- The virtual classroom is not easy to set up
By: Faran Khalid
An epidemic has forced a nationwide reckoning with the lack of internet connection available to areas and of devices for students. Pakistan came face to face with egregious problems of digital inequality.
In a country dealing with a grim financial crisis, many dread steps to curb the coronavirus hit vulnerable people hard. Pakistan wobbles on the edge of deep-rooted disaster with the coronavirus epidemic. Where most of the countries, including Pakistan, shut down the schools, colleges, and universities, as Pakistan currently has the highest figure of coronavirus confirmed cases in South Asia after India, it climbed to 4,414; 63 people have died.
Even before the pandemic lockdown, the estimated percentage of Internet users in Pakistan was 36.18 percent, concomitantly, the rest of the population don’t have access to the Internet while students were having difficulties in completing routine academic assignments— not to mention writing research papers.
The outcomes of letting the disease spread further would be disastrous, so the government shut down all the schools, colleges and universities to fight the epidemic — this also dealt with the chaos in educational institutions. Later on, some of the universities declared that classes would be held virtually, as the government imposed a partial lockdown.
If we look at this the right way, we can see can see have numerous advantages of a virtual classroom; Students can engage in discussions, quiz sessions, and in lectures without riding a bike, or by any using other transit, although without wasting credit hours in semesters. This also helps remove the anxiety from the university administration as well from students who are worrying about their semester, and these results are reassuring at a time like the COVID-19 outbreak; however, the reality contradicts, as the initial shift of virtual classes has created a flurry and a furore.
Last but not least comes adjourning the digital divide and bringing all Pakistanis into the modern age. This requires a momentous effort on the scale of the federal projects which brought electricity to darkened regions of the USA during the New Deal. And it will be similarly worth the effort
The savvy university systems that served connected populations seem to be adapting relatively sleekly with the new order of business. Concurrently, some of our regions that lack infrastructure and serve profoundly under the poverty line, have given up altogether on remote learning. Still, universities are pursuing online classes through the virtual setup out of fear they might risking students’ future, while broadband-deprived families cannot gain access to the Internet.
Students are claiming that the virtual classroom creates an emotional remove that makes it challenging to have a back-and-forth discussion between multiple people. There is complete pandemonium— everyone just got panicked promptly. It’s nearly impossible to contribute thoughtful interpretation without feeling like you’re talking into a void.
Students found it arduous to focus on a pixelated video screen. The problem, too, is that webinars’ technology doesn’t truly live up to the hype. The susurration of papers, background noise, wind, and feedback are like herding cats. The virtual classroom (assuming one could get an adequate Internet connection) threatened the student’s grades.
Moreover, only a limited number of universities managed to set up a virtual environment for students and all of them are private universities. In contrast, other university students might have to face a semester break, which places a question mark on our educational infrastructure and inequality.
This scramble is taking place in an ambience of skepticism over how long the lockdown will last. Educational institutions will need more advanced infrastructure— and new technical staff— if it turns out that a comprehensive online infrastructure will be needed for the long haul.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) should take notice and forbid private universities from breaking off the semester, as the virtual classroom threatened students’ grades while a semester break also hurt students living in Internet-deprived areas. HEC peeks to the infrastructure given the desperate need in poor and rural areas; it would also be right to do something about it— to bring permanent broadband into homes for millions of internet-deprived and support students.
Last but not least comes adjourning the digital divide and bringing all Pakistanis into the modern age. This requires a momentous effort on the scale of the federal projects which brought electricity to darkened regions of the USA during the New Deal. And it will be similarly worth the effort.
