Students' Problems Matter

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic and after that it altered the shape of the whole world. Every sector of life has become affected dramatically and Lock down was being imposed throughout the globe in order to decrease the further spread of this viral disease. The sectors which were acting as a hotspot in the spread of this viral disease were closed immediately; educational institutions were among those places where the threat of spreading this viral disease was alarming. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” (Nelson Mandela), closing down the educational institutions seems rational but to completely stop educating the students is the matter of life and death for the developing nations like Pakistan.

However, different universities of Pakistan with the permission of Federal Education Ministry and HEC launched Online Classes according to their own policies and conveniences. It seems exceedingly ironic to teach through the internet; where there is even no 2G or 3G internet services available in the remote provinces or areas of Pakistan like Balochistan, Interior Sindh, Southern Punjab, FATA, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave”(Prophet Muhammad PBUH); the power of this hadith attracts and motivate the students belonging from different social classes and cultures to move towards the metropolitan cities of Pakistan such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi in search of higher studies. Educated youth are the real future of Pakistan, and the responsibility relies on their shoulders to make Pakistan further strong economically, socially, politically and in every step of nation building. All this is possible when they get equal and quality education from their educational institutions.

Amid this COVID-19 Pandemic, the students belonging from poor economic backgrounds and those who are lacking internet facilities must be the center of attention because they cannot cope up with the demands and challenges of online classes. The students with the stable economic backgrounds, availability of internet and technology are also not satisfied with the standards and quality of online teaching and learning because the overall consequences of online teaching and assessment is not fulfilling the actual academic procedures and the results of this would be unwelcoming. Even the best online course cannot fully replace the personal contact with a teacher, or even the human relationships that develop in a group.

Some of the major drawbacks of online classes are as follow:

Video Meeting and Chat Apps are replacing the Conventional Classrooms

Zoom, Google Meet, Google Classroom; such Apps are replacing the traditional and actual way of teaching and learning. These Software Applications require a sound and fast internet connection in order to operate functionally, due to which the teachers and students with low or no internet can not participate in online classes. These Applications offer Limited time of 20 to 40 minutes to conduct the video or audio lectures, but sometimes the classes suddenly end due to high load pressure on these platforms. Sudden end of meetings during an important lecture and discussion spoils the whole attention and momentum of teachers and students. Technical issues and errors are also the drawbacks of these applications like the microphone and screens stop working during the lectures.  The presence of more than hundred users in a single meeting room creates background noise which interrupts the discussions and learning.

Non-availability of Textbooks online

Within home classes students face problems due to non-availability of textbooks and required material for their studies. As we all know, all the books and study material on the internet is not for free; it requires online payment and subscription to avail these books. A poor student lacking gadgets and the internet; how he or she can pay online to get these books. As a result of which the students are unable to complete their assignments, presentations and homework.

Communication Skills are Diminishing

Prior communication skills were enhanced in the classrooms by face to face interaction between students and teachers and within student groups, now it is becoming extinct due to time limitations in online classes. At a time the teacher cannot interact with every single student, the teacher and student feedback is limited. In such a way there comes a gap in communication. Communication is a two way process; the teacher only provides PowerPoint slides, PDF files and the recorded audio lectures. The active involvement of students in the online communication is almost equal to zero, they just listen to the teacher speaking and when they get a chance to ask questions, to share their queries; the ten minutes question answer session is not quite enough for all the hundred students to participate effectively.

Proper Body Language Matters a lot in Teaching and Learning

Body language accounts for more than half in our learning, facial expressions, hand gestures and overall body position contributes a lot in teaching and learning. Now the students are involved in taking their online classes from their bedrooms and other comfort zones. This makes them lazy and numb and even most of the students join the online lectures just for the sake of attendance, they put aside their gadgets and become busy in other activities. Psychologically they lack interest and motivation in learning as a result of which other psychological problems are overwhelming among the students these days. With a bulky head, anxiety, depression and lack of motivation; the actual and quality learning is not possible.

Final Year Students are Victims of Online Classes

Comparatively little is known about the problems of final year university students. After passing through the whole degree, the real battle starts for them in their second last or last semester. They need supervisors, relevant data, and reference books in order to complete their final year research, project or thesis. Unavailability of supervisors, required books, relevant data and material online is adding to the frustrations of these students. All their dreams and planning’s had been changed into sorrows and miseries; they were in a hope to start their professional lives after the completion of their degrees. Many of them were the only source of earning bread and butter for their parents and families; the investment of the poor parents on the education of their children all went in vain.

Grading and Online Assessment is Complicated

The newly provided Grading and assessment procedure is unappreciated; evaluation is taking place on the basis of submitted assignments, presentations, quizzes and homework through Powerpoint slides, Pdf files, MS Word Documents and Whatsapp. Those who are good in dealing with computer software applications and the copy paste masters are accomplishing the target with no efforts, while on the other hand the bright, intelligent and hardworking students due to lack of gadgets and internet are mourning their loss. The overall grading and assessment online, is not pleasing for all the categories of students. The slogans raised in the past by our sitting Prime Minister Imran Khan and other political leaders in favor of Merit have been buried under the shade of these online classes. If the grading will happen in this way or if they promote the students on the basis of previous and average results, it will add further to the unemployment of Pakistan.

In addition to the above discussed problems regarding the online classes, there are several other problems which are being summarized in the paragraph below.

Shortage and excess of anything both can affect people in many ways; excessive use of gadgets during online classes can cause Computer vision syndrome. Social life of both the teachers and students is being affected due to the involvement in excessive usage of gadgets in order to conduct and take the online classes respectively. Sitting in one place around the range of Wi-Fi signals at a single position for more than three hours a day is unhealthy for both the mental and physical health, while on the other hand it is dangerous for those students who climb mountains in search of internet signals, especially for girls and students with acrophobia and less vision. Everyone is disturbed due to these online classes but the most affected and disturbed ones are those who are poor and lacking technology and internet services.

All the stalwarts of Pakistan Movement stressed the importance of education. Quaid-e- Azam especially laid great emphasis on it in his speeches. He said in 1947 in Karachi, “Education is a matter of life and death for Pakistan. The world is progressing so rapidly that without requisite advances in education, not only shall we be left behind others but maybe wiped out altogether”. HEC, Federal Education Ministry of Pakistan and the respective higher education institutes of Pakistan must consider the problems of the students regarding the online classes as genuine. Best, proper policies and solutions must be brought forth to tackle the problems related with the future of Pakistan, because the problems of students matter a lot.