What comes to your mind when you hear the word “education”? I can assure you that the thoughts which crowd a students head upon hearing this word are not “fruitful learning” considering that the only thing the educational system has taught us is how to embrace overwhelming amounts of stress and anxiety. It’s as if we are being assessed on how long we are capable of keeping our sanity without cracking under pressure and giving up, once and for all.
The coronavirus pandemic initiated online education in the year 2020 and students debate on how it is not as impactful as physical learning. Even though they learn from the safety and comfort of their homes, online classes do not satisfy the experience and learning methodology of on-campus education. However, no other option remained considering the increasing lethality of COVID by the day, which resulted in a second lockdown in November 2020, as the second wave of the pandemic rounded the corner. Due to this, the December midterms were postponed to January 2021.
However, even though the pandemic did not vanish from the surface of the earth when the clock struck 12 am on January 1st, 2021 the education minister of Pakistan, Shafqat Mehmood, surely assumed that it did. The global pandemic remains to be contagious and fatal and instead of enforcing strict lockdowns and SOPs, the phase-wise reopening of educational institutions from the 18th of January was announced and by doing so the lives of the student body, throughout the country were put at risk.
In these uncertain circumstances, a petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court which seeks a restraining order against the reopening of education institutions across Pakistan amid a second wave of the pandemic. Such protests have been organized all over the country against examinations which are being held on campus even though there has been a surge in the infected. Online examinations are only fair for the student body considering how more than half of this semester was based on online learning and assessment.
A plethora of educational institutes remain to be unsympathetic towards the mental health of their students as before a week of examinations, regular classes were held. This was especially unfair to those who are supposed to appear for their Cambridge Examinations scheduled in May/June. It is disheartening to see how the physical and mental health of students has not even been considered a priority. 2020, as a year was traumatic for everyone; there were innumerable losses and the occurrence of tragic events did not pause. Amid these uncertainties, the leniency expected from the authorities, in these times is absent and that is something truly disappointing to witness.
The biggest question which remains unanswered till this date is what are we learning from all these years of education? Because trust me, students are no longer “excited” to learn, instead they are frightened of the consequences that might take place if they don’t. The soul shattering educational pressure will eradicate the student body, if COVID doesn’t first.
