For instance owing to a lack of comprehensive rural electrification, e-learning may
marginalise the poor, who do not have access to the internet and thus find it difficult to
access the learning material. E-learning may further be a catalyst for learning difficulties
as students fresh from secondary schools may not have been privileged to have internet
facilities before.
In addition, there is no clear roadmap from these institutions on how e-learning is going
to be executed in terms of time slots and syllabus. Lecturers will juggle which topics are
of critical importance in a particular subject.
The suspension of classes also interrupts the assessment period as examinations and
continuous assessments might be postponed or cancelled. The loss of this precious time
is tantamount to distraction, because the main purpose of test and examinations is to
assess whether students are able to conceptualise and demonstrate what they have
learned. Losing this component in academic learning may not provide lecturers with such
critical information.
Cancelling examinations may result in these students redoing their academic year, which
might delay their academic lives and also incur an additional financial burden to their
families.
While online assessments may be an avenue for exploration, this may be a cumbersome
process to big institutions like Unam and Nust with 39 288 students combined, as online
assessments may pose larger errors.
Not only that, but some courses involve practical learning, and online instruction may
not cater for that.
The state of the matter is that the pandemic not only affects teaching, but also the
administration processes of the universities.
It is highly possible that the pandemic may cause the university to postpone application
dates for the year 2021 and also make changes to the admission requirements due to
failure of completion of the curriculum by the secondary school.
The closing of borders affect foreign students to return and continue their studies and
this might affect the institutions financially.
Graduation ceremonies have been halted. Nust postponed its ceremony to September
hoping the virus will be contained, whereas Unam has called off its graduation for the
year and has suggested students graduate in absentia. While these are positive efforts to
contain the spread of Covid-19, it may delay the awarding of diplomas and degrees.
While the future is unknown, it remains the university's mandate to ensure the academic
year is not lost. We propose that institutions of higher learning redesign and revise the
curriculum to make up for the loss of time, and concentrate on important concepts when
lectures resume.
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