“YOUR ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION IN VIRTUAL LEARNING WILL AFFECT YOUR ASSESSMENT”-BY MENSAH FORSTER A CONCERNED STUDENT TRAINEE.

“YOUR ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION IN VIRTUAL LEARNING WILL AFFECT YOUR ASSESSMENT” -WRITTEN BY A CONCERNED STUDENT TEACHER.

Is this fair? Let's judge for ourselves. Lecturers, PRINCOF (principals of colleges of education), fellow student teachers, media and other stakeholders. LET'S JUDGE FOR OURSELVES. We were all prepared to begin the second semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. All of a sudden, we received a message from our boss( The president) that all schools in the country (Ghana) should be shutdown temporarily. This was done in the interest of the citizens of the country to avoid rapid spread of the pandemic ( Covid 19). It was a good idea yet it came with some disadvantages/challenges which was not addressed.

Now, the idea came that there can be other alternative(s) through which some institutions can either begin or proceed their studies. That is VIRTUAL or ONLINE LEARNING. That one too, bravo. Very good idea. But it also came with challenges/disadvantages. Our leaders who brought this idea knew that there are many disadvantages that can come up with this idea but they addressed some and overlooked others they played the “devil’s advocate”.
Some of the challenges they thought of were, most students lacking electronic gadgets, poor or no network at some places where student stay among others.
But one major challenge they never talked about was THE FINANCIAL STANDING OF SOME STUDENTS WHEN AT HOME. How do most students especially trainees live their life when at home? The fact is that most trainees are taking care of themselves and even other family members when at home. Some have to work hard and gather money to pay their fees and purchase books during vacation. Some live alone with no support from anywhere when they aree at home.Even those with with their guardians face some challenges when always asking for financial support to buy necessary materials for this e-learning. We know the ordeals of some of our parents. Imagine taking money from your parent every day to buy internet bundle. Isn’t this sad? To worsen the case, no allowance(as at the time this article was written) is coming to the student-teachers at this critical period. Most jobs are collapsed, most of our young brothers and sisters are at home everyday and they eat even more than when there were in school. But we manage to partake in some part of the E learning. Just that we are unable to do some assignments.
Now, to further deepen the sore, some lecturers say ASSESSMENT will be done by participation, doing of assignment, contributions and attendance.
IS THIS FAIR?
If indeed that’s the means of assessment, then it’s not fair at all. Why? Leaving out those who lack gadget and have network problems, there are many of us who have the gadget and very good network but we also have our own problems.
There is one friend of mine who is a trainee, he lives alone and does most things by himself. He sends money to his mum in the village to support herself and his other siblings. His father is dead. I went to stay with him for some weeks during this corona period and his situation was pathetic. He leaves home around 7 am and comes back at 7pm throughout the whole week. And he isn’t the only one doing that. Most students especially trainees are going through such lifestyle. So how can they join this e learning? They will always be absent. And when assessment is done that way, what mark are they going to attain? We should remember that our lecturers who are always online are still receiving their salaries and other allowances.
Please let us talk.
Lecturers should just give us the slides and include the recordings. We can learn them by ourselves. If not that, then they shouldn’t assess us by attendance or participation and contributions because not all of us will be able to get time for it.
THANK YOU.

By Forster Mensah.

A student of E.P College of Education, Amedzofe.

Level 100 trainee teacher .