Online classes in lock-down, practice without preparation

- Bharatraj Upreti

Corona virus covid-19 has kept the world community in a closed at home and room. Corona has biggest impact on industry and education in the world.

We are talking here online education classes in Nepal. Schools and colleges have been shut down due to the lock-down in Nepal.

Along with SEE, exams of 11 and 12 also have been postponed indefinitely. The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised maintaining social distancing for a few months after the lock-down. With the future of students at hold, most educational institutes have started online classes without preparation. 

In Nepal, looking for opportunities of the corona crisis, that work is by technology. In developed countries, fully practice on online studies. But in the case of Nepal, there is no clear guideline, of governance policy and also resources have not reached everywhere for online education system.

Lock-down Nepal, the government has said that online teaching for students with internet access and radio or television for students without internet access. But according to Madhav Prasad Dahal, Information Officer of the Center, it is not clear when the educational materials will be prepared for the small classes as well.

  Corona's terror, many people have reached the village. Along with this, most of the students are also sitting in the village Now, in such a situation, the question ? for whom will run the online classes. The mobile network in the village is not good, let alone the internet. Again the online classes had to be accompanied by live video. With the exception of some private sector teachers, government school teachers are not technology friendly. Some people don't even know how to open a message on their mobile phone. In this case, an online classes is possible ?

The government only says to conduct online reading, its rules and regulations cannot be specified.

Although education is needed for children with access to the Internet, the government itself is confused about what to do for those without access to the Internet. Despite the government's goal of making education accessible to all, the emphasis on online technology alone is likely to deprive children with access to the Internet and deprive children of access to education. The educationist argues that while the government is talking about teaching online and creating educational materials for it, it has ignored remote children.

Some private sector colleges are jumping on the running online classes to show cheap popularity on social media without management resources. Some schools are meeting online through a social app called Zoom. Although the zoom app is not bad, it also raises the question of security sensitivity. In April 2020 a cyber attack ZOOM, and five lac users personal data was under control by hackers.

In such a situation, online study of Nepal may be possible by using third party apps. The government policy, technology preparation and resource management is possible for online classroom operations. Its availability is not only what the target group can do, but also security sensitivities. Who will monitor the condition of mobile computer and internet used by the user, what is the guarantee of third party apps for that? No one cares about how the host host is responsible for this. There are empty zooms, online classes from zoom, meeting can be done and we see only propagandists saying that we have done this and that. When I asked Zoom users, I found that someone had done the necessary advice and knowledge for online classes.

Just download the zoom app, then your mobile viber group or messenger will come with a link, user ID and password and all you have to do is come to an online meeting or class. There is no information about its technical, official and safe use. Therefore, online class is not possible for Nepal immediately from Zoom or other video conferencing. The best way to prepare for an online class right now is to first share the reading schedule from the Viber group, Facebook page or group and keep the students ready.

Those who have technical resources, create an app for their own school and college and put online classes in that app.

For those who do not have access to the Internet, let's create an app that allows you to view offline content through a smartphone.  Preparation of online classes can also be used as an opportunity to lock down the Facebook page by sending it through Unicode. Let's not go for the definition of an online class by giving one or two classes to a few people just to show them without forcing resources and means.