SCRAPBOOK FF

KEDAH MATRICULATION COLLEGE

FANTASTIC FOUR

RURAL STUDENTS FACE MORE
CHALLENGES TO COMMIT TO ONLINE

LEARNING

Prepared by:

ANISA NADIAH BT ALWI MS2118123981

ALLIESA SHAKIRA BT AHMAD YANI MS2118178373

NURUL IZZATI BT MAZLAN MS2118178384

EFT07 PUTRI NUR LIYANA BT MEGAT RHYMIE MS2118177910

PART 1; INTRODUCTION

Closing the educational institutions
around the world will lead to many things,
particularly significant disruption in the
student’s learning, disturbance in internal
assessment and cancellation of public assessment for eligibility or
their replacement by an inferior alternative (Burgess and Sievertsen,
2020). Since the pandemic of Covid-19 started, a lot of things have
changed in various aspects and had affected everyone including
teachers and students. All premises and schools were closed to avoid
people from being infected and students cannot go to school as
usual. They had to replace the existing learning with online learning
which gives them a lot of struggles and challenges to adjust to.

Online learning is an education that takes place over the internet
and this is well-known as “e-learning” (Stern, 2020). Therefore, is
online learning as effective as offline learning? The statement of
online learning is as effective as offline learning has been revealed
by an empirical analysis on academic performance of 20,000
students. (India Education Diary, 2021). However, there are many
shortcomings that students have to face to join online learning,
namely students face internet problems, lack of parental supports
for children’s education, no comfortable place to study and lack of
devices and gadgets.

PART 2: BODY PARAGRAPHS



I) PERSONAL RESPONSES

1. weak and bad internet coverage
- Rural areas have poor internet coverage so that is why we are told with
one news that some rural students need to be on a tree just to access
internet to join online class. The weak and bad internet coverage in their
areas causes they are not enjoying their learning as they would in offline
class. For example, it will be easier for students to lost their attention.
2. lack of parental supports
- As we know some rural parents are uneducated and they think
education is not an essential thing in life. They'd prefer their children to
stay focused on working only. When students had to join online class at
home and do not go to school, they will be unmotivated as their parents
do not really care about their education. For example, students are too
lazy to finish their homework.

3. no suitable place to study
- After schools were closed due to the pandemic of Covid-19, students
need to learn in online class. But, joining online class at home has a lot
of distractions and easier for students to get distracted. For example,
the sound of television and their younger siblings may bother them.
Before the pandemic of Covid-19 started, they can go to school, but
after that they have no choice besides learning in noisy surroundings.
4. inadequacy of devices and gadgets to join online class
- Most of rural parents are underpaid and this is the main reason why
they cannot afford a device for each of their children. So, the students
need to share the only one device they have with their other siblings to
participate in the online class so that they can continue learning as
usual.

1st body paragraph

To begin with, one of the challenges is the rural students are facing poor and bad
internet network. This is said because, internet coverage in the interior areas is very low
moreover when the government does not take any steps to help the population. In the
early June of 2020, we were shocked by the news that one of the students from rural
areas had to answer the exam on a tree (Lee, 2020). It happened because of the bad and
weak internet coverage so they had to be on a tree in order just to access internet as it is
very limited in the area. Rural students cannot join online learning like other students
because they need to walk for at least one kilometer every day to go to the areas that
closer to the city just to get the best internet to participate in online class. The weak and
bad internet coverage in their areas causes they are not enjoying their online learning as
they would in offline class. For example, it will be easier for students to lost their
attention. Therefore, if this problem is not resolved as soon as possible, this probably will
cause all the rural population do not want to study because of the problem they are
experiencing besides they lose their attention in class. In this way, it will reduce the
burden of a student also will ease students to join online class. To conclude, facing weak
internet coverage is the one of the challenges to commit online learning by rural students.

2nd body paragraph

In addition, their parents show little support in their children's education also one of the
challenges for rural students. Since our former prime minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, announced the
closure of all Malaysian schools, all students must engage in online or virtual learning to complete their
education at home. The findings indicate that there are differences in children's academic achievement
based on parental involvement profiles, indicating that children with low involvement from their parents
have lower academic achievement (Lara and Saracostti, 2019). This happens because some rural parents
are busy at work and just want to relax when they get at home moreover when their parents have
backward minded and are not interested in children’s education. They usually just want to unwind and
not worry about anything else, including their children's education. Some parents believe that teachers
should oversee their children's learning because it is not their responsibility as parents to teach their
children. Not only that, as we know some rural parents are uneducated and believe that education is
unnecessary in life. Sometimes they would prefer that their children devote more time to work because
they have the perception that working for money is more worth compared with studying for nothing and
they need to spend a lot of money to pay the fees. When the parents have this perception, their children
are more likely to abandon their education because no one wants to assist and teach them at home. For
example, when children have homework, they can play around without doing the homework because at
home, no one cares about the task given by their teacher as there is nothing that urges them to do it.
Thus, a lack of parental involvement in their children's education will contribute to a variety of learning
issues

