KUCHING: Online teaching and learning, a method recommended for use throughout the movement control order (MCO) is easy to implement in some places.
For students and teachers living in towns and cities with fast Internet access, this is a viable process, but not for teachers and students in rural and remote areas with limited or no Internet access at all.
Online method is not only limited by slow or no Internet access but teachers are also facing difficulty getting their students to adapt to the new approach.
These are some of the challenges that some teachers have to go through during the MCO to be in contact with their students.
All is done for the sake of their students’ education.
Mingkul Danmu, a teacher at a remote school, SK Labang Sebauh in Bintulu, is an example.
Mingkul stayed back in his school throughout the MCO just to make sure he could get in touch with his pupils and supply them with the learning materials online and hand delivered.
He said the easiest medium used was WhatsApp but complained that it was slow and most of the time there was no Internet connectivity in the area.
Thus, he had to deliver them direct to his pupil’s home.
According to Mingkul, if there was high speed Internet connectivity then it would be easy for teachers to conduct the programmes, including Google classroom.
“But with the situation like now due to slow connectivity only some of the learning programmes could be conducted online,” he explained.
He said the most they could do was to send exercises through WhatApp for students to do, but that also depended on the availability of Internet connectivity.
For pupils in longhouses, Mungkil took his own initiative to deliver the learning materials already prepared by their subject teachers personally to them at their villages.
The shortcomings faced by teachers and pupils of SK Labang are also faced by other schools in the remote areas under the jurisdiction of Tatau Sebauh District Education Office.
Meanwhile, Tatau Sebauh District assistant education officer Kizie Matusop said the online teaching and learning process in the district was ongoing throughout the MCO.
“Teachers give their students homework to do at home and we also fixed what subjects on what day to teach,” said Kizie, adding that the respective schools also submitted their timetable to the District Education Office.
He said headmasters were also required to submit their reports.
