Asma Kazmi
It is an undeniable fact that the outbreak of the deadliest COVID-19 pandemic has left world in a tremendous shock and badly affected all infected countries. The scale of this lethal pandemic has been observed more severe and intensified in European countries where thousands of people died and thousands of others fall in confirmed cases gradually. This lethal COVID-19 pandemic has not merely affected global economy and socio-political activities of the world only but also ruthlessly hit the global education system of the world.
After a short space of time, advanced states of the world successfully launched comprehensive method for online classes for students as they can resume their academic responsibilities effectively. Pakistan is also one of the reputable states in the world which is also miserably affected. Owing to outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, all educational institutions have been shut down. In this regard, The Higher Education Commission has appeared and successfully introduced some productive software and approaching number of universities to start online classes.
According to some resources there are many universities that have successfully started online teaching – like LUMS – to facilitate students those are enrolled in various universities of Pakistan. Unfortunately, the picture of my beloved land District Kurrum (Parachinar) is still disappointed. Let me introduce very short background of this area to all my readers; Initially, this area was considered Kurrum Agency as a part of FATA that remained many years under the supervision of Federal government. Recently, its status has been changed and it is known as District Kurrum and now it directly falls under the supervision of provincial administration of Pakistan.
Owing to outbreak of pandemic and lack of stable enough internet connection have left the people of my area in a complete confusion. Apart from suffering socio-economic activities of these people, our education system is also ruthlessly affected. Currently, amidst COVID-19 pandemic two perspectives have been widely observed in Pakistan. Firstly, good internet connection system has become a lifeline for every social, political and economic activity because most of us are following given direction of the government to be remain safe to stay at home, adopt self-isolation, self-quarantine and more importantly practicing social distance against COVID-19 pandemic. Secondly, almost all provinces of Pakistan are blessed with fundamental facilities where good internet connection system comes first.
As far as District Kurrum (Parachinar) is concerned all academic institutions are not merely deprived of good internet connectivity, but our students also who are enrolled in various schools. I teach as a teacher at the most reputable school named Bloom’s International School Parachinar. Being a responsible teacher, I can truly understand the academic difficulties of our students because we are deprived of online classes due to lack of good internet connection facility. Moreover, there are many students of this locality who successfully secured their admissions in various universities of Pakistan.
It is also observed that these students are also confronting the dilemma of good internet connectivity to resume their online learning. In this regard, Supreme Court of Pakistan has recently given directions to Ministry of Information Technology to resolve the prolonged issue of good internet connectivity 4G of various areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where Parachinar comes first. It is my humble request to the authorities of district Kurram and provincial administration to look of this issue seriously and resolve the dilemma of good internet connectivity which will save the quality of education of our students of this area.
The writer is former student of Quaid-i-Azam University and now teaches at Bloom’s International School Parachinar. She can be reached at: [email protected]
