The New Normal: 44.6% Indian Students to continue with ‘School from Home’ if given an option, finds Brainly survey

The survey could point towards a hybrid learning culture that might be brewing in the country

July 16, 2020: India could be seeing a new culture in the making if the latest Brainly survey is anything to go by. The world’s largest online learning platform for students, parents, and teachers has recently surveyed over 2,150 of its Indian users. The questions were based on the current ‘School from Home’ scenario and gave some interesting takeaways.

For starters, about 68.7% Brainly users admitted that they had never engaged in an online class before the pandemic. Today, the flexible form of learning has also impacted the everyday routine of about 72.8% students. 44.6% students said they will prefer a ‘School from Home’ concept even after the pandemic. So, there could be more takers for the hybrid learning model in post-pandemic India. 64.5% students also confirmed that they have become accustomed to the ‘New Normal’ in education. However, the network connectivity could turn out to be a roadblock in India’s growing online learning culture.

Approx. 59.8% students said that ‘network connectivity’ was a teething trouble in the school-from-home model. On being asked if they also experienced a similar issue with the tech infrastructure, 55.9% Brainly users claimed that they didn’t.

Brainly also asked the students about their preferences for peer communications. All of the four listed choices – i.e. ‘Phone call’, ‘Social Media’, ‘Messaging Apps’, and ‘Online Learning Platforms like Brainly’ – received a quarter (approx. 25%) of responses each. Brainly asked students about how they cleared their doubts during the lockdown. 37.7% students said ‘by connecting with teachers on a phone call or social media’ while 30.2% did so via online learning platforms. Students usually tap online platforms to get their queries resolved round the clock with the touch-of-a-button experience.

Lastly, the survey also highlighted that the standalone school-from-home model might not be an ideal one. A total of 35.8% students experienced issues while learning certain concepts of Science online. 31% of students felt the same for ‘Language’ while ‘Maths’ left a whopping 51.9% students in a tizzy. Hence, a balance between both digital and traditional learning will have to be created to drive the optimum results.