This quantitative study proposes and validates the Hybrid force model by analysing the challenges and opportunities in online education during COVID-19 through an online survey from students and teachers of Indian higher education institutions. The proposed model considers the learner as a system of study and talks about the amalgamation of knowledge, human force (teacher), and techno-logical force for better online learning opportunities and experience. The results show Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Team as the main online platforms for imparting the classes while almost 80% of the students prefer a non-traditional teaching method (online and hybrid). The results highlight that more than 88% of the students prefer to have a personal teaching assistant in their learning trajectory.