THE Covid-19 pandemic has brought many changes to how we live our everyday lives.
It has also pushed most, if not all, businesses to restrategise and adapt to new ways of doing things, and revealed global weaknesses in even the most robust of infrastructures.
According to LeapEd Services' executive director, Nina Adlan Disney, there are many sectors affected by the pandmic, but one sector that has been particularly hard-hit is education.
LeapEd Services is a local education services provider that drives sustainable impact to individuals and communities via education transformation.
"Following the closure of schools, measures for distance learning were quickly put in place, alongside the introduction of the different technologies, in order to reach and teach, as many students as possible, thus reshaping the way we think of and view education," she added.
Transforming learning activities
Although research shows that 87.4 percent of Malaysian households have access to the Internet, 93.1 percent of the access is actually undertaken via personal mobile devices, where data can be limited to many users.
Nina said the digital divide created by the lack of access to Internet and technology has caused online learning to be out of reach for a large number of households, and as such, home learning solutions need to be accessible through minimal engagement learning activities.
"Essentially, minimal engagement learning activities mean using 10 to 15 minutes every day to do alternative activities, outside of the academic requirements of lessons, such as picking up a new book or discussing new words they've learned," she said.
Nina said that educators can support minimal engagement through various ways. This can be done by using text messaging platforms, be it WhatsApp, Telegram, or traditional messaging platforms with parents.
"Parents too may feel overwhelmed to juggle working from home and their children's schoolwork in this new normal," she said.
To help parents in this new learning environment, LeapEd has introduced LeapEd Bright Ideas, which is designed to support schools, parents, and students via a data-lite Telegram group. The programme offers fun yet educational activities that parents can do together with their children.
This online platform (https://www.leapedservices.com/our-services/bright-ideas) shares simple and easy ideas and solutions for school leaders, teachers and parents to support the development of online and offline lessons and activities at home, in navigating effectively during these challenging times.
Teaching life skills
Nina said parents can take this opportunity to teach them about life skills, beyond studying and revision.
"Spending time online is slowly but surely becoming the new norm for students, parents and teachers alike. Hence, it is important for both parents and teachers to take proactive steps to ensure that children become aware of their online environment when on the net," said Nina.
Based on a study conducted by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission in 2018, insights shared that only a mere 12.2 percent of parents and caregivers implement the parental control service in their child's device.
"This is a reflection that parents should not just set limits on their child's Internet usage, but further educate them on the realities of the online world. Cases of online grooming, cyberbullying, among others are a great cause of concern, which may potentially lead to other negative issues during a child's developmental years," she said.
"In this digital age, education goes beyond traditional school subjects to prepare children and equip them with reliable information sources, social media awareness and best practices on a healthy digital behaviour," she added.
"It goes without saying that the Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly changed education. In facing this new normal, our urgent challenge is a call for collaboration from across Malaysia to make sure that no child gets left behind," she added.