FARUKH SHEHZAD

ISLAMABAD, MAY 20: Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar on Wednesday said the new policy would focus on growth and development of the automotive industry together with affordability, quality, availability and indigenisation.

In consultative sessions with auto sector stakeholders to discuss the Auto Industry Development & Export Plan (AIDEP) 2021-26, the minister said that the government would like to see an increased footprint of electric vehicles to improve the environment and to reduce oil import bill.

The representatives of Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (Pama) and Pakistan Association of Auto Parts & Accessories Manufacturers (Paapam) held separate meetings with the minister. Commerce Adviser Razak Dawood was also present.

The minister suggested to both associations to table suggestions to reduce the prices of small cars to bring the cost within the affordability of lower middle class of the country.

Pama and Paapam lauded government efforts to formulate the policy as universally accepted by key players.

The bodies also commended the current government for support amid the Covid-19 pandemic through the salary loans, investment loans and slashing down of interest rates to protect the industry.

It was decided to hold the consultative sessions till finalisation of AIDEP draft.

Support for hybrid cars sought

Meanwhile, in another de­­v­elopment the local industry has sought the government’s support and a policy for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). According to the industry, HEVs are a better option for consumers than the electric vehicles (EVs).

The incumbent government has already approved and notified the first-ever EV Policy of the country to facilitate the new transformation in the auto industry.

The policy is aimed at a complete replacement of a conventional internal combustion engine with a battery-backed system.

“Up to three per cent EV Battery degradation every year results in more charging cycles. This means there will be more CO2 and less mileage in addition to huge loss of economic value,” said SM Ishtiaq, CEO SM Engineering.

Talking to media on Wednesday, he said that 30,000 EVs were estimated to consume 1pc of Pakistan’s generation capacity. “One unit of electricity is being sold at Rs50 so Rs2,000 will be required to charge 40 kWh battery to get the mileage of less than 180km. This translates into the cost of Rs11 per km to the consumer,” he said.

“On the other hand, the HEV’s cost is Rs5 per kilometre and internal combustion engine (ICE) cost is around Rs9.3 per km, which is way much efficient for the consumer in comparison with EVs so a sane choice will be either HEV or ICE,” he added.

“The government and policy makers should seriously consider other alternatives to BEVs while formulating or implementing policies in this regard because hybrid remains the most feasible technology as it offers best of both worlds,” said Mr Ishtiaq.

He added that the hybrid vehicles as better option as compared to the EVs as the latter would huge outflow of dollar in case of the estimated import of 20,000 units per year.

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 19: AAA Associates, A Leading Group of Companies, and JDC Foundation (Jafaria Disaster Management Cell) jointly launched First Free Mobile Restaurant to provide 3-time meal services to the needy and indigent population of Islamabad.

AAA Associates has been partnered to fund the noble cause of JDC free food program initiative by successfully setting up the world’s largest Free Mobile Restaurant outside PIMS Hospital in the Capital City. After the successful launch of Free Mobile restaurant in Karachi, JDC Collaborated with AAA Associates to extend its Free food program initiative to other cities by carrying out similar activity for underprivileged population of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The multi-wheeler food-loaded vehicle will be utilized to make good quality and hygienically cooked food reachable to everyone throughout the whole year. It can provide 3 times meals for 15,000 people on daily basis.The visitors will be served with variety of Food and beverages prepared by a team of Professional Chefs to serve the deprived community in the most dignified manner. The facility not only serves the visitors with variety of dishes but also allow them to take food for their families at home.

The Launching ceremony of First Free Mobile restaurant in Islamabad has been graced by Mr. Noor-ul-Haq Qadri Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony &  Mr. Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari. They have praised the initiative of AAA Associates & JDC for arranging the ‘free mobile restaurant’ as it compliments Government’s vision of Hunger free Pakistan. The Initiative resonate with Prime Minister Imran Khan vision to eradicate Hunger by providing free food and shelter to deprived section of our society.

During the tour of the free mobile restaurant in Islamabad, JDC chairperson Syed Zafar Abbas Jafri showed his gratitude for this partnership with AAA Associates to become part of this great cause and promise to continue his struggle to support oppressed communities of the society in whatever way he can.

