Daily Times

Anyone can enter anytime in the room where I am attending my classes online, while the chatters don’t even care if I am studying, and say whatever they want to.

This was said by Idrees Ali who hails from Chakwal and studying BS Computer Sciences at a private university in Islamabad. As per the university administration’s directions he is ought to attend online classes whatsoever the circumstances are. Ali lives in a small house amongst 14 family members with his cousins and uncles in joint family system. “I don’t have a room of my own or even a corner in a room with a desk that I can use when attending online classes,” he told Daily Times.

He used to be in the hostel and was able to work there and in the library. Now that he is home, he is finding it hard to attend classes, participate in classes, and do the assignments that need to be written while working from home. He is always conscious of household chatter going on in the background and is never sure when something absurd, outrageous, inappropriate or just plain distracting might be said.

Another student, Shehbaz, who is attending online classes but not participating in class discussions, while sharing his experience said that the environment in his home was very noisy. “There was no notion of private space in my household and this is a biggest test for me to attend online classes,” he said.

Educationists say to set some certain sort of SOPs within home, provision of space and silence background to their children during online classes ere to allow them to learn would surely impactful. However, they added, on the other hand HEC and other authorities concerned seemed non-serious over this issue as they never develop some stern policy in order to implement their claims in real means. The virus hit out over 200 countries, affected millions of persons and killed hundreds of thousands of patients across the world including some powerful countries like US and China but besides other concrete measures to cope with the pandemic, they wittily come up with reasonable solution to save their education sector.

However, Pakistan is among the rare countries where main stakeholders like HEC and Federal Education Ministry are more interested in making tall claims and cared less about practical consequences. Both the bodies are focusing on mere issuance of statements.

During this difficult time span, a lot of students have been talking of access to internet. This issue created akin digital divide among the students particularly in those who are pursuing to higher educational studies. The experts say it relatively easy to remedy but due to poor management of concern quarters it become hard-hitting deal.

HEC is the body that supposed in its Act 2002 to provide policy guidelines for over 200 public and private sector universities in the country. When Daily Times approached the Commission’s authorities to answer over many raised questions, its Chairman Dr Tariq Banuri said “good questions and we will get back (to respond)”. However, despite reminders, no one bothered to respond over asked queries.

A senior official in the HEC wished not to be quoted his name said that perhaps the HEC has no answer about such questions as they did nothing to boost up the futile system.

The HEC had mere directed to Universities /DAIs for commencement of online classes. However, the Commission has formulated no significant strategy devised for lower-income or remote areas of the country where the transition to digital learning is somewhat difficult, while the commission’s authorities also remained unable to explain about such failures.

Those who somehow manage to take online classes by their respective varsities have to pay money from their own pockets for availing telecommunication resources for this purpose. They have already been charged hefty fees by the universities for face-to face-classes. Obliviously, neither HEC and nor such universities have a convincing stance over this issue. The HEC claimed in an official press release that “HEC to fund research to address COVID-19 crisis.” However, the Commission did not clear that what kind of funding it meant to dispense while the authorities also unable to respond over same point asked by this scribe.

The HEC’s failure is also very clearly observable in implantation of its uniform policy as some varsities had announced for semester break while the others are resuming online classes without taking in consideration above mentioned facts just allegedly to digest fees they already charged from students.

Besides few, no University has its trained faculty for comprehensive usage of online teaching tools. Again it was onus of the HEC to deal with this task but in vain.

Moreover, so for no mechanism has been developed for some specific subject’s studies like biology, chemistry for which lab work and hands-on-practice is most fundamental for accurate understanding.

In another press release HEC claimed that “Vice Chancellors have expressed their full commitment to making online classes and e-learning a success amidst the closure of universities.” While interestingly, the Commission has no proper record that how many Universities are complying online classes strategy.