Leaders of the Andhra Pradesh State committee of the Student Federation of India (SFI) on February 17 (Saturday) demanded that the State government cancel the Memorandum of Understanding it signed with edX, a global e-learning platform that conducts Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
In a statement, the federation’s State president, K. Prasanna Kumar and secretary, A. Ashok, said the government had been spending huge money for roping in companies like Byju’s which did not benefit students in any way. Stating that the rapid pace at which these companies were brought in raised suspicion that it was part of a bigger plan of the government to switch completely to the online mode of education in the long run, the federation leaders alleged that the collaboration with edX was a mere election stunt pulled off by the ruling party with an eye on the vote bank.
They alleged that on the pretext of ushering in international standards of education, the government had been increasingly giving permissions to private institutions and introducing online courses, which would be harmful to education in the public sector in the long run. They said there was a drastic fall in the number of admissions to Degree courses in the last five years, and the introduction of a four-year Degree as part of the National Education Policy- 2020 was contributing to the drop-out rate.
They said instead of establishing more Degree colleges and recruiting adequate teaching staff to strengthen Degree education in the State, the government was bringing in new private players to impart classes in online mode.
Citing a UNESCO report stating that technology can never be a substitute for a teacher in the classroom, they said a large number of students suffered at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic as they were left out of the realm of the online classes due to inaccessibility to technology. “The government is now trying to rely more on the same technology,” they complained.
Reiterating their demand to cancel the partnership with edX, they said lest the federation would be forced to resort to a State-wide protest.