Speaking on the occasion, AAA Associates’ Managing Director Lt. Col Shahzad Ali Kiani (Retd) stated that “We feel honoured to be part of such a noble cause that provides us with an opportunity to serve humanity. AAA Associates has been in forefront of reaching out to deprived communities in time of need. As we have grown to a leading group of companies of Pakistan, we take it as our responsibility to bring prosperity within our community especially those who have been neglected over  time. We’ll continue our support to bring an end to hunger in Pakistan”

AAA Chairman Mr. Shiekh Fawad Bashir also shares his views “ AAA Associates was created with an aim to revolutionize the industry by creating such business units that are profitable and at the same time socially responsible towards their community.

We intend to create a culture in which a business community is equally sensitive towards well-being of their surroundings and not limited in profit making practices. I’m glad we are heading towards the right direction and this collaboration with JDC will be a step towards our ambition of socially responsible Business community of Pakistan”

Earlier, AAA associates with collaboration of RCCI had arranged Daily Iftar for 500 people throughout the Month of Ramazan to feed the indigent population of the twin cities with dignity and respect.

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PIDE Webinar with Nobel Laureate Prof. A. Michael Spence on the topic of Global Economy in the Post-Pandemic Recovery Period

ISLAMABAD, MAY 19: Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Islamabad hosted a successful webinar yet again with a Nobel Laureate for the 4th time. Prof. A. Michael Spence, a Nobel Laureate was the Keynote speaker, at the webinar titled ‘The Global Economy in the Post-Pandemic Recovery Period’ held on 19th May,2021.

Prof. A. Michael Spence was the keynote speaker at the session, where more than hundred people joined and participated. The session was moderated by Dr. Nadeem ul Haque, Vice Chancellor, PIDE.

Professor. A. Michael Spence, had an optimistic view of how Pakistan has handled its crisis contrary to its neighbors. He discussed the post pandemic recovery patterns, vaccine manufacturing on global level and post pandemic recovery of global economy.

While talking about the challenges that the world has to face right now, he also mentioned the hidden opportunities this post pandemic recovery will bring. Professor. A. Michael Spence, predicted that complete global recovery can be expected around 2022 provided the vaccine production and manufacturing increases. He also sees potential for global explosion of entrepreneurial activities.

He expressed that the digital domination during this pandemic has opened new horizons for countries like Pakistan, where people can turn their business global without having to move from one country to another.

Professor. A. Michael Spence mentioned that the high growth sectors post pandemic will be digital transformation, biomedical science and technology, healthcare and energy transformation, while an evident surge in E-commerce will be witnessed globally.

In closing remarks, Professor. A. Michael Spence gave an optimistic view of how Pakistan will emerge as a strong economy post this pandemic referring to its ongoing recovery pattern.

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LAHORE, MAY 19: The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has posted the final results of the 6th Population and Housing Census 2017 on its website, according to which the country’s total population stands at 207.68 million, with an annual growth rate of 2.4 per cent.

The population includes 106.018m males, 101.344m females and 321,744 transgender persons.

“The Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Dec 16, 2016 decided to conduct the census in two phases with the support of the armed forces. The PBS demarcated the whole country into small compact areas called census clocks comprising 200 to 250 houses on an average, with a total number of over 1.68 million blocks with well-defined boundaries and maps.

The entire delimitation process was carried out with the close coordination of provincial governments, local governments, revenue department and district administrations,” the bureau states on its website.

Count includes 106m males, 101m females, 321,744 transgender persons

After a three-year delay, the federal cabinet had approved the 2017 census in December last year in a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan — with a dissenting note submitted by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, one of the federal government’s allies.

Since Sindh had opposed the exercise, it also rejected the release of the final results that were approved by the CCI last month.

Taking into account the objections raised by Sindh and other stakeholders, the government also decided to hold the next census in October by using the latest technology to avoid chances of any mistakes/errors, as reported in the previous exercise. It also committed to releasing the results of the new census by 2023.

According to the final results of the 2017 census, the country’s annual growth dropped to 2.4pc from 3.06pc and 2.69pc, as recorded in the 1981 and 1998 censuses, respectively. The total population in 1981, 1998 and 2017 was recorded at 84.25m, 132.35m and 207.68m, respectively.

The total count in the 2017 exercise included 132.013m rural and 75.670m urban population.

The population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which was 11.06m and 17.74m as per the 1981 and 1998 census results, jumped to 30.51m in 2017. The number of people in the erstwhile Fata, which was recorded at 2.20m and 3.18m in 1981 and 1998, increased to 4.99m.

