‘What if this is the end of the world as we know it today?’
That is a question on everyone’s mind. While for adults, the primary concerns revolve around livelihoods and economy; for more than 320 million children, locked out of schools, the question is, ‘how will the current crisis impact the world that we are creating for the future?’ Will their learning and their ability to learn be permanently hampered considering that we have mostly resorted to classroom-based learning in the past?
Fueled by a growing market, adoption of technology for education and e-learning has grown rapidly across India over the last decade. Soon the next half a billion may be using technology for almost everything. However, if we don’t leverage this digital momentum and ensure the continuity and quality of learning for our children, we may end up with a whole generation that can shop online, and are Tik Tok sensations, but cannot solve a differential equation, or understand what torque is. The ripple effects of this across generations is unfathomable today.
However, this is a bird’s eye view. Now let us zoom in on the unintended consequences. In a 7 ft. by 7 ft. home for 7 people, with one charging point, long power-cuts and one device (assuming availability of network and data), learning is the last thing on anyone’s mind. Learning about physical fitness, highly unlikely. However, childhood obesity is a real problem. So is juvenile diabetes. So is mental illness. Soon these will become the basic characteristics of the next few generations. The effects of this over the coming decades, across urban and rural India, must not be underestimated.
At the same time, due to the current situation forced by COVID-19, our behaviors are changing every day. Realities such as closed schools, social distancing, concerns about immunity are pushing us to rethink our daily physical routines. We have a window, an unprecedented opportunity to leverage this change, and the growth of digital adoption, to reimagine Physical Education. We can supplement, append, or even redesign everything that we have been teaching as Physical Education. It is time we start over and see Physical Education in a different and new light.
“Time magnifies the margin between success and failure. It will multiply whatever you feed it. Good habits make time your ally. Bad habits make time your enemy.” James Clear.
Let us design three good habits for children, parents and teachers and amplify them using digital mediums. Let us inspire daily learning, induce physical activity, and improve self-confidence.
(1) How can we inspire daily learning? Introducing e-learning in Physical Education may seem like a daunting task, but it is a fantastic opportunity. Thankfully, children love to play. They love games and competitions. They seek recognition, the thrill of wins, and the camaraderie of teams. They enjoy activities, and the associated joy of self-expression, the sense of freedom. We can leverage digital to change our approach from ‘teaching PE’ to ‘playing with the kids’. A simple WhatsApp message from the teacher, saying, “Hey! Who can break my record of 5 min of non-stop jumping jacks? I don’t think anyone can”, can get immediate engagement rather than, “Today you have to do shoulder rotations.” Gamification, such as “make your own scoreboard”, can introduce children to fun activities. Lessons and learning videos can be created and shared using limited resources. Participating in #TheLangdiChallenge video contest can be quite cool! We can get many more ideas by leveraging DIKSHA, the national platform for teachers (diksha.gov.in).
(2) How can we induce physical activity? A challenge with school competitions is that students who are not motivated or confident drop out. Yet, physical activities enable us to learn values like ‘sportsman spirit’ (should be sportsperson, ideally), teamwork and the power of practice. The good news is that digital participation reduces inhibition. Now on a digital platform we can induce physical activities by throwing challenges across grades, with rewards for maximum participation. We can launch ‘Class Activity Leaderboard’ where the sum of a class’ activity counts, and not the heroic performance of one child. By being creative with how we impart Physical Education, augmented by digital tools, we can truly motivate children to move more, innovate more. Those who have learnt the joy of movement, will never unlearn it. Once we roll the ball, many ideas will come from the children and the collaborative digital learning process will take a life of its own.
(3) How can we improve self-confidence? Our body is our home, our first opportunity to build confidence. Confidence stems from repeated positive reinforcements. We sing confidently at a karaoke if we have been told before that we sing well, many times, in safe environments. Even when we are able-bodied, we may not derive confidence from it because nobody reinforced that our body is the foundation of our ‘confidence’. When we let a child move freely, and we tell them how wonderfully they move, it’s a simple, visceral and believable way for the child to say, “Hey, I can achieve anything, because I have an able body!” Let us give digital tools to children to maintain a diary of daily physical activity, and for parents to engage in their physical wellbeing, especially now, when immunity is our savior. Exercise is the most cost-effective, easy, and fun way to keep us safe. Such a diary can be integrated into Aarogya Setu to help our children and parents improve immunity and limit the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The digital revolution is relentless. Those who have access to emerging technologies, such as wearables, smart sensors, and high-end devices, can leverage them for more complex physical activities. As they get used at scale, the cost of these technologies will drop. They will prove to be excellent tools for all children in the future. A simple activity such as, “hold your phone and walk 5000 steps”, can get children hooked into an intense physical routine. Social media platforms can be leveraged to create aspiration and add the fun aspect, e.g. the ‘ooo na na na’ challenge (very confusing mind-body coordination choreography), the ‘bottle-cap’ challenge (kick open a bottle cap), the ‘flappy-bird’ challenge (push-ups through hurdles), and the new ‘T-shirt’ challenge (wear a T-shirt, while in a handstand against a wall). Our imagination is the only limitation.
Future belongs to our children. While we control the impact of social media on children, its rapid adoption shows that it is here to stay. The way we leverage these digital platforms to improve our lives will determine the world that our future generations will inherit. There is no denying that technology has given us a window into each other's lives, and a voice to the youth. Let us look into the life of Rani (name changed), a quiet student of MukkaMaar. One day, we noticed Rani follow MukkaMaar on Instagram. She would ‘like’ every post. When adolescence hit, she started posting her images with ‘beauty filters’. We were surprised. We did not discourage her, just told her, “wow, you are so strong, and beautiful”. A few months later, we noticed that Rani replaced all her photos with workout videos. She has 2,000 followers now, though she does not use Instagram like all the others. Rani, and her friends, take pride in winning arm-wrestling competitions with boys. They inspire others to learn, they induce engaging physical challenges and they improve their own self-confidence, and that of other girls around them.
Aren’t they the coolest!
By leveraging the capabilities of digital technologies we can make physical education much more effective and relevant for the coming generations, and our children more resilient and confident.
Co-Authors
Ishita Sharma: Founder, MukkaMaar
(mukkamaar.org). Actor, kathak dancer, trained in martial arts, and a counsellor, Ishita now focuses all her energy into enabling marginalized schoolgirls to #FightLikeAGirl through MukkaMaar, a civil society organization she founded in 2016.
Sanjay Purohit: Chief Curator, Societal Platform, EkStep Foundation.
Sanjay leads the evolution of Societal Platform Thinking (societalplatform.org), an innovative method to resolve large, dynamic and complex societal challenges with speed, at scale, sustainably.
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