they apply their understanding in doing exercises and project works. Students start taking interest in studies. Gradually they start scoring better. All this impacts their quality of life.
There are only 5 or 6 students in the class. Teachers guide them to do activities, project works and ask probing questions. All this makes students reflect or think about the concepts they are learning. “In this method of teaching-learning, students not only learn to remember and understand, but learn to analyze, evaluate, apply and create” said Dinesh Gupta, Founder & CEO of Vikalp India. All these skills and abilities are vital for tomorrow’s job market which will be going to be completely AI-driven. Students who have the skills and abilities to memorize and do repetitive work may not be able to find job in the next decade.
The Lean data team of Acumen also interviewed the teachers teaching in Vikalp Online School. Interestingly 43% of teachers indicated their interest in teaching has improved. This survey had a whole list of questionnaires and the findings are 100 % of teachers experienced improvement in student’s interest level and ability to grasp concepts, 62% of teachers reported improved grades of their students and 95% of teachers observed the increase in the ability to retain concepts. Gradually teachers are becoming major advocates of this method of teaching-learning which can work best in online school. Consequently, Net Promoter Score (NPS) is 62%. It means teachers are not only liking it, more than 60% teachers are promoting this method of teaching followed in Vikalp Online School.
This kind of teaching-learning popularly known as experiential learning doesn’t work in a traditional school where there are 40 to 50 students in each class. “Handling all the students along with so many learning tools is not possible. If you want students to discover learning and develop critical thinking, online school is the only way. It’s not possible in a traditional school set-up. There are a lot of operational difficulties?” said Neha Choudhry, Co-Founder & Chief Idea Officer (CIO) of Vikalp India. Moreover, it is not financially viable to have 5 or 6 students in a class of a public school. Traditional school is okay for an average student. It is not okay for above and below average students. Above average students find the class boring as there are too many repetitions. Below average struggle to catch up with the rest of the class. All these factors are making Online School more popular. Schools are no longer the only option. Consequently, a lot of parents are opting for homeschooling and enrolling their children in some online school.
Corporate Comm India (CCI Newswire)
