As the primary and secondary schools are still closed for in person classes in Bangladesh due to pandemic, Bytesforall Bangladesh (https://www.bytesforall.org) together with Bangladesh Open Source Network (BDOSN – https://www.bdosn.org/) organized a Zoom based online round-table (see the video of the meeting) on the efficacy, challenges and preparedness of remote online education in the country on Saturday, December 26, 2020. The meeting was attended by education experts in civil society, representatives from exam and text book boards in the Government, service providing organizations, educationalists, renowned economists etc. and discussed a whole spectrum of school closure and online education issues from different perspectives.
The timing of the event was important not only because all primary and secondary schools are now closed due to pandemic but also because Bangladesh is working to develop a new and updated education policy where blended education and remote e-learning are going to be new normal. Therefore, the objectives of the meeting was to document the experiences of online learning (during this pandemic) from various perspectives, to understand its socio-economic impact and to discuss how this experience can help shape the blended education format for Bangladesh.
At the onset of the meeting, Munir Hasan of Bytesforall Bangladesh/BDOSN welcomed everyone and explained the format of the meeting. He also shared some of his experiences of math classes through Prothom Alo and later consultations on popularizing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in the country. Partha Sarker of Bytesforall Bangladesh described the objectives of the meeting and set up the context by giving a bit of data/statistics on digital divide and connectivity issues in Bangladesh that are prerequisites to online learning. Fayaz Ahmed of Bytesforall Bangladesh and D-net compiled the conversation.
- Close to 36 million students (including 17 million in primary education) do not go for in person classes now (Uddin, Financial Express, 2020, para.1). They are having classes via Facebook live, Zoom, Ministry of Education websites. Bangladesh government also using its ‘Parliament TV’ to air recorded classes for the students only to watch but not to interact.
- As per BTRC data 2020, Bangladesh has more than 108 million Internet users (BTRC, 2020). More than 90% of Internet users are mobile Internet subscribers (BTRC, 2020).
- A 2019 survey from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) suggests that only 37.6 percent of households in the country have access to the Internet (Uddin, 2020, para.8).
- It was also found that only 5.6 per cent of households have a computer (Uddin, 2020, para.8).
- 40.54 per cent, or 6.35 crore, use 3G internet service, Only 7.43 per cent of the country’s mobile phone subscribers are using the fourth generation (4G) mobile phone service, 6.58 per cent of the mobile phone subscribers use internet through 2G service (Murtuza, New Age, 2019).
- In almost 104 most poverty prone areas in Bangladesh, the government with assistance from World Food Programme (WFP) used to run different school feeding programme to reach nearly 3.0 million children (Uddin, 2020, para.8). Schools are also used as flood or cyclone shelters in many places.
- Even before the pandemic set in, Bangladesh was struggling with a high dropout rate across education levels. According to BANBIES data, the dropout rate is highest in secondary education (37.6 percent). Corresponding figures for primary and upper secondary levels are 34.8 percent and 19.6 percent, respectively. Analysts opine that the dropout rates are likely to spike due to the pandemic. In fact, experiences from the Ebola crisis indicate that when schools reopened after the outbreak, girls were 16 percent less likely to be in school.
Transformation in Teaching Approach: Salsabil Karim Chowdhury, English Teacher, Noapara Degree College – The journey began immediately after the closure of schools announced by the government in mid-March 2020. Teachers had to adapt their methods as per the transformed environment. They had to learn by doing by themselves in many cases. Basic requirements like ‘eye contact’ or ‘respond to students’ queries’ could not be fulfilled initially. As time went, for better participation of the students, teachers adopted ‘question-based sessions’ avoiding ‘lecture only’. This made the students more engaged and interested. The ministry in collaboration with the a2i programme initiated the process of virtual schooling with selected teachers. Gradually, teachers like Ms Chowdhury became a teacher for students around the country beyond her institution. Teachers around the country faced challenges like the irregular supply of electricity, interrupted internet et al.
Transition in Teaching Method: Kabir Hossain, Associate Professor, Teachers Training College, Attached Officer, a2i – Tools/ platforms like Zoom, MS Team, and Google Classroom etc. were tested and introduced to the teachers. New concepts like Divisional School (from District School) emerged bringing the classes at the online platforms. This way good teachers were made available for every student wherever she is based in. Internet connectivity remained (and still is) a challenge. As this was something new, many teachers were not clear about the instructions/ guidance provided by the ministry. Still, this process could not manage to respond to the mental/ emotional issues, as comes up during the teaching process.
Access to (Financing) Virtual Classroom: Dr. Zahid Hossain, Engineer, Chair, Vangura Jarina Rahim High School, Pabna– Internet connectivity at the upazilla level is not good. Purchasing internet data packages is another challenge for many parents. Only 10% of the student could avail that and they joined the classes regularly. The student felt uncomfortable with long hours in front of the device, also it is not possible to attend classes in a sound environment being at home. Teachers learnt slowly how to make teaching effective. Teachers at colleges at upazilla level were less interested in using this method being occupied in other personal engagements. Overall readiness of everyone progressively increased. One of the key point to remember is to make sure that using platforms like TV/ Cable TV may establish the learning process one way.
Real Assessment of Learning: Prof. Robiul Karim Chowdhury, Resource Person, Dhaka Exam Board – At present, we conduct an assessment based on the curriculum where the opposite is required as practised in developed countries. This makes most of the content assessment focused. Students and parents are more worried about what will be ‘questions’ that a student has to answer in examinations. The need of the time is to come out of long hours of public examinations. We should focus on developing a process where the ‘continuous assessment’ of a student will be conducted, and that will end adding up her performance over the year.
