Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on School Education

There has been a massive outbreak of the COVID-19 virus which has been declared a pandemic. This outbreak of the virus has forced everyone to lock themselves inside their homes and shut down everything. With police patrolling outside it almost seems like being inside a prison. This has affected everyone worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted normal economic activity and life around the world. It has also affected school education a lot.

Since the whole world is in lockdown people are resorting to online resources for education and work. Employees are mostly working from home. Schools are conducting online classes, video classes, or audio classes. This is so that students can continue to receive some sort of education.

Most people have a conditioned mindset that a specific task can be done at a specific place only and thus do not make adjustments. Some students feel that school or tuition are the only places to study. Thus, they are facing major trouble in this lockdown. such students have ended up wasting their and the school’s time too.

Challenges Faced:

For the first time in recorded history, classrooms the world over are empty during regular school days. No one knew when they would see students in them again.

School education is something that is continuous and due to this pandemic, the continuity is broken. Students, who are unable to mentally and physically cope with the situation, are acting as catalysts towards breaking this continuity. 

Students also tend to use passed down books from seniors. Due to the government’s implementation of lockdown, we are not able to get out of the house and get these books. Since they do not have books, students are unable to follow what the teacher is saying during online classes which most of the schools are running.

They are not able to self-study. Of course, there are pdf formats of books available on the internet but the intangibility leads to losing interest. Also, many people do not have access to the internet. And prolonged exposure to screens of laptops, phones, personal computers, etc causes harm to their eyesight. It won’t be much of a surprise if most of us came out of the lockdown with some visual impairment.

To top it all, most of us are inside our comfort zone – our respective homes. Too much comfort leads to one losing interest in studies or work and leads to procrastination. This also leads to a decrease in attention span.

Problems Galore:

Not all schools have the facility to take online classes. Most teachers or students do not have access to the internet or devices such as a laptop or personal computers. This hampers the education of the students studying in those schools. Additionally, they also have to pay fees which is a waste of money for them. They could have used it to buy rations. 

School education is best imparted when theory is combined with practicality. The main reason students go to school is to gain practical knowledge on a subject and also for co-curricular activities. This gives them experience and exposure. It also leads to an overall improvement in their personality.

The intangibility of online classes takes away this facility of students to get hands-on total education. Physical education has also come to a halt because of the lockdown caused by the pandemic. Lack of physical activity also affects the productivity of the brains of students and also causes laziness and as we know, ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’.

Since intra-school co-curricular activities cannot be held, the students lack a competitive environment. It discourages their abilities and leads to losing their competitive spirit which is impacting their personalities in a negative way as well. 

The school personnel is also facing a constant need for updation of their technique of imparting education because of technical difficulties or remote methods. Teachers are trying their best to keep up with new and modern methods. However, most of them are not very tech-savvy which causes a lot of inconvenience to them. 

The Silver Lining:

However, there is a positive side to this whole episode as well. Innovation and discovery of different resources of online education do help in opening up new ways of communication between teachers and students. It is good for them in the long run. It gives mobility to such an intangible concept as education.

Earlier, most students were occupied with running between school and tuition so much. Their parents could not involve themselves in their ward’s tutoring. Now, since classes are being held at home, parents feel a sense of belonging when it comes to the education of their child.

They can now get more involved with their education. This helps their family bond to grow stronger and as we all know a happy place to be is a happy place to learn in.

The lockdown hampered the routine and selection exams. In such cases, many schools have considered the last term aggregate of students to judge the promotion criteria. It has surely saved the students from the worries of a final exam.

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Students who were meant to graduate high school are not being able to apply for colleges or universities because their exams have been delayed. However, this has also helped them by giving them more time to prepare for such an important exam.

Lessons Learned:

In conclusion, one can say that the current lockdown caused due to the pandemic has affected everyone in different ways, especially students. Students should realize how important education is and start self-studying. Also, schools will surely maintain hygiene standards as required, to ensure the safety of students.

On the one hand, we have got a long break and on the other hand, people have also faced a lot of challenges. One feels that it is about time that the lockdown was ended by the government. The sooner that happens the better it is.

Students will naturally take all the precautions of social distancing while resuming their school routines. We will always remember the lessons learned during the lockdown. If something like this were to happen again we would certainly be in a better position to continue our studies. All thanks to the lessons learned this time.

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