School Can Come To Students

Distance Education in Punjab Has Been Ineffective

Punjab has been struggling at many ends since March 2020 due to COVID-19. Education has suffered a lot during this time. Even though the student scores are inflated and seem high due to ineffective assessment, our assessments show that most of the students are failing as distance education has not been executed effectively in the rural Punjab. When lockdown happened in March 2020, schools and students were suddenly expected to transition to distance learning. With less network and no prior exposure to video calling apps, social concerns such as females not being comfortable to be seen on internet, and lack of smartphones made it difficult to make distance learning effective. Many schools resolved to make WhatsApp groups where assignments, solutions, and assessments were shared. A few schools used the limited versions of Zoom. Only a handful implemented Learning Management Softwares to facilitate, assess, and improve learning. Mental health issues and other issues added to ineffective distance learning and students stand in the centre of a plethora of challenges.

What Now?

Now again the schools and colleges are shut down, at least till April 10 2021 with uncertainty about the future. Our idea now is simple: if students cannot come to school, then school can come to the students. We have established 8 learning centres in different villages and the response by all stakeholders have been inspiring. Our volunteers go extra miles, literally and figuratively, to make sure the students of remote areas can receive help in addition to the distance education. While social distance is maintained and occupancy is low, these centres run at no additional cost to the parents. People from community have received this idea with open hearts. Many have opened their houses or other buildings for us to teach the local kids there. We hope that this idea can be scaled up by different educational institutions.