Punjab, being the largest province in terms of population, stood at 109.99m people that earlier recorded 47.29m and 73.62m people in the 1981 and 1998 exercises, respectively. Sindh, which recorded a population of 19.3m and 30.44m in 1981 and 1998, jumped to 47.85m people in the 2017 census.

However, Balochistan’s population almost tripled to 12.34m that was 4.33m in 1981 and 6.57m in 1998. Similarly, the population of Islamabad Capital Territory increased six-fold — from 0.34m in 1981 and 0.81m in 1998 — to 2m.

On the basis of religions, the total population count includes 96.47pc Muslims, followed by 1.27pc Christians, 1.73pc Hindus, 0.09pc Ahmadis, 0.41pc scheduled caste and 0.02pc others.

The census results also state that 7.08pc of the people mentioned Urdu as their mother language, 38.78pc Punjabi, 14.57pc Sindhi, 18.24pc Pashto, 3.02pc Balochi, 0.17pc Kashmiri, 12.19pc Seraiki, 2.44pc Hindko, 1.24pc Brahvi and 2.26pc others.

“With a -0.043pc difference with the provisional results, the country’s population, as per final results of census 2017, is 207.68m with a population growth rate of 2.40pc from 1998 to 2017 with 106.3m males and 101.3m females,” the PBS website stated.

It said the 2017 census was conducted in two phases, with each being 30-day long. Phase-I began on March 15 and concluded on April 14, 2017 in which 61 administrative districts comprising 79,773 blocks were enumerated. Phase-II started 10 days later and lasted from April 25 to May 24, 2017, covering 89 administrative districts comprising 89,170 blocks.

The statistics bureau’s brief report on the 2017 census posted on its website reads that a “de jure approach (usual place for residence)” had been used for data collection, as per the practice adopted in the past censuses. In order to lend credibility to the operation, the pattern of 1998 census was adopted, with a soldier accompanying each enumerator. One team was assigned two blocks in the same area, it adds.

The report further states that 108,000 civilian field and monitoring staff had been deputed by the provincial governments and the armed forces provided 200,000 personnel for census duty, of which 44,000 were deployed with civilian enumerators. The remaining personnel were used for security, command structure and logistic support duties.

“For a successful conduct of the census, improvement in census processes and involvement of stakeholders, the government of Pakistan constituted a sub-committee of the Governing Council of PBS consisting of renowned demographers and experts on Jan 31, 2017 with terms of reference to oversee the whole census process from trainings, data collection, processing and finalisation of results,” the report mentions.

COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 18: An online speech competition was organized by the Confucius Institute of Islamabad, Pakistan to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China-Pakistan diplomatic relations.

China and Pakistan have enjoyed a long lasting era of peace and tranquility. Thereby, Confucius Institute Islamabad deems crucial to future strengthen the people to people relation between China and Pakistan.

8 students participated in today’s final competition, the students delivered outstanding performance which was an assurance of the understanding in regards to the historical and cultural mutuality between both countries. Bushra Nizar, a student of Department of Area Studies (China), NUML, won the championship of the final competition. 

Moreover, the speech competition was attended by the students and faculty members of Confucius Institute Islamabad and honorable guests including the Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong, Cultural Counselor Zhang Heqing, Major General Jafar , President of the National University of Modern Languages, and guests from NUST, COMSATS, and Sargodha University.

In their remarks, the major guests appreciated the long history of friendship between Pakistan and China, and the role of Confucius Institutes in improving it further.

They believe that with the joint efforts of the outstanding youths of the two countries, China-Pakistan relations will usher in a more prosperous and beautiful tomorrow.

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Munaza Kazmi

Throughout the human history, nothing had killed people in masses than the infectious diseases. Justinian in 6th century has perhaps killed half of the global population of the time, Black Death in 14th centaury have horrified the world by killing 200 million, 100 million died in 1918 with Spanish Flu: a figure lot more than the casualties of World War II, then 300 million expired resulting small pox and then the cruelest event of last year 2019 “Bush Fire” Australia, which not even taken 800 human lives but the loss of 1.25 billion innocent little creatures and now in year 2020 we are under another horrific event.

So, we can say our planet had gone through a number of pandemics since its creation or to the known human history, although none of them was akin to the recent one namely COVID-19 or Coronavirus. It can be presumed that, the reason of its being dangerous the most and distress and alarm in populace is its unpredictable nature and the slow unbearable death. Along with its severe implications on the global economy, routine business and unpredictable nature and on top with no medicine, no solution to undergo at least till yet.