3rd body paragraph

Furthermore, one of the keys to studying effectively is to find a suitable and
comfortable place. This is said because, it is difficult to study in a noisy environment.
For example, the sound of television and their younger siblings may bother them. As
we all know, every student in school has a desk and chair as well as a comfortable
space to study. But in the interior areas, how can a student learn in the unconducive
surroundings, moreover there are inadequacy of furniture and they even do not even
have a table to write (The Patatas, 2021). More sadly, students who have many
siblings are indeed studying in cramped conditions because they need to share a
place. In fact, some of them are forced to study in unusual places, such as on the side
of the road, under bridges, at bus stops and others. This is very concerning because it
can break their spirit to continue studying because this is the reason given by some
students to stop studying other than the fact that their parents cannot afford the
cost of studying. Besides, this can have an impact on learning because they are
unable to focus as they would in the classroom. With a suitable place, students that
are not being disturbed by the surroundings are being able to focus on studying.
Thus, do not have a comfortable and suitable place to join online class is one of the
challenges for rural students.

4th body paragraph

Besides, the next challenge for rural students is lack of devices and gadgets. Covid-19
appears to have affected almost every aspect of our lives. Covid-19 has had a significant impact
on the lives of students. Learning has largely moved to online for the majority of students. Zoom,
Teams, Google Meet and recording have been challenges for lecturers and teachers to prepare
teaching stuff. Unfortunately, there is a problem with resource availability for some students.
Most of rural parents are underpaid and this is the main reason why they cannot afford a device
for each of their children. Before the pandemic, families with financial difficulties could find
resources by studying at the library, cyber cafe or at their friend's house, but after the pandemic,
some students do not have any choices instead of sharing the only one device they have with their
other siblings to participate in the Online Learning and Facilitation (PdPc) because most libraries
and cyber cafes have closed or are still closed in the last year. Whether they like it or not, a
number of students living in agricultural regions, islands surrounding and nearby districts are in
these issues because what matters to them is that they need to continue studying although they
face poor internet connectivity (Chan, Karim, and Yusof, 2020) and the problem of not owning
electronic gadgets. Rural pupils find it difficult to study like other students since they do not have
their own device to participate in online class. To sum up, one of the problems faced by rural
students is insufficiency of devices and gadgets

II) RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the factors discussed, here are the suggestions to overcome the
issue:
1- The government must take an action for this complication for example
they can provide free data and build broad coalitions to bridge the
broadband gap.
2- Parents should express an interest and support in committing to their
children's online learning in order to avoid them from being left behind in
their studies, especially when schools are closed.
3- The rural administration needs to take an action by building a special
place near their homes for them to study in peace surroundings.
4-The school authorities or teachers need to take an action for students who
do not have any devices to join online class for example they need to provide
a list of names of students who do not have any devices to participate in
online class and apply with the government.

PART 3: CONCLUSION



In conclusion, there are numerous drawbacks that rural
students must overcome in order to participate in online
learning including difficult to get internet access, inadequate
parental support, less suitable place to study and limited
devices to participate in online class. Even though research
has shown that rural students have been facing these
problems since the start of the pandemic that cause they
cannot go to school as usual, they still find an alternative to
join online class. As Andy Andrew said, " Challenges are gifts,
opportunities to learn."

REFERENCE




Burgess, S and Sievertsen, H. (2020). Schools, skills, and learning: the impact of Covid-19 on education.

https://voxeu.org/article/impact-covid-19-education







Chan, D, Karim, K and Yusof, T. (2020). Almost 40pct of students can't study at home as they lack

electronic devices. https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/04/584641/almost-40pct-students
-cant-study-home-they-lack-electronic-devices

India Education Diary Bureau Admin. (2020). Online as effective as offline learning – confirms lead data

of 20,000 students. https://indiaeducationdiary.in/online-as-effective-as-offline-learning-confirms
-lead-data-of-20000-students/

Laura, L and Saracostti, M. (2019). Effect of parental involvement on children’s academic achievement in




Chile. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01464/full

Lee, S. (2020). Sabah student stays overnight in tree to get better Internet connection for online

university exams. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/06/16/sabah-uni-
student-stays-overnight-in-tree-to-get-better-internet-connection-for-online-exams



Stern, J. (2020). Introduction to online teaching and learning. http://www.wlac.edu/online/documents/otl.pdf

The Patatas. (2021). 4 ways to improve education in rural areas without internet and electrical plugs.

https://www.thepatatas.com/4-ways-improve-education-rural-areas-without-internet-
electrical-plugs/

THE END

Thank You!