I was told by fellow batchmates that we should boycott online classes, let me be honest with you, our problem is inequality, not online learning. The best that a university can do to their students in such a situation is to provide students with resources online exactly like a government is committed to delivering food stamps to those in need. Whatever you read here are my views and my freedom of expression.
Let me start by saying I’m against ‘MANDATORY’ online classes as of today, but for the sake of academic continuity and building a sense of punctuality and responsibility among students, online classes are the only option left with us these days.
COVID-19 has literally ruined the academic calendar of every single university in the country. And universities are still figuring out a solution for a proper ending of the current semester and a fresh start of the next academic year. Every university is committed to establishing continuous and extended learning opportunities for students, and technology is inevitable for implementing the same. Students and faculties from major central universities well known for shaping liberals have already started questioning the inequality of online classes, but the question is how committed are they for the cause? Their answer would be until online classes are suspended.
I agree with the fact that the right of every student should be protected, and they should also be part of the equation, not as constants. The solution is not to stop online classes, it is to discover the ways in which those students who don’t have access to the internet are also able to learn and grow with every other student. The whole idea of online classes from university is not to finish the syllabus within the proposed time, but it is to create a platform for students to meet and greet virtually during the pandemic and realize the fact that we all have post-COVID responsibilities and we will overcome this together. Many students are suffering from mental illness and the trauma of staying the whole day at the room, online classes can be seen as a space for relaxing with your fellow classmates. I would be called an Elite privileged human if I’m saying cent percent equality is a distant dream, it’s not just a dream it is an ideal concept that is never achievable.
Universities, at the lower level colleges or societies, have to discover the ways in which they can reach the students who are not able to attend online classes and make sure they are provided with offline resources of upskilling and are maintaining good mental health. Online classes shouldn’t be seen as a digital divide in education, but it should be seen as an opportunity to digitize education. The government has to create policies and plans regarding the digitizing of education because the internet is a basic right of every citizen.
