E-learning highlights educational inequality

Khmer Times: May 20th, 2020
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/724459/cambodian-teachers-deliver-lessons-to-homes-as-digital-gap-threatens-students-rights/

Khmer Times : March 31st, 2020
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50707759/e-learning-highlights-educational-inequality/

Phnom Penh Post : April 29th, 2020 (Article + Video)

https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/education-programmes-elude-two-million-students?fbclid=IwAR1qtrSXXPcTQQ_0eifZljK8SGAxuDiMXOqtRPoB9C_yCGKhOzwk4wEbPtc

These articles and video state a problem we are also facing at Saint Francois technical school: the digital divide. 

I teach Year 1 and year 2 of the tourism section and to be honest, this online teaching makes me sad and down because of the problems related in these articles. In grade 10, I have 13/22 students who manage to be present at one stage or another, that is 59%. In grade 11, it’s 20/24, that’s 83%.

Some of them can’t record their answer, some can’t watch any videos, some can’t send the photos of their note books with their answers because the internet is too slow! Some do not have any phone, tablet or computer to get in touch with us anyway.

The solution is to print some lessons and try to reach our students who could collect them at school or we could even deliver these documents to them.

But… 

There is a huge BUT…

What is teaching?

It is helping the students to open their minds in order to acquire new knowledge. If we give them paper at the doorstep, is it really teaching? I don’t think so, maybe some kind of homework… nothing more! Our goodwill is great but the results are poor or even counterproductive.

Shouldn’t we, as well, really reflect on what teaching online involves in terms of evolution of teaching?