The nation has come to a standstill in the wake of the deadly Covid-19 virus. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s announcement of the extension of the movement control order (MCO) until April 14 has added further anxiety among parents, teachers and students as schools will be closed for another two weeks.

It is paramount that the government take the necessary actions to slow down the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak, but this also means that students will miss at least a month’s worth of classes. But Malaysians will not be the only ones affected as an estimated 1.25 billion students worldwide will suffer the impact of this global pandemic.

While the MCO has been extended until April 14, truth be told none of us know how long it will continue. The Covid-19 outbreak has sent the world into the midst of uncertainty, and amid it all, a crisis of learning has emerged.

With students stuck at home, the role of parents in delivering and ensuring learning has never been greater. But research shows that relying on parents as the sole provider of knowledge is not enough.

This crisis presents us with new opportunities and alternatives.

To start with, Malaysian teachers should be applauded. Even before there were any directives from the education ministry, they utilised social media platforms such as Instagram and instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram as learning platforms. They have also been sharing quizzes and online materials with one another.

But as the world embraces remote and online learning, two drawbacks have emerged.

Firstly, as much as online learning platforms are lauded as the next big thing in education, they are still in their infancy and have yet to reach their full potential. Also, to optimise online learning requires the right infrastructure and support. Without these, online learning not only becomes wasteful but highlights the second drawback: the inherent inequalities in society. Those who have the resources and capital can use online platforms to learn, but those who do not are further disadvantaged. This eventually leads to more division among “the haves and have nots”.

In the Malaysian context, are we truly able to take advantage of these technological tools? With messages circulating on social media that online learning is taking a toll on poor families who need to spend money buying internet data packages, cracks are appearing, particularly for those who do not have the necessary resources.

A child from a resourceful family is able to access the internet and learn from the comfort of an air-conditioned room, but the same cannot be said for a kid born in an Orang Asli settlement or who lives in a low-cost PPR flat.

As we look at high-tech solutions in low-resource contexts, low-tech solutions become the best and ultimately only solution. This is where the education ministry plays an essential role in delivering education to those in low-resource contexts, either by delivering learning materials to these places or by supporting education through other mediums.

Pravindharan Balakrishnan is a secondary school teacher and an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.