DR SARWAT RAUF
ACCORDING to the United Nations Educational, Sci entific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) a large number of children, youth and adults worldwide have been stopped from attending schools and universities because of the reckless spread of COVID-19. TheWorld Health Organization (WHO) officially declared a pandemic on 13 March 2020. Later the countries started taking preventive measures andlockdowns were announcedin different parts ofthe world. After two months of waiting, many countries have suddenly realized the importance of imposing strict measures to slow the spread of the disease. Thus, government of different states implemented the closure of educational institutions in order to control the danger of pandemic. The health officials of different states became active at once and started disseminating information and took various steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in educational institutions. Thousands of educational events have been cancelled and hostels have been evacuated. The administrators of universities, colleges and schools have been directed to cooperate in abating the confusion. Consequently, the leaders of educational institutes selected the painful choice to shut schools, colleges and universities. Just like the United States and Europe, the government of Pakistan has also announced closure of educational institutions till further instructions. Closing schools has ascertained the effectiveness of measure in dwindling the spread of disease and to save more people. For example; in China, Italy, Japan and other areas, it has been proved that closing schools would decrease physical contact and subsequently spread of the virus would be curtailed. In order to slow contagion, one of the most effective things a society can do is to reduce interaction. Although, various debates are taking place about the timings of the decision because it makes people skeptical that why the government is curbing students to attend ongoing programs when no one in the schools is sick. The decision would have been difficult for the government too, yet it is a rightly picked option as it could delay the peak of an epidemic. Keeping in view, the unpreparedness and incapacity of hospitals of Pakistan to deal with the formidable disease, it seems hard to handle coming malady. The anticipation of a large number of infected people and the inadequate space at the hospitals and ICUs signaling the unsolicited results. Given the puzzling situation, pupils along with parents are worried about being the victim of something out of their control. Many questions are still unanswered; are we dealing with this pandemic rightly? Are we intensifying fear or overcoming the real threat? How technology could be used to continue students’ learning in the situation of quarantine? Coming towards the role of educational institutes and teachers in this situation, it has become more crucial. The educational institutes can publicize critical information about the disease and its potential spread to students, staff and associated families through their websites while establishing coordination with health departments. Amid the social media hype, a proper and accurate message should be given to the students through teachers in the form of official emails, emphasizing on Learning Management System (LMS). The guidance can be provided on the websites of different schools and colleges to reflect specific arrangements students should adopt. Since educators are considered more flexible person; hence, they can make pupils able to thrive in this challenging spread of the disease. Along with the enactment of the recommendations of the health department, we need to paint the situation in a positive manner to our youth in a way that human and viruses are born to live together. Until humanity triumphs with the good vaccine of COVID-19, we need to educate them that ongoing decreased human activity is galvanizing cleaner and fresh air around the world because fewer pollutants entering the air and sea. Families have got time to be together, eat at homes and pray to God. Before we control the scare of coronavirus, we must set a plan for students to learn how to work in this weird situation. Although, some educational institutions are still exploring suitable online learning programs above and beyond LMS, yet, some drawbacks have been observed that most of the students either do not have a laptop, computer and internet connection or they have no idea to use LMS. Besides, the idea of equitable education has become dubious with this selection because financially all students are not equal, owning smart gadgets. Sophisticated technological equipment is not with every student and at this moment they cannot even share gadgets even. It also appears that most of the students will not be able to deliver online because of two reasons; first, they are not used to it means not tech savvy persons. Second, teachers are also new to this system. Moreover, uncertainty about their exams would cause loss of interest. Another hitch is working from home, it appears out of the ordinary because children of many teachers are also staying at home and causing distraction while making interaction with their class. Hence, the pressure is more on teachers to remotely monitor the progress of students and use technology with all these odds. In order to boost the emergency response to minimize learning disruption, teachers should deliver lecture in an informal/casual way as the psychological effects of Corona crisis are both on teachers and students. Different projects on interesting topics can be assigned to students with specific time. Certainly, it is not an optimal solution but it’s better than nothing. Further, we can lessen current panic by engaging our students in different projects such as research papers or article writing. For this, teachers can recommend useful websites, recorded or live lectures once in a week can also serve the purpose. On the part of teachers struggle to make this planet better for our future generations must not be stopped. We need to prepare our generation to work in the changing nature of security threats. —The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, NUML, Islamabad.
