In an effort to contain the spread of Covid-19, most of the academic institutions across the world, from nursery schools to universities, have been shut. Out of the total population of students globally, UNESCO estimates that 89% are currently out of school; this represents 1.54 billion children and youth enrolled in schools and universities.
The outbreak also impacted greatly the structure of schooling and learning, including teaching and assessment methodologies leading to a transition of learning to online platforms and the use of technology as a means to extend education for all.
In the case of Nepal, this is a crucial time for the education sector as board examinations, school admissions, entrance tests among others are held around this period. As the days pass by with no immediate solution to the outbreak, the closure of institutions will not only have a short-term impact on the continuity of learning but also lead to far-reaching economic and societal consequences.
But, do you think online platforms and the use of technology would be effective in our country where people have to climb up trees to access mobile networks? How can we think that online classes will be effective? Only a handful of private schools and colleges could adopt online teaching methods. On the other hand, low-income private and government schools have completely shut their activities for not having access to e-learning solutions. Rather, the government school and colleges have transformed into quarantine sites.
Meanwhile, many students have plans to pursue higher education abroad. What are these students supposed to do? How are the universities and schools across the globe impacted by the novel coronavirus? The pandemic has significantly disrupted the higher education of people who want to enrol in universities abroad, especially in countries worst affected by the pandemic, the USA, the UK, Australia and China.
After the crisis is over, things are not going to remain the same. Many people have lost their jobs and the institutions’ priority will be to put back their people into employment first. International students will be more than welcome in those countries than ever, but only if you could bring enough money. In most of the cases, it is not possible to pay from the family because they cannot afford it.
After all, the global lockdown of educational institutions is going to cause a major (and likely unequal) interruption in students’ learning, disruptions in internal assessments and the cancellations of public assessments for qualifications or their replacements by an inferior alternative.
What can be done to mitigate these negative impacts? Schools need resources to recover losses in learning, once they open again. How these resources are used, and how to target the children who were especially hard hit are unanswered questions. Given the evidence of the importance of assessments for learning, the schools should also consider postponing rather than skipping internal assessments. For new graduates, policies should support their entry to the labour market to avoid longer unemployment periods.
Poudel is a student based in Pokhara.
