Niversities Must Be Sensitive To Plight Of Poor Students

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ADUN SPEAKS | The responses to the video clip showing the lecturer scolding her student for not using a laptop in an online course went viral.
There were mixed responses to this incident.
Some criticised the lecturer for being high handed and not sympathetic to the student who could not afford a laptop.
However, others felt that the teacher was not wrong in berating the student for not bringing an essential item to the online learning process.
The lecturer assumed that if the student could afford a smartphone, certainly he could have afforded a laptop.
There might be a price difference, and maybe the smartphone was cheaper than the laptop.
I am not sure.
While the lecturer has the right to advise students on what was essential for the online learning class, she might have gone slightly overboard in scolding the student without understanding why the student did not possess a laptop.
Maybe he could not afford it. Courses in universities, especially the technical ones, require laptops with certain specifications not normally needed for students in secondary schools.
The standard laptops used by students are quite expensive. Many students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds require financial assistance.
It is the question of affordability.
In fact, every year, my office in Penang gives out laptops to students from poor families going to universities, especially those needing laptops with particular specifications.
It is a serious problem for students enrolled in science programmes in colleges and universities.
This is why the administration of universities and lecturers need to be sensitive to the financial needs of students from poor families.
In fact, students requesting laptops have often informed me that without the laptops, they had to use their smartphones.
The student who was scolded by the lecturer was doing what other students were doing in similar circumstances of financial squeeze.
It is not that the student who was scolded was not able to use a laptop, but he could not afford it.
The lecturer who was hard on him looked at the immediate situation to respond irrationally.
If only she had asked the student why he was not using the laptop, she could have gotten to the bottom of the problem.
Covid-19 hard on poor families
The Covid-19 pandemic had been hard on many sections of society.
Students in schools and universities had no choice but to learn through online courses by the use of laptops and other devices.
The pandemic was devastating to employment, and many lost their jobs, causing financial difficulties for their families and children.
Children whose parents were out of employment had to obtain financial support not only to support their families but to ensure education for their children continued uninterrupted.
The UiTM lecturer wanted to do her job well, but she became irritated by the fact that the student was not using the laptop but instead a smartphone.
The question is that if the student could use a smartphone, certainly he could have bought a laptop was the argument of the lecturer concerned.
It was easy to blurt out such a statement without the facts.
Buying a smartphone is not the same as buying a laptop.
The administration of universities in general and lecturers, particularly, must be sensitive to the plight of students from economically disadvantaged families.
The pandemic has been particularly hard on poor families.
Lecturers, instead of berating students for not bringing in laptops, need to be more sensitive to ascertaining the financial situation of students.
The role of universities is to mould the character of students but certainly not to scold and belittle them on petty matters. - Mkini
P RAMASAMY is Perai assemblyperson and Penang deputy chief minister II.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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