An Empirical Study of Awareness and Use of ICT by School Teachers Before and During Lockdown Due to COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken almost all the countries across the globe by surprise. It was this time a year ago when the sudden outbreak of the coronavirus forced the closure of educational institutions resulting billions of children out of the classroom. Like many countries worldwide, India also faced the challenges of unexpectedly switching to online classes. Given to this background the study aims at understanding the practical experiences of teachers who were part of the teaching which undertook remotely and on digital platforms. This is a quantitative research using survey technique through a questionnaire that comprised demographic variables, ICT awareness and use before and during lockdown and most importantly their opinion on integration of ICT in teaching and learning. A total of 209 returned questionnaires formed the datasets which have been analyzed based on the objectives of the study. The findings showed that ICT competency was instrumental in adapting to online teaching during COVID-19 school closures