MAY 7 — The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the livelihoods of every Malaysian, albeit unevenly. Many hope lives would go back to normalcy soonest and for parents, this includes resuming their children’s schooling.
School closures since mid-March have suspended formal classroom learning for 4.9 million school children nationwide. Despite this, there are claims that except for the first few days of the movement control order (MCO), teaching and learning have taken place as usual via various methods especially through distance learning, either online or offline using electronic equipments (e-learning).
However, the reality is different from the typical daily school routine as teachers, students and parents are still grappling with e-learning. As it remains unclear when students will return to school, the current e-learning situation should be improved to be more inclusive and systematic.
Improving e-learning
First, many students (37 per cent) do not have the necessary devices to support e-learning. According to a survey by the Ministry of Education (MOE) involving around 900,000 students only 6 per cent of students own a computer, 9 per cent own a tablet while smartphone ownership is higher at 46 per cent. Even if a family has a device, many would have to share with other members for work or study.
Initiatives to increase access to devices should be implemented. These could include providing grants for device purchases, setting up a device loan scheme similar to the existing textbook loan scheme and distributing free devices to students from poor families. Undeniably, this requires government allocations, but this should be viewed as a worthy investment since these children are our future. Private companies and NGOs should be encouraged to initiate donation drives of new/used laptops for distribution to schools.
A complementary way to incentivise families to purchase devices is by allowing for a higher tax relief and devising an independent category for such expenses and internet spending rather than currently lumping them together with other lifestyle expenses.
Second, a good internet connection is required for a smooth and effective e-learning process. Although the national mobile broadband penetration rate was approximately 120% in 2019, the fixed broadband penetration rate — which provides faster and more reliable connectivity — was only approximately 8 per cent. Moreover, the lack of fibre optic networks is slowing internet speed and undermining connectivity in the country. It is more urgent now to ensure successful implementation of the National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan given our increasing dependence on high-quality internet access.
Beside these challenges, the free 1GB mobile data provided daily by the government is not adequate to support heavy video streaming or teleconferencing which exhaust data quickly. This puts children of poor families at disadvantage as they cannot afford to “top up” data more frequently as “food” would be prioritised over “data”, especially during tough times. Telcos should consider providing additional free data in order to help teachers, parents and students cope with the current challenges.
Third, considering higher smartphone ownership among students, communications using smartphones have been utilised most by teachers to impart lessons. However, the organisation and dissemination of information should be improved. Rules on the use of messaging groups should be implemented to make it a formal platform for communications on the lessons. Messaging groups often have multiple messages and for parents with several schoolgoing children, it is very troublesome to keep up with important messages when too many parents are responding in the groups.
Fourth, given that schooling in Malaysia is dealing with an unprecedented scenario, teaching materials and homework assigned by teachers are not likely to be standardised for some time. However, workloads assigned to students should not vary too much and learning activities should take place for all, not only for a few subjects. Often, these are dependent on each teacher’s initiatives and preparedness for e-learning. This has to be improved and teachers should strive to adhere to a predetermined syllabus and consistently assign appropriate, not arbitrary, workloads to students.
Fifth, streaming channels, TV and radio should be fully utilised as alternative tools to deliver mass lectures as many teachers may not be able to conduct online lessons effectively themselves. EduwebTV is an online education service provided by MOE where users can get educational videos. However, video streaming is data-heavy, making the free 1GB mobile internet relied on by many families insufficient for video streamings. As an alternative for students with no internet access, the government has rolled out Program TV Pendidikan or Kelas@rumah. However, the programmes currently only run for a total of two hours daily and should be extended to cover more subjects and student levels. Also, as radio is still an important information transmitter, subjects which require less visual aids such as history, can be effectively taught through this channel.
Sixth, one-on-one interactions between teachers and all students are still lacking due to high number of student per class. To improve e-learning, teaching assistants/tutors can be hired among new graduates and others suitable to participate in school tutoring programmes, simultaneously addressing youth unemployment. Each tutor can be assigned to a smaller group of students allowing for a more dedicated attention.
Disabled and underprivileged children
The above discussions only highlight challenges faced by students with the necessary equiments to begin with. Sadly, the problems faced by the remaining students have yet to be addressed effectively. Even if it is true that learning is going on as usual, this is likely the case for a proportion of adequately equiped students only.
The current initiatives assume that children with special needs can learn as effectively via distance learning. In addition to prioritising students preparing for examinations to return to school once MCO is relaxed, disabled, underprivileged and underperforming students should be prioritised too.
Social mobility and lasting effects of crisis
Beyond overcoming the challenges students currently face, we must also be cognisant of the long-term consequences of the crisis on children’s life opportunities and social mobility. With more parents losing jobs due to the economic downturn, school dropout rates could rise. Additionally, the extended lockdown and concomitant economic pressures could have knock-on effects on children’s physical and mental health either directly, or indirectly through parental mental health influence.
The consequences of a crisis could last longer than the crisis itself. Studies in other countries that examine the employment of cohorts entering the labour market in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis found that many had higher odds of being in low-paying jobs, stayed unemployed longer and experienced slower career progression compared to the same age cohorts who started working under better economic conditions.
While there has been no similar longitudinal study in Malaysia, social mobility trends are quite telling. A social mobility study by Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) found that while today’s generation generally has a higher living standard, progress has seemingly slowed and social mobility is increasingly constrained due to lacklustre economic growth, more competition in the labour market and eroding higher education premiums. The current pandemic would likely make the social mobility prospects of our younger generation even more challenging.
We need to rapidly scale up the technological adoption and bridge the digital divide. If not undertaken with due haste, the possible adverse long-term impacts on school children will only serve to widen inequalities, leaving more behind.
*Hawati Abdul Hamid and Jarud Romadan Khalidi are researchers at Khazanah Research Institute (KRI). The views are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the official position of KRI.
**This is the personal opinion of the writers or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
