March 13, 2020 saw the number of cases for Covid-19 rise to twenty one. As the pandemic became more prevalent than expected, the Federal Health Ministry made a strong argument to take the right precautionary measures. While most of the cases were in interior Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan, this did not mean that other parts of the country would remain unaffected. Pakistan, with limited resources and proper strategic planning, was wholly at risk of the virus spread. In a short period of time, this continued to prove true. Thus, to contain the spread, schools and institutions all around the country shut down. Breaks were extended, students were sent home from their hostels and the entire nation was put on high alert to avoid the possibility of future outbreaks.
The pandemic has brought to light what is known as an ‘authentic classroom experience’. This refers to the traditional concept of attending a well-known institution for four years, having classes on campus, interacting with the student body and being a part of a community of students from all over the world. This is the experience we pay for when we decide to go to college but it has been rendered to a few hours of online lectures in a span of two months. Not only are students facing difficulties in trying to comprehend the technical nature of their courses with online classes, but they are also being restricted from the college experience they have idealized and prioritized. Even if technology has made incredible enhancements to the ways we learn and understand new concepts, both professors and students are finding something lacking.
Here is the thing about the internet: it is full of hacks. So, even if your university is giving online classes to keep the semester going, there is no guarantee that students are learning anything. Take zoom classes as an example. You sign in, join a meeting and for the next hour or so you can put your mic on mute while the class continues and go about your day. Students have even reported falling asleep in the middle of their lectures without their professors knowing. This brings us to the idea of what is lacking, which is discipline. In Pakistan, children are educated with disciplinary measures and a reward-punishment policy. The mindset continues to fester and grow until they become adults and start their professional lives. Where there is no discipline, there also cannot be any education.
Even if you were to consider that not all students need the threat of an authority to learn, we still will not be addressing the major issue that is accustomed to this drastic change. If it is about a matter of space, resources, and capabilities, not all students are provided with the same privilege. So, if you expect a student from a village in Baluchistan to have access to a high-speed Wi-Fi connection and a working computer, that is an unfair imposition to make on the class divide we see in Pakistani universities. What happens to this dutiful student then? He or she tries to keep up with their peers, relocates to find the right access to their online lectures and have to find a way to submit their assignments in the middle of a global crisis.
While the dutiful student may go through these hardships and get by until schools reopen, the matter of university fees is still being kept in the dark. Institutions such as IBA and LUMS are not refunding the semester fees for the first half of the academic year and are instead trying to make up for their exorbitant charges with online classes. If students have to spend more than two million rupees for a downloadable lecture that they will skim through, the concept of these fees is a sham in itself. Since opportunities are limited for conducive interactions and direct channels, students have demanded that their fees be refunded and added to the bill for upcoming semesters.
The Punjab government did make a decision to reduce the tuition fees of private schools to eighty percent when these concerns started to go around. However, this was not received well by these wealthy institutions and added to the reservations of most parents. There were claims that such a discount could not be made for each student and parents expressed their view that since there is a discrepancy in the online platform, one hundred percent of the fees need to be waived off.
Even if there were clear instructions given by the Board of Education that the quality of education being provided would remain unperturbed, this has not been the case as of late. Besides this, when it comes to university exams for distance learning programs, like the ones conducted by the University of London, the fee for the exams has not been refunded. Authorities have reached out to the British Council to question if students will have to forgo thousands of rupees in lieu of exams that will no longer take place, but no decision has been made as of yet.
The Higher Education Commission has played their part in working alongside universities to minimize the negative impact of the virus. They have addressed the lockdown of schools and all forms of academic activities and have responded with specialized arrangements. Tech support, IT facilities and substantive online content has been the aim for students to have greater access to a new learning environment. Adding to this, public universities have given right of use to students to Microsoft Teams software so that they are expedited in their online meetings and discussions.
It is apparent that you can put a price on experience. With overpriced education systems and the sham of online fee structures, the experience you pay for as a student in this country is not limited to the classroom. But with a viral threat taking over parts of the global community, the price you pay for an education in Pakistan even in the midst of a pandemic is too high and needs to be cut down for normal life to continue.
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