Good quality teaching in our higher educational institutions is a big challenge, so the evaluation and assessment process remains subjective and unaccountable. The mode of teaching by reading notes prepared years ago with pedagogical approach discourages interactive learning, critical thinking and meaningful engagement. Students prefer to attend a select number of classes just to pass their examinations. Comprehensive steps are required to overhaul the education system to meet the challenges of COVID-19. 

 

Policy Recommendations

1. Online teaching is now the “new normal” and we have to ensure that it is homogenous, and well-developed. There should be readiness of teachers to go online with a proper course material. High level committees should be constituted to review and provide online certification for each course. A guidance and complaint committee would also be required for the purpose. 
2. Every university must have an operational, accessible, and live learning management system (LMS) with all requisite information. The students must have all the information regarding their course contents, delivery, and assessment prior to the start of their courses. The faculty must have the training and confidence to share their curriculum contents with the students without fear of losing authority and ownership of their work.
3. COVID-19 pandemic has altered the traditional teaching methods forcing academic institutions to adopt e-learning. However, because of the problems of Internet connectivity and availability, students faced serious problems in the underserved and un-served areas and they could not benefit from online learning. It is, therefore, essential that equitable and universal access to the Internet be ensured.
4. Blended technology, which is a fusion of face-to-face and online learning, has emerged as a good solution to address the needs of educational institutions. Therefore, blended learning techniques should be adopted to meet the challenges of education in such exigencies. It will not only enable the academic institutions to continue their activities, but also reduce costs, increase flexibility, and enhance students’ access to multiple sources of education. 
5. If ever there were any doubts about the criticality of high-speed broadband Internet for the nation, the horrific COVID-19 has laid such thoughts to rest. Unfortunately, the broadband Internet penetration in Pakistan is under 40 per cent (for 4G only around 25 per cent) and that too of poor quality – especially in smaller cities and towns, mainly because of constraints in the backbone/backhaul networks. Alarmingly, Pakistan ranks below all its neighbours except Afghanistan in almost every international ICT Index. Our broadband infrastructure is mostly wireless, but as globally recognized, it is the optic fibers that can provide high speed, best quality reliable medium for data transfer. But, since the required investment is too high for individual service providers, it is imperative that passive optic fiber networks should be laid in Tier 2 and 3 cities that several Service Providers may use to deliver broadband.
6. Passive optic fiber networks should be laid under public-private partnership programmes. Licensed Telecom Infrastructure Providers (TIPs) should be incentivized to lay such passive infrastructures, and rent those out to the fixed and mobile Service Providers (SPs).
7. Efforts should also be made to create demand by targeting schools and other academic institutions, healthcare facilities, public organizations, etc., to further motivate the investors, both the infrastructure providers as well as the service providers.
8. The government should promote public-private partnerships for these investments. The funding can come from annual budgets and/or from organizations like the World Bank, which are making funds available under the pandemic programmes.
9. The Federal Government should, through intelligence gathering and multi stakeholder analysis, advise large public enterprises on data management solutions (mobile and GIS integration) based on better practices from other jurisdictions. For critical services, the government should provide wage subsidies, tax exemptions and grace periods on payments to ensure continuity of cash flow and service delivery.
10. The provincial governments should leverage digital, ICT and GIS technologies and applications where possible. The urban unit in Punjab has shown promise in this regard. As such, the provinces should extend data analysis, planning and budgetary support directly to municipal service providers, bypassing bureaucratic inertia and inefficient processes. The focus must be on supporting the delivery of services to people through sustainable innovations and integration-ready off the shelf platforms.
11. Municipal departments must be enabled to transform citizens’ experiences with service delivery by supporting remote access and safe support for frontline workers. Work with non-state actors should also be encouraged to secure and take advantage of an innovative environment while ensuring uninterrupted services during exigencies like COVID-19.
12. A national digital transformation plan with the following essential elements should be prepared and implemented:

• Coronavirus has greatly impacted the digital divide, occurring due to inequality in access to digital technologies. The importance of easier access has increased multiple times during COVID-19 as work environment has changed from physical presence to online. It is essential that access to technology be ensured by bridging digital divide across different segments. This would need up gradation of IT infrastructure in the country. 
• The plan should pay due attention to the domestic manufacturing of ICT equipment and that environment-friendly arrangements should be made for the disposal of electronic junk and dead batteries because of their high rate of obsolesce.
• ICT is considered to be a growth variable. COVID-19 has demonstrated the critical importance of telecom, which plays a critical role in keeping all segments connected and running. Major victims are micro, small and medium sized businesses. Therefore, the benefits of availability of telecom services must be ensured to all segments of business. 
• COVID-19 has created the largest disruption of education system on the one hand, and on the other, has stimulated innovation within the education sector. Distance learning system has been developed, but there is a need to extend the reach of ICT to remote access coupled with better training of teaching professionals.
• The future role of ICTs will be even more crucial. To face the future challenges, the country will need well-trained IT professionals. An effective training and development programme must be developed and implemented. To stop brain drain, incentivization