Lockdown: Many students remain logged out

Chandigarh, April 16

In times of Covid lockdown, higher educational institutes in the state have moved towards online classes so that students do not miss out on their studies, but poor Net connectivity is playing a spoiler. Students in rural areas, particularly in the border belt, have been affected the most.

A student from a village in Gurdaspur district pursuing LLB from Punjabi University, Patiala, said: “I have a laptop, but poor connection hampers my study. But think of my friends who don’t have computers or laptops.”

Prof RK Kohli, Vice-Chancellor of Central University in Bathinda, said: “No doubt, students are facing connectivity problem in certain areas. Our students from Kashmir and Kerala are finding it difficult to download online lessons. The network strength of a 2G connection is too weak to download the lessons.”

Gurdeep Singh, a student at the Panjab University Centre for Human Rights and Duties, echoed VC’s views. “Students residing in remote areas of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab do not have laptops. And those who have laptops face the problem of poor network.”

Pratham Aggarwal, an MCA student, appreciated teachers’ efforts in trying times but regretted that the poor Net infrastructure was bringing their efforts to naught.

In all this, universities are trying their best to prepare online lessons. Vice-Chancellor Kohli said, “Universities and colleges are using different means so that students don’t lag behind in their studies. The University Grants Commission (UGC), for example, has created more than 23,000 highly graded lectures on 769 subjects for postgraduate courses on MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses). Also, lessons for 1,900 subjects are available on Swayam platform.”

Punjabi University VC Prof BS Ghuman said, “Besides the UGC, Punjabi University faculty has prepared quality academic material on different subjects. Certainly, there is no replacement for classroom teaching. But these tough times has provided us with an opportunity to expand our academic vision and prepare innovative teaching modules.”

Poor connectivity is not the only problem universities are grappling with. As the nationwide lockdown has been extended till May 3, universities are still undecided on annual examinations. They are still waiting for new guidelines from the UGC.