The product of this pandemic is so overruling that it had made the de facto authorities of even the most powerful countries and regions handicapped. All of a sudden, the entire world had moved to a halt, with no proper means of cure, nothing but restrictions on global and domestic travel, rulings of social distancing and prolonged quarantine, which had devasted every business of life, what to say of mere economy or any other entity.

Resulting this unforeseen and unpredictable hurricane of Corona virus, the world had entered in a strange mystery, in every nook and corner we see shutdown and verdicts of distancing, even from our dear ones, every business is under lockdown but the most vulnerable is the tourism and hospitality. Following the pandemic measures, the industry of tourism and hospitality seemingly entering into tornado of huge crises. Consequently, Pakistan’s tourism and hospitality industry is at great risk, as people are unable to visit Pakistan following the fear of disease and viral measures. The world had come to a strange standstill, in a short period of time there came a sudden shift from over tourism to no tourist.

The industry of tourism and hospitality had entered into tornado of huge crises due to the devasting effects of the pandemic of Coronavirus. In the hindsight the industry of tourism and hospitality is at a great risk as people around world are unable to travel shadowing the viral measures and the risk of spread.

Airlines, roadways, cruise had been temporarily stopped their operations, the hotels and resorts had paused their services for the time being following the government orders in order to stop the spread of virus, which had caused a serious hit to the economy of Pakistan and also it is a big setback to the pains and labors in the way of reviving the industry of tourism and hospitality to the current regime of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Industry of tourism and hospitality of Pakistan is an emergent market and from last few years, Pakistan had pinned her hopes on the upcoming arrival of international tourist and was preparing for a healthy and warm welcome, since Pakistan once known in world by terrorism only had shed the old leaves and was budding with new, as it had earned a lot goodwill among the world and favorably good reviews and support from international media, the year of 2019 was proved lucky for the prospects of tourism.

The tales of love and hospitality were ringing in the ears of the people around the world, moreover Pakistan went famous for its hospitality where on social media we can find a number of stories one of them namely “Trevor James” from “Food Ranger” have shocked the world’s hospitality by making the famous line “Everything is Free in Pakistan! I Never Paid Once! (I tried!). Similarly, the government had done a lot for enhancing the tourism and in making the tourist arrival comfortable and easy; relax visa policies, visa on arrival, improved security and improvement in tourism infrastructure, even thou Islamabad the federal capital of Pakistan had featured as “among world safest capital” in World Crime Index report, furthermore many of the giant hotels of the world had signed agreement with Pakistan and some have been started their construction also in mega cities and metropolis.

Next to say the fruits of efforts were started to appear as all the hotels, resorts and flights were booked for the upcoming spring and then what came upon the world was never even thought in the wildest of our dreams; the pandemic of Coronavirus.

However, last year some recovery had observed, but due to our negligence again the number of registered cases started to increase with increase in death rate. This forced the government to halt the industry once again, which is not only affecting on the macro level but on the micro level as well, since a lot of family’s bread and butter is dependent on the income from hotels and tourism.

Moreover, Pakistan as a developing country whose economy is highly dependent on agriculture, manufacturing and service industries, it can be realized how shutdown measures, prolonged quarantine and disruptions in transportation and supply topple with travel restrictions had impacted the industry overall scenario and to the economy of Pakistan. a further increase in the miseries.

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Munaza Kazmi has recently done Master of Philosophy from Bahria University Islamabad. Her debut novel is Unrequited Love.

She’s an author, columnist writing in different newspapers and a researcher having seven publications till yet, she’s been writing since 2016.

You can connect to Kazmi at twitter @munaza_kazmi or on research gate as munaza kazmi.

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BAKU, MAY 2021: In the evening of May 17, 2021, National Security Adviser to the President of the United States Jake Sullivan made a telephone call to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, informs the press-service of the Azerbaijani head of state.

During the telephone conversation, the parties expressed satisfaction with bilateral relations. They noted the importance of these relations for both countries, as well as for ensuring peace and security in the region.

Jake Sullivan expressed his concerns over the recent tension on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and stressed the importance of peaceful resolution of such disagreements. He also underscored the need for constructive discussions between the sides for the demarcation of the international border. Jake Sullivan conveyed the United States' commitment to achieving reconciliation in the region.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stated that we are committed to ensuring peace and stability in the region. The President positively evaluated the post-conflict situation in the region. The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan noted that the situation in the region, including the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, has been stable for six months since the end of the conflict.

