We are not in this together
“We are in this together”. This is how this pandemic started. It was basically the tag line of Covid-19 that we all are in this together. But are we really in this together? Do we even know what everyone is going through? All I know is that it’s nothing but bluff.
Yesterday, I read a comment online “that we are an underdeveloped country and we need online classes and this whole system”, and It just made me wonder is this the only way to develop a country? People who barely have an idea about online educational system are stepping up with their opinions that our students need this, our students need to go through online exams.
Do they even know what students have been going through for the last three months? When you read about university life on online forums all you get is “best grooming place”, but all I’ve learned in last two years of my university life is that it’s like swallowing a bitter pill with insufficient amount of water. So all you’ve got is your own saliva. Now we have online classes and now all the yoke of education and the entire semester lies upon the shoulders of a student.
In university life, at the end of the day, all you’ve is your own self. My fifth semester started from the 7th of February - almost a week after my finals for 4th semester ended. I started off my 5th semester without even acknowledging the trauma of last semester. They say that a grind mill gradually speeds up but this time the grind mill started off at its max speed from the beginning. It’s a shame that I have jot this down but every professor in this semester was like my worst nightmare. Every one of them made it clear to every student that they are adamant at failing students.
I don’t understand - how can a teacher bluff about the fact that he or she played with the future of a student? But this is the entire university system, your future is merely in the hands of a professor. When the government announced the lockdown for educational institutes. I thought maybe this lockdown would help me in overcoming the trauma of previous semester.
But this lockdown induced a new trauma through the online learning system. Well, starting off with the fact that not everyone has access to laptops and computers to attend classes. Even I’m one of them, so no - we are not in this together, because you might not even know what it’s like to wait for your turn to use a laptop.
Still somehow everyone managed to take these classes. I attended almost every lecture but this breaks my heart that I failed to learn a single thing. Count it as my shortcoming because our teachers tried their level best. But I guess the lack of interaction between student and teacher just triggered some lethargic reactions in my mind.
It’s not like all teachers are innocent. Some of the teachers barely read the slides. Just a question - why do we have to sit in front of a screen when all a teacher is going to do is lie on a sofa and read slides? We are perfectly capable of reading the slides. Not trying to blame anyone, but from the foundation of our educational system to the top core, we lack concepts. What we have done our whole lives is cram the syllabus, never daring to see the reasons behind things. Unfortunately, these online classes just triggered that factor.
In the middle of this online class system, we were alerted that every teacher will be taking quizzes and assignments every week. I know it’s a good way of learning but nobody acknowledged how burdening six quizzes and assignments per week would be. Not to mention that our class schedules remained same: 8am – 5pm. The saddest part about these assignments and quizzes is that every teacher inflicted as much burden as they could. The quizzes were the worst nightmare, filled with scenarios, and the timing wasn’t really favorable as well. I cannot even name a single thing I’ve learned so far in these last few months via online classes.
Don’t blame students here but they have learned how to cheat through these online quizzes. So now tell me, what’s the purpose of this whole charade when we are not even learning a single thing? But I guess it’s never about learning in Pakistan. Here education is never about learning, it has always been about money and grades.
Now that the higher authorities have decided that they want to take online exams. I have no objection against online exams but how can you give us grades through these exams? There are cheat groups and almost every student cheats his way through these quizzes and is going to cheat in final online exams as well. How are you going to define the future of a student on the basis of these exams? This isn’t merely a semester - this is the future of a student and also the future of Pakistan.
If you’re even taking exams, then let there be no grading system. For this system is a failure, no matter what you do, and if this is how you are developing Pakistan, then this development seems like a joke to me.
