Virus may have reversed education gains

Educationists say pandemic provides opportunity to embrace e-learning

ISLAMABAD: The novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic may have pushed the gains made in the education sector of the country, though educationists were optimistic that an unintended, extended break and switch to e-learning may have provided them with an opportunity to improve the sector.

This was stated on Wednesday by speakers during an online dialogue on ‘Covid-19 pandemic and health and education challenges to public and private education systems’. The dialogue had been organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

Dr Ayesha Babar Kavish, head of MPH at the Pakistan Institute of Ophthalmology pf Al-Shifa Hospital, said that education, health and the economy are all interconnected and that the pandemic has hit all of these sectors adversely.

She added that it is time to create a balance between the education and health sectors. Hence, moving towards e-learning is an area that needs to be focused upon at the moment.

Skills Enhancement Academy (SEA) CEO Qaiser Raja said that the pandemic has provided us with an opportunity for the education sector to update the curriculum and remove whatever that has become obsolete, before putting it online.

Ayesha Aslam, head of Junior Sections at the national level for the Pak-Turk School Systems, suggested that the pandemic has pushed back our development goals, including those in the education sector, in an unprecedented manner.

“The challenge for teachers and students is now to quickly adapt to e-learning to overcome this learning-crisis,” Aslam said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2020.