Universities and Students unprepared for switch to remote learning

As coronavirus containment measures spread in universities of Multan and other cities  are finding they(Students & teachers) are ill-prepared for online learning or remote classes as their campuses close and their students return home, sometimes to remote areas without internet or proper facilities to continue classes. Since Prime Minister has announced complete lockdown in the country till April 5 as more than a 50 districts of the country.Main universities including Bahauddin Zakariya University  have suspended classes until May 31, with suspensions expected to continue for some time as the virus spreads. But for students to only study online is difficult in Pakistan where 60 percent students have no access to Android phones, internet connectivity is costly and a significant problem, particularly in rural areas with slow or non-existent internet access. Students report significant disruptions at home particularly in overcrowded households.On 18 March higher education authorities in Pakistan instructed all universities to organise online teaching and learning, as educational institutions were closed down under an earlier order on 13 March.
On 23 March, Federal Government as well as Provincial Governments announced a two-week lockdown in the country, with all in-country transport suspended, international air travel halted and the army called in. On 26 March, Federal Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood announced that universities and other educational institutions would be closed until 31 May.In a letter, Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) asked universities to “engage faculty and quickly develop online courses and disseminate those to the students in view of the coronavirus situation in the country”. The letter states: “Coronavirus pandemic has endangered us all and online education is the solution for the safety of the faculty and the students"Pakistan has faced university closures many times in the past decade due to terror attacks and the politics of agitation, but universities then did not adopt online teaching. A sudden shift to digital learning amid the coronavirus crisis has posed some challenges to the system as the majority of students do not have their own computers or internet facilities.Abid Manzoor, who is studying for a masters degree in economics from Layyah city's sub-campus of Bahauddin Zakariya University, went back to his village, Nawankot, 75km from the campus, when the closure of academic institutions was announced.
Manzoor told University World News: “My village is located in the Thal desert of Punjab where the majority of the area does not have even mobile phone signals, so how could we have access to the internet? I have heard there will be online teaching, but I do not have a computer and no internet here, although I know how to use a computer.”“Boarding students have left for their homes located mostly in less developed areas, and the majority of them do not have access to computers at their homes or internet for online learning,” a Senior Teacher of BZU said.However, the universities that were imparting online education before the spread of COVID-19, such as Islamabad's Allama Iqbal Open University and Lahore's Virtual University, have proved to be successful, having developed online and distance education systems long before the spread of the pandemic and subsequent closure of the universities.