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By Ayesha Habib | Pakistan
At The end of 2019 world faced an Outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus simply can be said as COVID-19. As precautionary measures to save precious lives and to avoid interaction of humans with the deadly Virus, The world has to go through many restrictions, health care policies, lockdowns, economic breakdown, activity limitation, etc. From closing borders of a country to the closing of many basic life activities even with the communities and of a country, where it saves many lives from the deadly Virus, but this too brings the people tough time to cope with the new normal. The step of putting these SOPs in almost all corners of the world makes sure the health and safety of peoples, it immobilizes people to move around the world and not to conduct daily life activities, especially when students cannot go to their educational institutes. Being a student myself, I had easily thought about the cons of this lockdown situation, but it took me an entire year of 2020 to realize its pros. As of today, half of the world is still in the lockdown situation, I would like to address the favors of this pandemic to my fellow students.
'You learn something every day if you pay attention.'
Pros of life In Pandemic
Online School:
The closing of all kinds of educational institutions did not stop students to cover and connect to their studies, teacher, and institutions, all through the conduction of online classes.
Although the concept of online classes is not a new thing, it was never in great use like it is today. From the kids at kindergarten to the students of Ph.D. level, all was shifted to full-time online classes. The flexibility of online school made sure that students do not fall behind in the studies and kept the spirit of learning alive. Below are some advantages of having online classes.
Flexibility to own your time
Online classes have allowed us to learn within our comfort zone, whether it’s about time or environment, one only needs a smartphone or any of the digital gadgets with an internet connection to connect and start learning. In physical schools, we students long hours of attending and sitting in the classes but thanks to online classes students can control their time of study all at their convenience, taking breaks, pausing the video or audio materials are in the hands of students.
Cost Affective
Having online classes had provided the students and their parents to pay a less amount fee to the educational institutions as the use of study resources like classrooms, and other accommodation expenditures are not taken by the institutes.
Accessibility of The study material:
One thing that I love the most about online classes is the availability of study material for a long time on the classes portals, allowing the students to review their course materials, making notes, etc. all at their own time.
Increase chance of Interaction:
In physical classes, some students find it difficult to communicate with their lecturers. Online classes have brought students a noticeable increase in confidence, providing opportunities for interaction with their teachers and with their fellow students.
The ability to be productive:
Waiting for the lockdown to be over is not an easy feeling. Thanks to the Internet and the digitalized world, life is so much easier. Letting people grow, learn and be productive all at the comfort of our home. The saving of some extra hours of study from home encourages the students to learn and explore new things, starting from their small setups to learn something that they wanted to learn for a long time. A way I utilized my time to grow includes:
Interning at The World with MNR when the world was still facing lockdown, proved to be an excellent way to polish my writing skills and to learn and interact with people from around the world!
As geography became irrelevant, the world came together to provide ways for everyone to grow.
More Opportunities:
Since we have landed in the era of lockdown I have seen the availability of opportunities more than ever. From free certificate courses to paid ones, part-time jobs to full-time online jobs, and much more. All these were introduced from around the world for people from all walks of life.
As a Medical Student, I have come across some newer opportunities that I wasn’t aware of before.
CME’s at Aga Khan University Hospital:
CME is (continue medical Education), which is a good resource for all medical students to get in touch with the updated medical knowledge and as well to inhale new medical knowledge address and explained by senior health care professionals online, awarded by credit CME hours and a certificate.
Health Courses by WHO:
Recently I get to introduce some free medical online Courses introduced by WHO, which are open to people from all walks of life and especially to health care professionals. These courses hardly take an hour or two of your day and award you with a free certificate.
The way to get started is quit begin doing. - Walt Disney
In a nutshell, the time during the pandemic is difficult, but it’s totally on us to sit back and wait for the situation to get over or to work against it to make the present a better one. Believing that growth has no limit and none of the situations is hard to handle as long as we are ready to accept and learn from the situation.
Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as you had chosen it. Always work with it not against it.