The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has halted several universities’ online classes after receiving complaints about the poor quality and mismanagement from the students.
On Wednesday, HEC said it moved on multiple complaints from the students regarding the low-quality content, delivery, and connectivity on various subjects.
The commission will now directly intervene, as announced by the chairman Dr. Tariq Banuri.
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He has sought detailed information on these courses to determine if the subjects/courses meet preset standards. If any university is found lacking the capacity of delivering online lectures, it will be directed to stop offering such courses/lectures.
Dr. Tariq said that HEC is closely monitoring the developments amid the COVID-19 pandemic and is collaborating with universities’ leadership to provide support where needed to minimize the academic disruption.
Contingency plans are in place. If the current lockdown situation prevails beyond May 31, all universities will be directed to resort to online education.
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The May 31 deadline is for universities that need time to establish an online learning management system. The institutions with digitally advanced systems are already allowed to conduct online classes, he added.
It should be noted that HEC has been cooperating with universities to minimize the impact of the coronavirus lockdown on academic activities. It has established three specialized IT committees to help varsities arrange software and tech support to curate substantive online content.
Moreover, all public sector universities have been given free access to Microsoft Teams to facilitate online meetings and discussions. Microsoft officials will help them understand and operate this platform.
