ACCESS, EQUITY AND INCLUSION OF HINDI MEDIUM STUDENTS IN EDUCATION AT THE TIME OF COVID-19

Abstract

This is the time when the whole world is locked down with a fear of his /her own life because of ongoing pandemic of corona virus disease 2019(COVID-19).All activities are stopped for an uncertain period. Students from K-12 or from higher education, all are stuck in home and their studies are stopped. This environment has affected their physical and mental health. For well being of all- schools, colleges and universities have taken an initiative of 'Online Learning' to educate them and lessen the loss of their studies for these academic sessions. This is a very good decision and demand of the hour as well. It is available for anyone, anytime and anywhere which is the main characteristic of Distance education itself. It gives accessibility, exibility and equity to all the learners. Now all the institutions are using online teaching learning method with their own made teaching materials, some are using OER and some are providing to the students the ready made contents to the students that are available in the market by educational content developers which are available in English medium. In this situation, Hindi medium students are facing problems related to the language of medium of instruction, lack of knowledge of handling the computers and all the latest apps suggested by the institution and also feel inferiority complex because of not being able to do the proposed work. Wittgen Ludwig said-“The limit of my language is the limit of my world” (Bialystok, 2001). In this scenario, somehow the students are trying to operate computers and latest apps but they are not getting their course content in their own language. That's why they wouldn't understand the content properly. According to Pal (2016), who study through vernacular medium, face difculty in acquiring programming knowledge in English medium of instruction and it became very difcult to cope up in international front. For progress, English is in demand. It is in use for centuries but yet it is not in reach for most of the people and perceived as a killer of native and indigenous languages…GOI, 2007 (Ramanujam,2011) Here the researchers wants to emphasis on distance learners who are studying through Hindi medium and who have completed their schooling from Hindi medium government school. Mostly they belong to low or lower middle income groups who can't afford costly computers at home nor they have proper computer training. That's why they are not technically procient to handle all the apps and understand the course content. In this study the researchers wanted to bring in notice the problems of Hindi medium students who also want to study at home in this crucial time but due to many constraints they are unable to do the same. In this study narrative review method will be used to examine the socio economic, psychological and language related problems of those students and try to nd out possible solution of the problem. Although this study is focusing on Hindi Medium Students but covers broader arena and relates to all the students who are studying or studied in mother tongue/ vernacular/ regional languages.