As per the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) directives, educational institutes nationwide are trying to make up for the students’ loss. However, many students seem unsatisfied with the way they are being provided with education online by their institutes.
Recently ‘#WeRejectOnlineEducation’ became the top trend on Twitter.
According to Karachi University students, their online class was suspended after many students — majority hailing from the middle and lower-middle classes facing connectivity issues or without smartphones.
A private university student from Karachi said the students were accustomed to the classroom environment and it was not easy for them to shift to online classes so quickly.
“We are being overburdened with assignments and are unable to take practical classes due to the pandemic. The teachers are giving us tons of assignments which are practically impossible to do at the given deadlines — as they [teachers] are trying to fill in the gaps, caused by the coronavirus,” a student at another private university in Karachi said. “I cannot understand what my teacher teaches me online, they cannot explain themselves clearly,” an O-level student at a private school said.
In a country like Pakistan shifting to online education is not that easy.
“Students are not used to of using their cognitive abilities to cope with the problems,” he said. “They are also trying to deviate from these classes and making excuses to halt them as for those who pay a semester fee of 90k-to 60k, buying average equipment or at least a smartphone is not much of a hassle.”
Another lecturer at a private institute said, “I provide students with recordings, PDF books, and give them assignments. So far, the response has been good because the students can hear my lectures just like songs on their playlist.”
Students are in the favor of laptop schemes at university and college levels. They believe it will remove the gap between classes and every pupil would have the required equipment to access the class. Students have also demanded a subsidised internet package so that they can easily get high-speed internet to help them in their online study.