President Ilham Aliyev agreed with the US President's National Security Adviser on the need for commencing talks on the delimitation of the international border between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and emphasised the importance of this process to be conducted in accordance with the trilateral statement dated November 10, 2020.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that Armenia's inadequate response to border tensions and attempts to internationalise the issue could lead to increased tensions in the region, and stressed the importance of peacefully resolving all disputes within the negotiation process.

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COURTESY azeridaily

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What's important when you have big dreams in life?

Exclusive Farukh Shehzad

Editor-In-Chief / Diplomaticnewspk.blog

Today I will be sharing my own experience to make you understand what elements you need to carry with yourself while dreaming big in your life.

Things to achieve in life, they might be difficult, hard and tough but not impossible to get there.

As we all know that when you begin work on any project you face many hurdles and it seems almost impossible to complete that project handsomely in a great fashion initially.

That is exactly what happened to me when I began learning graphic designing because I was super new into this project, did not know anything about graphic design, these were my early days of learning and I had attended 6 classes of graphic design but nothing was going into the mind and things were becoming more difficult and now while learning somewhere at the back of my mind different kinds of thoughts were running, like will I be able to make it or not? No, You understood nothing after attending 6 classes of graphic design so this project is hard for you to learn.

I was feeling super uncomfortable as these negative thoughts were moving into my mind.

What is important when you have big dreams in life?

But one day i visited a Submarine Assembling factory in Korea.

Submarine is the highly important part of Navy Department in any county and it has a huge size with heavy weight and it runs deep inside the ocean.

So, what I witnessed in the Submarine assembling factory in Korea that there were human beings with the height between 5 to 6 feet were preparing different parts of Submarine thru several ways and then and I saw them assembling all huge parts of Submarine, Finally they assembled all of its parts to get ready for the first official drive in the ocean.

So, while witnessing all those human beings were preparing huge parts of Submarine... At that point of time I thought that if these people can prepare the huge parts of Submarine quite easily and efficiently why can not you learn graphic designing with ease.

So, now once again I have started learning graphic designing because that Korea visit inspired me a lot and helped me in making things more easier.

 And now I have been learning graphic designing without any stress and difficulty, which sounds cool.

Concluding Remarks:

When you are looking to achieve big goals and you have big dreams in life so it is highly important that you always keep yourself inspired and motivated.

To always stay motivated keep watching people working on big projects that inspired you a lot, this will help you in achieving big dreams in life.

Now learning graphic designing has become much easier for me.

I hope, this article will help to specially those who feel unmotivated while learning any big project in life.

Always remember, Inspiration is the key to success!!!

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 18: Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday said that Pakistan desired strong ties with the European Union.

Talking to Ambassador of European Union Androulla Kaminara, who called on him at the General Headquarters, Gen Bajwa, according to the ISPR, said: “Pakistan values its relations with EU and earnestly looks forward to enhance mutually beneficial multi-domain relations based on common interests.”

Anti-France protests in Pakistan last month and calls for expelling the French envoy raised questions about the resilience of Pakistan’s relations with the European Union. Government’s agreements with the group leading the agitation reinforced some of those doubts.

Gen Bajwa’s comments were, therefore, seen as an attempt to clarify some of those concerns.

Regional security situation, including recent developments in the Afghan peace process, had been discussed during the meeting, the ISPR said.

Ms Kaminara, it added, appreciated Pakistan’s efforts for peace and stability in the region, especially for the Afghan peace process.

The EU ambassador also met federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry.

During the meeting, the minister expressed Pakistan’s deep concern and anguish over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. He said the international community had an obligation to help normalise the situation and facilitate a just solution.

The EU ambassador said Vice President Borell had called a meeting of the foreign ministers of EU member states on May 18 to discuss the situation. The meeting was convened to coordinate and discuss how the EU could best contribute to end the current violence, she added.

During the meeting, both sides also exchanged views on the Covid-19 pandemic situation in Pakistan.

The minister said the government was undertaking all possible steps to contain the pandemic through timely decisions and effective preventive measures.

Ms Kaminara appreciated the steps taken by the Pakistan government to protect people from the pandemic. She also appreciated the rise in Pakistan’s exports despite the pandemic.

