As we are all weathering the pandemic, we have learnt quite a few lessons from the higher education perspective. Grappling with new pressures Higher Education seems to have never prepared for alternatives to exams and even teaching that is not happening in confined spaces where physical presence is not mandatory. Innovating new models for delivering Higher Education is needed now more than ever. Online education was not the most popular mode of delivery in Pakistan, in fact most of us had our trust issues with online and distance learning. But no one ever played the devil’s advocate and saw the importance and need for it in the coming years. Imparting education outside of the confined spaces of the physical classroom was not imagined positively, even when it was desperately needed. No one ever really had a contingency plan for students that cannot (for legitimate reasons) come to class what we call extenuating circumstances. The only choice for them was their assessments would be delayed and no other option would be provided to them. Although Covid19 has no positives, except for maybe the earth closing down to heal itself, if we are to be hopelessly hopeful optimist and try and find a glimmer of good during these times is maybe that, it did push us to bring teaching outside of classrooms and realizing that assessments can be taken differently. Our obsession with physical presence always took precedence over the learning that was happening after the learners showed up. We have always been traditionalists when it came to teacher – student – exams.
Pakistan is not new to International Programmes, in fact they have been around for over 25 years, with alumni base now reaching tens of thousands, contributing to the economy positively. The colleges and institutions that are engaged in delivering distance learning programmes have developed a niche in the Higher Education landscape in the country. They have been able to develop an unprecedented intellectual capital for teaching through various learning management systems, learning how to quality assure distance and online learning, developing a sound understanding of supported distance learning; making such institutions better equipped to handle the sudden disruption to higher education in the country. The response time to provide their learners support and access at homes was seamless and swift. Hence, students did not lose time in completion of their courses, nor did they lose any sleep worrying about the loss of an academic year.
We need to see international programmes and Transnational Education more of a learning opportunity for everyone, the student gets access to programmes with Academic direction from top ranked UK universities at The Millennium Universal College, TMUC. They have access to numerous E libraries and research sites that otherwise they would have to pay so much more, there are major benefits. You mirror their quality assurance regimes learn from them, inculcate the best practices from each other. We have only benefitted from the partnerships. Opening doors to global classrooms for the youth of Pakistan. Faculty and staff have access to research and learning opportunities like no other. These partnerships provide bursaries for teaching faculty wishing to continue professional development.
We as a collective academic group responsible for students and their learning need to selfishly understand and adapt. As for the popularity of the distance and online learning, like all things new Pakistan’s higher education contract with the staff, student and faculty will have to rewrite itself. We will have to revisit the social contract with the learner. And we must devise and better prepare for contingencies. As it is, we fall short in providing solutions for extenuating circumstances. Measuring learning; to equate, accredit and to validate the learner will have to become more creative. It is our responsibility to change, grow and provide better solutions to our learners. When once you remove boundary walls, the possibilities are endless. We saw a rise in collaboration, foreign faculty experts no longer needed a visa or security clearance for entering a home in Peshawar or Karachi. Classes suddenly opened to new possibilities, what we call our ‘link tutors’ and ‘module leaders’ not only helped students they understood that they needed to remove the gaps of physical distancing and inculcate academic closeness. Today, distance education is ubiquitous – of necessity. This is the time for disruptive thinking and not the time to cling onto our traditionalist approach. For Higher education in Pakistan its strongly suggested that the Higher Education Commission with all that it is finding challenging to achieve, should replicate the TNE model, learn its best practices and make available uninterrupted teaching across cities, districts, towns and villages like TNE does across countries globally.
We cannot however shy away from facts like: In Pakistan, fewer than 20% of the population had smartphones and barely 25% of the population had internet access in 2019. Thousands of students in Pakistan are resisting taking online classes – #werejectonlineeducation was the top trending hashtag in Pakistan in March. For a country like Pakistan that is not new to either disruption to its cities and to its education systems, from riots to terror halting education, one might have thought it has in place a contingency for such situations. If the intention was uninterrupted learning we could have been a tad bit more creative, from inspirations like Sugata Mitra’s Hole in the wall Project, power of self-organized learning to stories like setting up school buses outfitted with WiFi to ensure that students who may otherwise not have access to the internet are able to learn while schools are closed in Kansas USA.
There is some glimmer of hope, in April, the Pakistan government launched two new educational TV channels ‘Tele Taleem’ and ‘Taleem Ghar’ in Punjab, which are expected to reach more than 60 million schoolchildren across the country. These are forward thinking steps and will support the school children. But Higher Education must come out with viable steps. We as educationists and academicians must do two things be responsive and responsible. Learn from transnational education and live the greener way as that is what is needed - now.
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