Author: Klevis Paloka
The first to complain are the parents. Online learning due to the pandemic is not only a test for students, but it is now a real test for family heads. Many parents in larger cities have found a temporary solution. They have sent them to courses, but hundreds of others have no opportunity and have entrusted their children's education to virtual teaching.
And at this point Luigji, from Mamurrasi, talks non-stop and lists a series of problems. He has three children, lives in Mamurras and often during these months he felt not good enough to help the children to access the lesson. The 53-year-old counts the burden he passed on to him who sometimes sees himself as a teacher, for subjects he does not know.
"I can't meet the conditions with a computer or from a phone of three children. Not a computer, not even a phone", Luigi starts the conversation.
The eldest of the children attends secondary school. The other two are in 9-year school. Since December 1, 2020, when the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports decided that teaching in the pre-university system would alternate between school and online, Luigji is covered by pessimism day by day.
"Sometimes it is impossible for them to follow the online lessons as I am at work. This has affected the way they learn, as they are forced to ask their classmates about the lessons they have done. As for the assignments, they usually do them after the teachers send the requests on WhatsApp. But even the assignments happen to be sent late when I'm at work. Another problem is the internet, since having three children at school requires a lot of internet and a simple offer of 14 lek does not work and I am forced to add megabytes and a monthly offer costs me up to 30 lek per month", summarizes for ACQJ the head of the household.
But these are not problems discovered in recent months. From the announcement of the pandemic from March 2020 to June 2020, even now online learning has again shown problems in its operation. This is also shown by the report published by the World Bank, where Albania is described as one of the countries where the ratio of one computer per family is one in three.
"PISA 2018 data, although limited to secondary school students, provide an estimate of families' readiness for online education. On average, one in ten families with students in the Western Balkans does not have a computer. In Albania, this figure increases by almost a third, 28 percent. There is a big difference between owning ICT resources and using them for education”, is underlined in the report World Bank.
The Albanian Center for Quality Journalism communicated with some high school students in different cities who show how difficult it is to attend an online class. The deadlock starts with access.
Alesia is a 10th grade student at the non-public high school "Rogacioniste" in the city of Lezha, and according to her, the problems start with aspects that are directly related to the basic conditions. Interruption of electricity from time to time leads to disconnection from the network and this situation has caused anxiety and further distraction.
"Problems with the Internet, with the lights or with the technological devices that we use in some cases bring problems in learning. The malfunction of the microphone, the camera, turning off the lights mainly during the cold days that occupied the whole country are some of the most disturbing problems". clarifies minors.
Other difficulties follow with synchronizing with other family members.
"It's difficult in home conditions, as you have to manage relationships with family members, the camera and the microphone, you have to perform the right actions, at the right moments. You become an obstacle in the daily lives of family members".
What percentage does the student absorb from an online lesson? This leads to difficult communication and classroom management with many students, the 15-year-old being the third problem.
"In terms of the effectiveness of online learning, there is no comparison with the physical one as communication with each other and with the teacher is difficult", explains Alesia.
As for the EB student at the "Arif Halil Sulaj" gymnasium in Mamurras, the lack of technological equipment is the first problem she encounters to access online learning.
"I never join online classes, as I don't have a phone or a computer, the only phone we have at home with internet is my mom's as she needs it for work", the 16-year-old is special.
But most of the interviewees from ACQJ unanimously say the difficulty that each of them faces, despite the fact that one of them may have a computer, or the other may have one of the parents in the apartment. "It is very difficult, because we cannot understand the topics very well, there are some subjects that need a lot of exercises to be done to understand them", emphasizes the LU student from grade 11 at the Mamurras gymnasium.
So the president of this high school, Antigona Llozhi, puts the dots on the "I" and points her finger at the platform, then mentions the exception from the same access for students in rural areas.
"There have been a lot of problems in the malfunctioning of the academi.al platform due to the load it has when online learning takes place. In our high school, apart from the students who are from the city, a significant part of them are from the villages and sometimes it is observed that they are unable to get involved due to the weak internet. Online learning has a cost to the family economy, because many families have not had permanent access to the Internet or suitable electronic devices and have been forced to make this expense so that their children can continue to follow the same education as their peers., says the Lodge.
These difficulties also have a common denominator for the students of the high school "At Shtjefën Gjeçovi" in Laç.
Danger from illiteracy
The problem of learning has also been reported as a problem by the World Bank, which warns that with online learning, functional illiteracy risks increasing even more.
"Many students can return to functional illiteracy. All Western Balkan countries have a very high percentage (on average 53 percent) of students below elementary competence, compared to about 23 percent in OECD countries. Assuming that students who score lower will have more profound learning losses, the average number of students who are below elementary proficiency in reading could increase from the current 53 percent to 61 percent. The policy implications of this result are significant: it means that when schools reopen, more students may not reach the minimum expected level of competence for their age." highlighted in the report World Bank.
This alarm is also supported by the Independent Union of Albanian Education. In an interview for ACQJ, Nevrus Kaptelli, the president of this union, tells us the problems that are reported throughout Albania.
The first problem according to Kaptelli is the total non-functioning of the platforms where online learning takes place and the lack of internet or the necessary tools.
"The digital platform "Akademi.al" and other platforms that are being used by students in virtual classes do not work normally and are often blocked, as they cannot cope with the load. A significant part of students do not have the necessary tools and access to the Internet for online learning. A significant number of students neglect to participate in class", says Kaptelli.
Rural areas are the most vulnerable and at the same time the poor are at real risk to access virtual schooling as well as families with satisfactory economic opportunities.
"More problems in the development of online learning are presented in rural areas, where students' access to the Internet is limited. Some families have more than one child in school and do not have digital tools for each of them. A part of the teachers and many of the Albanian families who have children in school are faced with economic impossibility to meet the costs of online learning. Many families live in survival conditions, where as monthly income they only have the economic assistance they receive from the municipalities", concludes the head of the Education Union.
According to the WB, due to distance learning (online learning), the achievement gap between the poorest and richest students will also increase: "The achievement gap between the poorest and richest students, which is currently from 1,5 years of schooling in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo to over 2 years in North Macedonia, is likely to grow further, as students in circumstances of poverty are less likely to benefit from distance learning methodsë".
It's not just the platform's fault
The pandemic continues to affect all areas of life. And one of them is the teaching that is being followed with reduced hours and further at a distance. But according to Dean Çelaj, who was the person who developed the Akademi.al platform, the problems are due to the high number of users. According to Çelaj, the lack of information on the part of teachers and students leads to the recently curved confusion.
"The main problem came as a result of the influx. Our platform has about 20,000,000 hits per month and the activities you do there are heavy on the server like watching videos, live dating, sharing tasks. Teachers and students are not all trained to use the platform. A lot of things that seem like problems to them actually come from a lack of information.", Çela insists.
As for the areas that have more problems, Çelaj emphasizes that due to privacy, no information is available on this issue.
"We do not have this information because the data we receive from students and teachers is minimal to protect privacy and personal data", concludes the 23-year-old who graduated from "University College London" with a scholarship from the "Fund of Excellence" from the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth.
