ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced educational institutions around the world to use digital technology as an alternative mode of communication, but developing countries like India face challenges in terms of connectivity, access, language, and familiarity with the interface. This study focuses on the students studying mass communication courses in suburban colleges in West Bengal, a state in India’s eastern region. Through semi-structured interviews with the students and teachers, the chapter seeks to understand the challenges of media education during the pandemic. However, as most of these students are first-generation learners belonging to lower-middle-class families with limited internet connectivity, it becomes essential to understand the teachers’ role in supporting the students’ sense of agency during this period. With limited resources at their disposal, it remained a challenge for teachers to adopt innovative ways to help students develop a critical approach to understanding media-related discourses, affecting the daily lives of students. Simple activities played a crucial role in providing the students with a sense of agency. The framework of Critical Media Literacy with a student-centered inquiry approach might help overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic in a developing country with limited resources.
