“We need to forget about the way education was delivered
in the pre-COVID19 era, we can’t and must not go back to the old state” said
Sajjeed Aslam, head of ACCA Pakistan.
ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants)
hosted a series of conversations with representatives from higher education,
school system, corporate sector and education technology providers from Pakistan,
the Middle East, Europe and the U.S.
The experts largely agreed that adoption of digital
technologies for education has been a discussion for a while, the question has
always been ‘when and how’. With COVID19, circumstances have forced the
education sector in Pakistan to showcase either its readiness or a lack of it.
The conversation was divided into three focus areas: the
higher education, school systems, and the technological considerations,
allowing experts to carefully assess the sweeping effects of Covid-19 on
learners of different backgrounds and review the availability of technology to
support a contingency plan.
It was pointed out that despite the lack of preparedness,
the majority of private sector educational institutes were quick in their
response and were successful in restoring learning using online methods.
However, a lot needs to be done to provide an ideal environment to learners and
enable effective assessment of their progress.
The education leaders urged the government to ensure
availability of fast internet connectivity across Pakistan to support their
ambitions of introducing new models of blended learning that are not exclusive
to students living in large cities only.
It was also highlighted that online delivery is pointless
if institutes don’t move to online assessment. Options like online exams and
remote invigilation were also discussed. Under remote invigilation, exams are
taken online and supervised remotely by a live invigilator. There is a thorough
system of checks involving biometrics, artificial intelligence and recording –
rigour, security and integrity are paramount.
Commenting on the future trends in the education sector,
Lee Rubenstein, Executive Vice President, edX, said,
“The world is moving to stackable, modular education in
which you focus on the immediate learning needs of a learner unlike current
degree programmes in which we teach a long string of courses. The business
model of the future in education is to develop lifelong learners in which the
delivery of learning is omnichannel, making it more accessible for everyone to learn
on the go.”
Sharing the perspective and experience of higher
education institutes in Pakistan, Dr Sadia Nadeem, Dean, Fast School of
Management, National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, shared,
“We even intend to retain online learning post Covid-19
and the teachers have to embrace blended learning as a new normal. HEC’s
guidelines for faculty readiness to teach online are very useful. In online
learning, there’s also a need for a change in university-student contract as
onus of learning is more on students and they have to self-motivate themselves
to progress. Also government needs to ensure there’s access to reliable
internet in every part of the country.”
Commenting on the readiness of teachers at schools, Ali
Ahmad Khan, Chief Operating Officer, Beaconhouse School System, said,
“It’s easier to train teachers to use a certain
technology, but bigger challenge is to grasp the online pedagogy. But we
foresee that it’s a temporary challenge and we expect that in next 3 to 4
months all our teachers will be fully trained to teach online.”
Hasan Azhar, Group CEO, HRSG, shared employers’
perspective and offered exclusive insights into how the current disruption will
affect the job market in Pakistan. He said,
“In an environment in which everyone’s working from home,
employers are starting to realise that almost same amount of productivity can
be achieved by employing tech-savvy, remote workers. This will have a knock-on
effect on our education models to prepare students for a more digital future.
In a long term, employers will be more receptive of the talent coming from
hybrid learning systems if not 100% online.”
Commenting on ACCA’s response to Covid-19, ACCA’s country
head, Sajjeed Aslam said,
“Our core value has always been to open access to quality
education to people of all backgrounds in all circumstances, over the years,
we’ve been spending considerably to ensure flexible delivery of our
qualifications. So it was more of hitting the ground running for us when it
came to teaching online during current pandemic. However, the disruption in
exams has made us to look at solutions such as exams at home with remote
proctoring. As a forward-thinking organisation, we are blazing the trail here
and intend to pilot remote exam-taking in certain countries as early as June
this year.”
The panellists who shared their professional insights
included Ali Ahmad Khan, Chief Operating Officer, Beaconhouse School System, Reza
Ali, Director of Professional Education, ACCA, Dr Sadia Nadeem, Dean, Fast
School of Management, National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Hasan
Azhar, Group CEO, HRSG, Fazeela Gopalani, Head of Middle East, ACCA, Attiya
Noon, School Improvement Partner, The City School, Sarah Concoran, Director of
e-Assessment Transform & e-Delivery, ACCA, Lee Rubenstein, Executive Vice
President, edX , Dr Farrah Arif, Founder & CEO, EDTechWorx, and Almas Abbas
Ali, Head of Education – South, ACCA.
Given the timely nature of these discussions and growing
interest among educationists, parents and students, these online sessions
garnered massive viewership and participation. Over 50,000 people viewed these
live sessions on Facebook and over 700 questions were asked in the comments.
ACCA believes that this pandemic has also given us an
opportunity to come together and rethink and redefine the future of education.
Its standing as a global super connector uniquely positions it to take the lead
on such issues of public good and bring together important stakeholders. Using
its power of connections and rich professional insights, they intend to
continue engaging conversation leaders to facilitate future thinking and
recommend forward-thinking solutions.
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