The Impossible Choice: When Online Schooling Collides With Workplace Reality

by Dr. Fariha Gul

Author, Consultant, Researcher and Educationist

A petrol shortage may appear to be a logistical or economic problem. Governments respond with fuel rationing, transport restrictions, or remote work arrangements. Recently, one such response has been shifting school classes online. While this may appear to be a practical short-term solution, it has created a profound and largely invisible crisis for a specific group in society: working single mothers.

For many households, online schooling simply means a child logging into a device at home. But for a single mother, especially one who must leave home for work, the situation is far more complex.

The Impossible Choice

Single mothers often carry the responsibility of being both the primary caregiver and the sole breadwinner. When schools shift to online classes, a new responsibility emerges: ensuring that children attend classes, stay engaged, and manage digital learning platforms.

For working single mothers, this creates an impossible choice.

If she leaves for work, there may be no adult at home to supervise the child’s online learning. Young children often struggle with logging in, managing devices, staying attentive, or solving technical issues. In many cases, online education requires parental supervision that simply cannot exist when the parent is physically absent.

But if she stays home to supervise online classes, she risks losing her job, the very source of financial stability that supports the child’s education and well-being.

Thus, the system forces her into a cruel dilemma: protect the job or protect the child’s education.

The Harsh Reality of the Job Market

The challenge becomes even more severe when we look at workplace realities.

In the public sector, divorced or single women often face subtle but persistent forms of social stigma. Patriarchal institutional cultures can turn professional environments into spaces where women feel judged for personal circumstances rather than evaluated for professional competence.

In the private sector, the situation is even more precarious. Job security is fragile, and employees often feel they cannot request flexible arrangements without risking their employment.

Despite global conversations around employee well-being, flexible work arrangements, and work-from-home policies, many organizations still fail to understand the social realities their employees face.

The result is a system where productivity is valued more than humanity.

When the Child Is an Infant

The situation becomes even more difficult when the child is very young.

If the child is an infant or toddler, online schooling may not be the issue, but childcare certainly is. Many workplaces claim to offer daycare facilities, yet these facilities rarely take responsibility for managing children’s educational activities or providing extended care during crises like sudden school closures.

For single mothers, the problem multiplies:

• No one to supervise children at home

• No reliable childcare alternatives

• No workplace flexibility

• Fear of job loss

This creates a cycle of stress that affects mental health, economic stability, and child development.

A Blind Spot in Policy and Corporate Thinking

The petrol shortage revealed something deeper than an energy crisis. It revealed a policy blind spot.

Education decisions, labor policies, and corporate practices are often made in isolation from one another. Governments may shift schooling online without considering how many households depend on working single parents. Employers may demand physical presence at work without acknowledging the childcare realities of their employees.

In short, systems designed separately collide in the lives of individuals.

The Way Forward

Addressing this issue requires coordinated thinking across education policy and workplace culture.

Several practical steps could significantly reduce the burden on single parents:

1. Flexible Work Policies: Organizations should allow temporary work-from-home arrangements during emergencies that disrupt schooling.

2. Compassionate HR Policies: Human resource departments must recognize that employee well-being directly influences productivity and loyalty.

3. Hybrid Education Support: Schools should provide recorded sessions, flexible attendance policies, or community learning hubs for children whose parents cannot supervise online classes.

4. Inclusive Policy Design: Government decisions affecting education should consider the diversity of family structures, including single-parent households.

Beyond Sympathy: Toward Structural Change

The struggle of single mothers during such crises should not be treated as an unfortunate side effect. It is a structural problem created by rigid systems that ignore real social conditions.

Societies that claim to value education, equality, and productivity must begin by recognizing that supporting working parents, especially single mothers, is not charity; it is social infrastructure.

If we fail to acknowledge this reality, we risk creating a generation where both mothers and children pay the price for policy decisions made without understanding their lives.