This initiative should be appreciated irrespective of the drawbacks
RAWALPINDI: During these testing times, private educational institutions have come under severe public criticism for demanding high fee from students even during the lockdown. Many students have taken to social media platforms to launch campaigns against this decision in order to draw the attention of the government. The educational institutions claim that the reason for this is that they are still conducting online classes and are assessing students on the basis of online assignments and tests.
While online teaching is aimed at facilitating students during the time of the lockdown, it seems that the initiative has backfired as not all regions in Pakistan have access to the internet. This is proving to be a huge problem for people living in rural areas, in particular. Whatever the case, these private institutions have played a constructive role in introducing free online courses and training programmes that are available to the general public. A lot of courses are available online that encourage people who are not enrolled with any educational institution to receive some kind of education.
Many universities have joined hands with well-known motivational and public speakers to arrange online meetings for students via Facebook live and zoom. This initiative should be appreciated irrespective of the drawbacks as students and others will be able to reap the benefits of such online initiatives in the future.
It is about time that courses and workshops were available to all and not just related or restricted to specific institutions asking for a high fee. I urge the government and all educational institutions to further these initiatives so that those who cannot afford formal education are able to self-study through this.
Shahbaz Hayat
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2020.
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