Does Education have to suffer during Lockdown in the age of Cloud Storage?

No one in this world has a clear cut idea that when this whole lockdown period is going to end. We all are sailing in the same ship which is collectively unaware when to dive in. Every month the situation is getting more serious and solutions are coming in at their own pace. In between all this, the economy is not the only grave concern. It is truly understandable that the GDPs of multiple countries are going down at exponential rates and so are the shares in the market. But in the middle of this, Ed-tech and virtual classroom business are still blooming. It seems like they are profiting even more during this lockdown period. Online classes for school students or students aspiring for any competitive examinations are the ones all geared up together to stay relevant in the competition. Some have even come with ideas like free online classes, career guidance, or study sessions. They are exploring all kinds of business strategies to leave no stone unturned.

Parents are also worried about this elongated lockdown period and the education that is not going on in full swing. With exams getting postponed and college lectures been prohibited, one can easily assume that the education sector has got to hold back their schedules for a little longer this time. Although not each one of them comes under profit, some ar e working for non-profit even. The leading giants in the Ed-tech market have a minimum of 50 million-base of students. The upper limit reaches even to a 100 million-base. They are now trying to target that bunch of the audience as well who might they have ignored before.

Coming to the major point and addressing the twin-fold increase in the demand for the cloud storage requirements for these education-based start-ups or companies. It would be unbelievable for people to observe such proliferation in the managed hosting and data center business only in 2 months of lockdown period. The whole cloud infrastructure has flourished to a whole new level and all thanks to the virtualization technology. Big cloud backup giants have come up with initiatives like AWS Educate, Google Cloud for Education, AWS Classroom, etc. realizing the importance of continuation in education.

Changed dynamics of cloud storage

Applications dealing with video calls as having replaced the face-to-face interaction with your office colleagues. So as the structure for classroom programs that were not prepared for such a pandemic? But when there is marvelous technology like Cloud storage, all of this became a cakewalk.

With so many applications running all based on cloud just to make sure that there is no lagging behind when it comes to education. Applications like Zoom, WebEx, or Slack working closely to make videoconferencing more and more real-time so that the flow of business or education does not hampers. Disruption in education for the generation was one of the major concerns for the government as well as for the public.

Internet services of this age are also a boon to arrange such world-class classes and giving strength in times of such Covid-19 crisis. This has also changed the trends in internet usage maps. But the applications dealing with such uninterrupted internet services expect up-gradation from the local exchanges and the data centers, as some of them deal with outdated cables.

Home connection for such purposes like video uploading is not enough. They are the weakest link in any network. This is because most of them run over outdated cables. The reason behind this is the flaw in its design as it was designed to pipe data into the home and not out of it. One also has to suffer bandwidth problems with a home connection which is not the case with the connections we have in schools and offices. Thus the same activities seem much slower when performed over home connections. But thanks to the revolution that the whole internet infrastructure is redesigned. Internet companies prefer dedicated cloud hosting platforms to meet the flexibility needs of their end-users. The best part is that traffic flows directly from their data centers to their cables to last-mile broadband providers.

Example of Ed-tech platform

The investment scheme has also transformed just as a village transforms into a city. Such expansion is very difficult to see in any other field which has completely changed our online experience. Superpowers have admitted the continuous growth in the demand for cloud infrastructure. The major spending on this goes on to connect remotely located students or employees. Cloud has emerged out to be the miracle savior in tackling disaster recovery. Ed-tech businesses are utilizing this will 100% efficiency to enhance security and mainly to avoid any network downtime. Although companies have come with strategies of their own to confirm continuity in operations.  But arranging seamless classes for the students living in remote locations is not at all possible without staunch cloud backup.

How schools and government is taking this situation?

Was cloud storage as relevant as it is these days for the schooling environment? 

No, not. Apart from good teaching practices they now need excellent technology as well to withstand the ongoing crisis. It calls for Enterprise Cloud Backup solution that will allow schools to back up in-house data, applications, files, and other devices that might be required to keep student’s performance on the track. It is responsible to take cares that not even a single instance of losing a single bit of data.

Thus it can be stated that cloud saved schools from going through IT crisis and has led them to long-term educational success. This is the best time to witness the incorporation of real-world technology into lessons. Teachers are getting the opportunity to learn new ways to guide their students on a more personal basis and add extra value to education.

Online education advantages have always been doubtful for schools as well as for the concerned guardians. But they are unaware of some obvious advantages that online educations hold. Apart from being more stimulating and fun, these online education applications have several other too-

Ed-tech- advantageous at every perspective

• Flexibility is one of them that tops the list of advantages. The modern life education system was tied between tight schedules, stuffed with studies and extra-curricular. In between all of this, there was no time used to left for students to give a thought to what they like to explore. Coming out from the conventional classroom they have time for their commitments. Students have themselves admitted that they love this new medium of learning and have so much time left for other projects as well.
• Online education is any time more economical than attending school daily. Saving a lot of money that was wasted before in commuting to schools. It was way more difficult for students living in remote locations. Also now a student can utilize their day with full productivity and won’t have to go through that tiresome hectic schedule of the whole day schooling.
• With the advent of online education, more globalization can be seen instilled in our education system. Students get more chance to explore inter-continental trends that help them to grow in an optimum way.
• If we see from the teacher’s perspective, they are happier to get a more personalized insight into any particular student who may need extra attention. This is what lacking in our traditional way of schooling but was extremely required. Student interaction time has also improved making the lectures more managed. This all can be indirectly seen in the performance of the students. Students are becoming smarter while conversing with the superiors and the chances of getting carried away by discouraging talks have reduced.

But all the efforts would have gone in waste if governments would have not assigned appropriate budget for the same. This is not the right time to play politics especially when it comes to such serious field as education. In a country like India wherein education is the pillar for earning money, taking risk with pillar would be catastrophic. Hence a proper budget is assigned to ensure continuity in education. Government standard approved NCERT have come up with Alternative Academic Calendar taking care of 4-weeks home tutoring.

Some states have taken a step forward and joined hands with some online platforms or Ed-tech applications using e-resources for example E-pathshala, etc.

Schools collaborating with Ed-tech during Covid-19 lockdown

Many socioeconomic factors play their role when any budget is passed but it also has some practical issues related to implementation. This involves areas with limited access to the internet. Meanwhile, technology is working on it but cloud storage infrastructure is all ready to face any adversities. It is all set to meet heightened demands for storage and backup and to withstand bandwidth pressures.

But we hope that everything goes back to normal. Though deep inside we know that we have learned a lot during this lockdown and also can’t ignore the fact that we all were not ready for this which has come upon humankind. Similarly, Ed-tech firms have realized tons of profits and have given hope for seeing multiple upcoming opportunities. The only motive of all is restoring knowledge and continuity in education.