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 17: Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mehmood Qureshi has departed for special diplomatic mission to Turkey as per PM Imran Khan’s directives. He will then be accompanied by Turkish, Sudanese & Palestinians Foreign Ministers to NYC for raising voice against Israel’s atrocities on Palestinians.

Foreign Minister of Pakistan said, Israel’s barbarism has killed upto 200 Palestinians. Pakistan will raise voice for Palestine on each forum. We also hope European Parliamentarians will also raise their voice for protection of human lives in their upcoming EU session.

Earlier FM Qureshi said that Pakistan is ready to join hands with other OIC member states in any move to stop this on-going bloodshed and to restore human dignity & human rights of Palestinian people in occupied territories,”.

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The COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise. 

Globally, everything has stopped. Projects have been delayed, workplaces closed and schools shut down. The world seems to have ground to a halt because of the novel coronavirus.

However, students continue their education through online learning and via video calls with their teachers, especially in big cities such as Jakarta. The model is currently the best alternative as keeping schools open poses a safety risk for students.

Globally, many countries have adopted this approach. Schools in New York, the United States, prepared for online learning by distributing gadgets to their students, ensuring they had access to learning materials. As of early April, education authorities distributed around 500,000 laptops and tablets to their students, allowing them to participate in classes online.

When the first two COVID-19 cases were announced in Indonesia in early March, the country was in a panic. On March 14, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan announced that all schools in Jakarta were to be closed. However, many schools were not ready to apply home learning programs yet. The online classes implemented in Indonesia work differently from those in the US. This is due to a lack of preparation in this country.

As a student participating in the home-learning program, online school was confusing to adjust to as we had not been prepared through simulations or practices beforehand. Students reported the home-learning program to be even more stressful than regular classrooms. Some of the common reasons for this went along the lines of: "Normal classes may have been difficult, but having friends makes it so much more manageable and less stressful. Online classes take out the benefits of having friends to socialize with and being stuck alone with nothing but assignments."

Many students participating in home-learning programs also say that the workload of online classes is larger than that of regular classes. The general consensus is that home-learning programs — although highly beneficial and a good alternative to school as schools are closed — still require some getting used to by students, as it is a novel concept and not many are experienced with them.

However, although the closing of schools does have a silver lining (home-learning programs where students are still able to learn), the true sufferers of the government order of school closings are the students in less fortunate situations and the students who are in schools that are not well-funded.

This is because those students lack the devices and internet access to be able to participate in online classes, and the schools do not have the capacity to teach online. Unlike in New York where devices are distributed to students by schools and private companies, in Indonesia, there is yet to be this kind of effort.

This leaves many students in a bad spot where they are unable to receive an education. Although internet service providers have been giving out free data packages, they are simply not capable of supporting video calls on programs such as Zoom.

To further complicate things, it seems that COVID-19 will last a while in Indonesia. For context, in China, it took months for the transmissions to stabilize — and this was with a fast government response, instant lockdown and people obeying the rules and quarantine policies.

Despite the lack of a nation-wide lockdown, schools remain closed, meaning that students who have no access to a device or internet connection will have a difficult time maintaining their education. Due to these factors, they will be in a very difficult spot educationally until the COVID-19 pandemic dies down in Indonesia. In this situation, the government should make extra efforts to support the education sector and build a sense of solidarity among schools, such as by facilitating networks between international and national/public schools to share experiences and study methodologies for online teaching.

Thankfully, there are now some alternatives to online learning in which students in less fortunate situations could participate. The Education and Culture Ministry recently introduced a Belajar di Rumah (Learning at Home) program through state-owned broadcaster TVRI (for the next three months) and a platform called Guru Berbagi (Teachers Sharing), providing creating learning and teaching materials. To add on to this, however, the government should still have more offline options for students without internet access, such as the distribution of books and learning materials.

Personally, I feel that online classes are a great alternative to normal in-school classes. As a 10th grader participating in online classes right now, I have been able to focus more and perform better.

The presence of COVID-19 will directly and permanently change education in the future, seeing that we must be able to adapt to working and studying online for any kind of reasons and situations. I believe, both TVRI’s Belajar di Rumah program and the Guru Berbagi platform will leave a legacy and should be continued to support class teachings for good.

Only time will tell whether online classes will be a good substitute for normal classes, and if they are, there will be a rise in online educational programs and online universities. (kes)

Rarkryan is a 10th-grade student at BINUS School Simprug

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COURTESY thejakartapost

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