Selective Alternatives for College Student with No Stable Internet Access during COVID-19

First and foremost, apart from online learning, the college should now start providing offline instructions to the students with no internet connection. Here are must taken steps in COVID-19.

It’s been almost 8 months since the Coronavirus has started to affect the lives of the people. Almost 75 per cent of the population have self-quarantined to protect themselves from getting affected by this contagious disease. The Government announced to shut down the educational institutions, commercial and even industrial sectors.

All this happened because the COVID-19 is capable of spreading through human contact. And, once a school or college student gets affected by this deadly virus, it can even contaminate the entire school/college. So, this stringent step was taken for the well-being of the students.

As the pandemic situation starts to evolve and the number of affected students get to increase, many states took immediate action to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, the exams may get postponed due to this crisis situation. But, as per the introduction provided by the Government, teachers across the globe were directed to conduct online classes. And, in these online classes, they will teach the pending topics that were left incomplete.

Moreover, the exams are also going to be held online. Some of the states have declared to take open-book exams, but some made these online examination rules more rigid for the students. But, what will the students with no internet do right now? Nobody yet came up with any solution for them. The government is still finding a potential solution for them so that they can continue studying. many media platforms like Hindi news Awaze and many more news channels reported time to time to take from the government.

Is There Any Permanent Solution for them?

Not everyone in this country is privileged, some of the college-going students live in remote areas, where they get no access or less internet access. Even though they start the online class programs, they will get repetitive interruption during the whole time. As a result, the college-going students will miss the important parts and will be left with inadequate learning. Some of the countries are not developed enough to have a stable network connection.

So, some of the enthusiastic students are even walking for miles to get internet access. Because, in the end, a good score is all that matters to complete the educational courses. In a nutshell, it can be stated that the Government has taken a great initiative by closing the colleges and universities.

But, the rapid transition from traditional learning to online learning is somewhat becoming critical for some of the students. It is becoming more challenging for them. And, probably at the end of this year, there will be a huge number of college-student dropouts because of no internet access.

Moreover, there are colleges across the world that provide free education for low-income students. What will they do now? Because many of them are below the poverty line, and they live without essential internet services. So, the college teachers need to now think out of the box to deal with these situations before it gets worse.

What Needs to Be Done?

First and foremost, apart from online learning, the college should now start providing offline instructions to the students with no internet connection. Those who have no access to the internet can’t join in the Google Classroom, Zoom, or any other apps that run through the internet. So, when it comes to submitting an assignment or exam copy, it becomes difficult for them. In rural countries, online learning is not a simple thing.

There are millions of students that lack broadband access, so now the school authorities are getting creative. Moreover, there are several low-tech forms of instructions that can be accessed without the internet or digital devices. Several colleges have started conducting educational programs through television where students will feel more comfortable and engaged.

The drawback of Television Programmes

However, this weekly arrangement is only for the ones who have a TV in their household. All the state teachers will be there to teach the college-going students different courses. But, this will only be a one-way process, as the students can’t reciprocate with the teachers.

So, if they come across any query, they don't get any scope to ask that. Though these programs get approved by the state's educational department, some of the students will be still deprived. The educational department has recently introduced interactive sessions in these programs for which they are highly encouraged.

It is actually a great way to provide a positive impact on the students even in this crisis period. Moreover, this will even slightly eradicate the physical absence of the teachers. But, all we can say is, this can’t be the ultimate solution for those without the internet.

Steps the Teachers Needs to Implement Right Now

At least, for now, the teachers who live nearby the college-going students should start teaching them in their house. Or, even they can take this initiative in an empty room where there will be a college like setup. But, the number of students must be less than 20. And, the teachers should start taking classes at least thrice in a week, dividing the total numbers of students in the college.

Every student and teacher should avail of all the preventive measures to avoid getting affected by Novel Coronavirus. Also, they should take weekly examinations for the students and provide them with several educational assignments. This will help the students to stay engaged in studying.

Significance of Over-the-Air Educational Programs

In some circumstances, over-the-air educational programming has largely devoted college-going students. Moreover, these programs are totally aimed at the college-going students who lack even minimum resources for their sustainability. In more than 20 channels, teachers all over the world are conducting over-the-air educational programs.

Now, almost every student is spending their days in their homes, so they won't have any issues while accessing these channels. The real-timing of the next programs will be stated during the ongoing learning session.

Can the Students without Internet Ever Overcome These Problems?

Well, it might be difficult for them to deal with these entire pandemic situations, but there are several alternatives that are being implemented for them. Even, the local libraries are delivering the required books for the college-going students. Also, some of them are offering free books and not taking any additional charge for the service.

Fortunately, the broadband providers are also slightly changing their views towards their unprivileged college-going students. So, in some remote areas, they are offering free internet connection and opening up numerous Wi-Fi hotspots across the country. Renowned companies like AT & T, CenturyLink, and Verizon have already signed up for providing this facility. So, the Coronavirus Pandemic is not ensuring that internet connection is a must-have thing- it's exposing that the internet was always the need of the present decade.