Mumbai,  Presenting a grim overview of the future of academics in the post-lockdown era, Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh on Monday called upon parents to be prepared for "blended learning" as a future form of education.

"Eduation will be online and offline - a mix of both. Its now going to be 'blended' and will stay that way," said Ghosh, in an online lecture organised by Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai to mark the National Technology Day.

The country will have to live with Covid-19 for the next few months, maybe one or two years and people will have to brace for the change, she said, discussing 'IT: In service of Indians for Rebooting Life & Livelihood during and after Covid times'.

Ghosh pointed at how - during the Covid pandemic - it is the 'Digital Warriors' or those working the information technology and telecom sectors who are keeping "the world going" during the lockdown.

"The emerging fields are cyber security, data analytics, artificial intelligence, robotics, coding, etc and online learning will be a major thing," she said.

According to her, the travel and tourism sector that was fully dependent on the IT sector has taken a severe blow, but health, telemedicine and online education would be the new priority sectors.

Ghosh urged the people to look at positives amid the negatives and don't allow the present crisis to go waste by adapting to change and adopting a new normal in which humans and machines will combine to bring in the change and the new normal.

Citing Grace Hopper, one of the pioneers of computer programming, she said: "She was a woman of many firsts, due in large part to her belief that 'because we have always done it that way is not a valid excuse'."