The Downside Of Switching To Online Classrooms In The Midst Of COVID-19 Pandemic
No one saw the COVID-19 pandemic coming when the disease made its presence felt in every portion of the world earlier this year. Many industries and sectors were caught off-guard as the novel coronavirus forced every operation to shut down. In a bid to prevent the further spread of the severe pneumonia-like illness that originated from Wuhan, China, major cities all over the globe had no choice but to implement strict community quarantine guidelines, which include the cancellation of all social gatherings.
In the case of schools and universities, where the students and teachers must all be physically present inside the classroom to promote learning, the authorities had no choice but to suspend all classes indefinitely. This has led to the longest spring and summer break that the students have ever experienced. Now that another academic year is about to start, authorities must figure out a way such that the pandemic will not impede the student’s continuous learning. Thus, an online-based learning setup was introduced, and this appears to be the number one alternative to the usual face-to-face classes.
Not Everyone Could Adapt To Online Classrooms Due To Financial Constraints
Parents all over the country have protested against this proposed online learning setup. According to them, switching to online classroom would disenfranchise certain students, where the goal should be to not anyone be left behind when it comes to education in the face of a pandemic. Particularly, those students whose families are not that well-off to afford online-based education are expected to find this upcoming school year much more challenging.
For one, the requirements for an online classroom would cost some extra bucks for the parents. Instead of using notebooks, papers, and pens, their children would have to use one electronic device for each student. The thing is that not all devices can be used for online classroom. A laptop with specs good enough to allow the user to join long video conferences should be used, which is quite expensive.
Another issue is the possibility of the students not paying attention to the online classroom as they are free to use the other features of the computer that they are using. Who knows, the kids are only browsing through their social media accounts, looking for authentic facebook likes from their friends.
Many families are striving to get the kids completing their school requirements in this pandemic crisis. Although, we should be ready to make compromises and choose our topmost priority.
