Exploring the Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Education Divide in Pakistan

Abstract

Background: The education sector is badly shaken in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic as nationwide closures have impacted 89% of the world’s student population.
 Aims and Methodology: This qualitative, exploratory study investigated the impacts of COVID-19 on the prevailing education divide through focus group discussion. Focus group included purposefully selected two teachers (one male & one female), two senior headteachers (one male & one female), two Taluka Education Officers (one male & one female), two Assistant District Education Officers (One male & one female) and two Assistant professors of Education (one male one female). The focus group interviews were conducted from the participants through conference calls.
 Results: Focus group discussion results showed that there could be variable impacts of COVID-19 across society, parents, input that students could receive from families during this pandemic, assessment, gender, and schools. These variable impacts could result in further widening of the existing education divide in Pakistan. The major reasons, as highlighted by the participants, are the weak education system and the prevalent digital divide in Pakistan due to the use of online learning resources. It is recommended that the authorities should engage economically sound local elders, Non-Government Organizations and volunteer educated persons to meet the technology-based needs.

Equitable Access to Higher Education Learning and Assessment: Perspectives from Low-Resource Contexts

“…These findings support Lai and Widmar (2021) who argue that rural students' limited access to the internet and technology has been historically problematic but never as severely painful as during the Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, they verify digital equity issues in LMICs that have been reported by previous studies (Wekullo et al 2022;Gautam & Gautam 2021;Khan et al 2020;Rajput et al 2020). University initiatives such as providing data packages with subsidised prices did not seem to work well, as the support was not needs-based.…”

The Impact of COVID-19 on Schoolchildren in Pakistan: A Review of Literature

“…5. (Rajput et al, 2020) The main reasons, as stated by the participants, are Pakistan's weak education system and the country's prevalent digital divide as a result of the use of online learning resources. 6.…”

“…However, unlike developed countries, there was little to no support provided to schools or to support teachers and parents through home learning. The main problems associated with this were a lack of technology and access to the internet in the rural areas and, even if there was internet available, the connectivity was poor or parents were unable to operate laptops or computers due to illiteracy, assuming they had access in the first place (Rajput et al, 2020). It is likely that for Pakistani children living in rural areas, the lack of technology and online instruction for more than a year will have had a significant detrimental influence on their learning.…”