Curriculum and Teachers Training: Prof. Dr. AKM Reazul Hassan, Member (Primary Curriculum), National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) – the NCTB is working with the new curriculum coming up in 2022. After the recent experience, ‘online learning’ may now be included in the upcoming curriculum. We must turn towards curriculum-based assessment as proposed. We also should come out from the GPA/ grading focused education system. We had developed a mobile application focusing online education and that recently has been acknowledged by the ministry. This application is based on classroom tools (both off and online), and using this we could conduct formative assessment up to Class 8. This could also be the resource of big data for future reference and research. We need to appreciate the Open Education Resource approach where curriculum would be developed incrementally. But for all of these, there should be effective coordination among relevant ministries. We need to have a policy guideline on Distance Learning.
Global Practice/ Experience: Dr Faheem Hussain, Clinical Assistant Professor at School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University – Teachers’ struggle is more or less common across the globe may it be their ‘readiness’ or access to ‘hardware’. We must focus on ‘learning competency’ and not on ‘grading’. Experience of Telangana using ‘peer-mentoring’ method could be useful for us. Solutions that we introduce should be ‘low-tech’ considering the socio-economic condition of the large group of students. Like many developing countries we may consider using Community Radio stations. Our solution needs to be ‘ours’ not prescribed by any ‘others’. We must not neglect the side effect/ byproduct of the online presence of our children. For example, over the COVID-19 pandemic period GBV and cyberbullying increased. Our students are not aware of how to handle these issues. We should initiate a process where the students themselves could become a part of the discussion determining solutions.
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) research findings: Dr Zulkarin Jahangir– BIGD conducted a research study involving 5000 students from urban slum and rural areas. Research findings showing that the learning time of students, in general, declined up to 80% during the pandemic. Students from low-income groups are engaged more in household/ livelihood-related works. Issues related to well-being or mental health coming to surface predominantly. Students suggested that they are using TV more than being online (only 1%). Access to devices and internet is minimum among all economic groups. There is a clear increase in drop-outs than last year.
Rethinking Connectivity: Moin U Ahmed, joint Secretary, ISP Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) – The ISPAB managed the initial challenges gradually, and the situation is far better now. One of the main reason of high cost is the route through which internet connectivity is provided to subscribers. For example, for a Zoom-based class, one has to go around the other part of the world to get connected with it and attend a session. We could think of local alternatives.
Proper Prioritization: Dr Ananya Raihan, CEO, iSocial – We need to keep in mind the bigger picture not merely educating (online) our children but building them as a responsible citizen with human values and life skills. To attain the goals (by 2031) as set by the government we need to focus on employment or income generation. Students should grow with a balanced-blended learning process. Like teachers, we also should give importance to the preparedness of parents. Our priorities should be to ensure that the learning process is continuing. And for that, the government should give adequate resource allocation to supply devices and ensuring internet access, subsidized, if and as required.
Alternative Practices: Dr. Omer Shehab, Quantum Scientist, Education Specialist – We could think of a ‘hybrid’ method using a cable TV channel and phone-calls/ SMS as it is used during the time of any natural disaster. We have the know-how, in-country and among NRBs, only that needs to be properly coordinated. The Sri Lanka model of using radio-TV-phone could also be explored.
BRAC Education Experience: Safi Rahman Khan/BEP/BRAC, Advisor, BRAC Education Program – BRAC proceeded with both Feature Phone-based Schooling and Community Radio-based Schooling as not many of the BRAC schools’ student’ has access to TV and internet. Besides the teachers planned for home-visits periodically. We have noticed that in this situation it was more important to address the challenges creating barriers for the well-being of the children than their learning. BRAC also initiated Feature Phone-based (both calls and SMS) training.
Heterogeneous Solution: Dr Sajjad Zohir, Executive Director, Economic Research Group – We should not forget that considering our diverse education system, one solution (homogeneous) will never fit for all. We need to learn from the actions taken by both government and non-government entities. For example, the assignment-based assessment conducted by the ministry could be one to understand whether it worked or not. The learning that derived from these initiatives should be the basis of our future course.
Appropriate Technology: Dr. Omar Shehab, Quantum Scientist, Education Specialist – Our solutions should be based on our realities and socio-economic condition. For example, the interest of focusing on STEM education, as it is now in Bangladesh, is already getting lost in the first world countries. They have started giving importance to topics like ethics, sociology, psychology et al. We should not aim to cater to the needs of the west and supply programmers/ developers to them only. We need to keep our senses open to learning from other countries, then plan and prepare for the upcoming years for Bangladesh.
Government’s Actions: Afzal Hossain Sarwar, Head – Future of Learning, a2i – The government took four steps; a. TV-based classes; b. online platforms-based classes; c. radio-based classes; and d. mobile phone-based classes. Citizens are now more ready than earlier to take services online. This would be the appropriate basis to introduce and nurture a ‘blended’ process as we discussed so far. The Education Policy and relevant laws should include this also addressing the needs for change in the curriculum, capacity building, and infrastructure. He also talked about some of the earlier a2i initiatives such as, Teacher’s Portal, Muktopaath, Multimedia Classroom etc. that worked as preparatory infrastructure for this digital e-learning processes.
The participants discussed to contribute these thoughts to the formulation of upcoming new education policy where e-Learning would be integrated and a blended education format is being considered. Both Bytesforall Bangladesh and Bangladesh Open Source Network (BDOSN) are thinking for more focused and issue based discussions in the coming days.