Online education: Not yet a necessity in Nepal

Although online education is sought as an alternative to face-to-face teaching and learning during crises like the Covid-19 pandemic, its availability, accessibility and practicality are questionable in the context of Nepal. Education is one of the highly affected areas amid pandemic. Schools, colleges and universities remained closed immediately after the announcement of lockdown and physical classes were padlocked for about 10 months last year. When classes resumed and people were gradually returning to normal, another wave of Covid-19 with new variants of the virus attacked people and again it directly affected education following the closure of schools, colleges and universities.

So, many educationists have started to put forth online education as an alternative to physical classroom teaching in order not to collapse the academic session and continue students’ learning. Educationists advocated it as a paradigm shift in learning delivery mode. However, its possibility, applicability and practicality in the context of Nepal are yet to be studied.