Longhorn
Since the inception of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been infringements and lot of restrictions on many things. Though these restrictions are relative, most of the things we did normally are being regulated, lately. These restrictions are also placed on the education sector to maintain social distancing and curb the virus. For the time being, schools are advised to adhere strictly to COVID-19 preventive measures and hold their lectures online, to curb the spread.
The new song that virtually every tertiary institution is dancing to is online classes. We know that some schools, notably private schools, are used to the system already. However, what about schools that haven’t tried that before? Will it be easy or quite difficult to operate the new system? Well, we’re modern times where most people synchronously have their meetings, and it’s relatively conducive.
Online classes may be a blessing in disguise for some students. It might have been what they’ve been praying for. Some really find it handy and stress-free because they won’t have to wake up very early and start rushing for morning classes. These students will always tell you that buzzing for morning classes isn’t their nature so “dey gat stab am or make dem reach there late.”
Hardly would you find a student that doesn’t have a side hustle or more. Students in this category prefer online classes than the physical one. Their presence isn’t needed during virtual classes, and they can easily give enough attention to their businesses.
Contrary to the above points, to some students, virtual classes are a curse. People have a speculation that Nigerians adapt to things easily. However, to be very honest, some people cannot easily adapt to online lectures. How will online lectures be conducive when there is no good power supply in the country ? You know you’ll need to charge your gadgets… How will it be facilitative when poor network is prevalent? Must we look for good service on the tree or at the corner of our rooms before having access to Zoom classes?
Before this very moment, some students rarely subscribe at a very high rate; cheap data subscriptions are mostly done. Whichever means the synchronous classes will be conducted, it will surely consume much data. In addition, I believe that not everyone can afford to subscribe to that extent. Consequently, students are prone to miss classes, or get disconnected during classes based on unstable internet connection. It also makes one to lose interest in any lectures, since some people can’t afford to subscribe at a very high rate.
Finally, everyone has different speculations and will react to this in varied manners. Irrespective of what we think about virtual classes, we’re all right. It might be easy for some and be a herculean task for others. We should not undermine the perceived difficulties of others just because we are capable of coping with online lectures. In the same vein, we should not be vexed at the joyfulness of those who are happy at the prospects of online classes. Online classes could be a curse, and equally a blessing. If I were to ask you personally, are online lectures a blessing or a curse to you?
