One of the unfortunate fallouts of Covid pandemic has been dismissal of music faculty, as schools shifted from in-presence to online classrooms.
We are still trying to get our head around this unfortunate development.
In an age where digital transformation is empowering all forms of services from banking to pizza delivery, it is sad to see that many schools did not include music as a part of their online offering. And beacuse of this many music teachers lost their appointment.
It can be safely assumed that schools running online classes for languages, maths, sciences, and other subjects, have the necessary means and ability to impart online education - even if it is limited to basic video-based tuitions. The noticeable absence of music training from online classes leads us to believe that many schools do not consider music learning as an education.
Regardless of what education boards have included in prescribed curriculum, music training is still not considered as a co-curricular subject by most schools. At best it's treated as extra-curricular, if not a hobby. Surprisingly, many parents do not even mind the absence of music clases from their child's online schooling program. It's a strange concoction of apathy dealt by educators and accepted by the wider community.
So where have the dismissed music teachers gone? Interestingly many of them have resorted to online classes - either through their personal channel or in association with an online music school. Although not a hugely subscribed service, online music schools have been able to supplement earnings for music teachers. Leveraging apps like Zoom, music teachers have been able to re-connect with interested students.
This is perhaps a trend in making. Like music schools, other training institutions are also heavily investing into digital delivery infrastructure. As more and more training professionals and coaching classes go online, general education institutions like schools and colleges have to rethink their strategies for attracting students in the future .
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