The Harsh Reality of Our Online Learning

Since the pandemic happened, we have all been trying our best to survive. One of the sectors affected is our educational sector which affects around 200,000 of students in schools alone. Many alternatives such as online and distance learning methods and hybrid learning methods have been introduced for students to get educated in these challenging times.

However, we have to understand that not everyone in the country has the same access to this kind of learning. There are numbers of cases reported and stories that have gotten viral on social media on students' struggle just to attend their classes. From setting up their tent up on the hill to attending their classes in a boat on a river, these students put their lives in danger just to go to their classes. From this situation alone, we know that something must be wrong.

The related parties have to step up their game and upgrade the quality of internet connections especially in the rural areas, so that people can get at least decent connections for basic tasks. The people did not demand to have the fastest connection in the world, let alone any 5G connection. They simply demand for just a decent and stable internet.

                                     

                                                          (Photo Credit: MiLo SuaM)

We can clearly see the gap of digital divide between rural and urban areas getting bigger since there is a lot of development and with 5G deployment, urban areas keep getting faster internet with lower prices. But the situation for rural areas, not that much has changed. Most of the areas are still using 3G and broadband with 8mbps speed and it has been that for quite some time now.

This is very important since it affects the access to information rate for the students and can affect their performance in studies. Many teachers, especially in rural areas, have tried to find other alternatives to cope with the situations but it is hard even for them to come up with a decent solution when the choices available are limited.

The Internet is built with the purpose of connecting people to endless opportunities and information in a blink of an eye and that is what it is supposed to do. We really need the internet that we have regardless of any location to serve its purpose.

The people are not demanding to have the best internet in the country, they simply just wanted to have a more decent internet so that they can join their classes from the comfort of their own home and do not have to put their life in danger again.

#MOJOKitabySM,#SuaraMasyarakat, #CommunityVoices, #Digitaldivide, #Pandemic

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