Impact Of Online Education In Bangladesh During The Pandemic In 2021

Impact of Online Education in Bangladesh During The Pandemic In 2021

The covid-19 pandemic has completely transformed the world. It has affected every aspect of our life. Especially, education. Covid-19 has crippled the education sector around the world.

Not only the under-developed countries, but also the USA has also faced difficulty handling the situation.

Around 23.15 million households in the USA have children receiving online education.

Today I will discuss how Covid-19 has affected the students.

How Bangladesh is handling the situation.

The positive and negative side of online education.

How the world’s education sector is dealing with Covid-19?

According to UNESCO, the Covid-19 pandemicaffected over 156,692,641 learners.

The world’s leading universities and schools are taking online classes.

They are using zoom, google meet to take virtual classes.

Among them, Zoom has gained much popularity in the pandemic.

In the first 4 months of 2021, Zoom recorded 40 million downloads in the Asia-Pacific region.

Education platforms like Byju, Coursera, Udemy, Skillshare are giving free online classes.

They are gaining reputation and users all around the world.

Students are leaning into smartphones and laptops. They are spending more screen time.

A survey was done in Poland in 2021. The result says-

· 47% of Poles are spending extra three hours than before Covid-19

· 62% of Poles are having eye-strain

· And 70% are experiencing more problems related to eyesight.

Although the survey is in Poland, the picture around the world is quite similar.

But not all people are against online education.

A professor at The University of Jordan, Dr. Amjad spoke up.

He is affirmative toward online education.

He says via virtual classes, he can reach out to his students more efficiently.

Video meetings, document sharing are easier with virtual classes. His students also agree with his opinion.

The Current Scenario of Education in Bangladesh during COVID-19

Doctors detected the first Covid-19 patient in Bangladesh in March 2020.

26 March 2020, a countrywide lockdown was declared. School, college, and universities are closed till now.

As a result, students had to attend virtual classes.

Schools, colleges, and universities are arranging these classes. Among them, the most used is Zoom or Facebook groups.

The government has also ordered to take assignments from the students.

As students are not having any annual exams in school, assignment is the only way to test them.

Students have mixed opinions towards online education. They also suffer from mental and physical sickness.

The government postponed exams like PECE, JSC, SSC, HSC. University students are facing semester clutter due to these postpone.

How COVID-19 Pandemic affected students in Bangladesh

Disorganized Learning:

Covid-19 impacted the student’s study pattern. As educational institutions are closed, they have lots of free time.

Some are using this time to learn new skills- cooking, drawing, singing. Especially, students are investing time in their hobbies.

Some students are also learning online skills. But all students agree that it hampered their study due to Covid-19.

They are losing their interest and focus to study. Some university students complain that they have a noisy house. They used to study on campus.

A research company ‘Bioted’ conducted a survey among 2038 Bangladeshi students. They asked simple questions and got these results-

· 34% are in their village currently

· 66% are in the town

· Only 23% have the will to take online classes

These students are from 43 public, private universities, and affiliate colleges.

But some prefer the online learning processmore. They can repeat the classes as they wish. They don’t have to go outside.

Deprivation Of Social Interaction:

Due to lockdown and isolation, social interaction is damaged. People are damaging their relationships with their friends and relatives.

Most of the students complained about that. As students tend to have a more bonding relation with their classmates.

Students used to group study. They felt much comfort in studying with their friends. Some of the students even shared their books. Many poor students cannot afford books from native authors.

They also miss their campus and traditional classes.

Vandalized Mental Health:

According to Statista,

From June 24 to June 30, 2020, around 40.9 percent of adults aged 18 years or older in the U.S. reported having one or more adverse mental or behavioral health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students are uncertain of their future. When will their institute open, when everything will be normal? They don’t have an answer for that.

Some students are stuck in the final year of university. Exams and jobs are unpredictable now.

This doubtful situation leads them to depression and anxiety.

Physical Health Problem:

Covid-19 not only scarred the mental health of the students, but it also hampered their health.

Due to online classes, students have to spend more time sitting in front of screens. They are suffering from neck pain, eyesight problems, and so on.

As everyone is staying at home, physical movement is not happening. In consequence of that, most of the people are gaining weight. Weight gain is the main cause of obesity and other horrific diseases.

PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) is very common among Asian women. This particular disease requires daily physical movement. PCOS contribute to weight gain badly.

Financial Crisis:

Although educational institutes are not running, classes continued via virtual classes. Schools, colleges, and universities take the same fee they took before the pandemic.

This is distressing the guardians. Bangladeshi parents pay for their children’s tuition fees. But most of the non-Govt job holders don’t have their jobs anymore. Some of the guardians cannot bear the fees anymore.

The covid-19 pandemic is a nightmare for these miserable people.

Even many families have lost their only earning member due to Coronavirus. So students had to take care of the family. They cannot continue their study anymore.

Challenges For Digital Education System In Bangladesh:

Online education isn’t new in the world. Teachers and students in the developed country are accustomed to virtual classes.

But in Bangladesh, teachers are all middle-aged. They don’t have any knowledge of how to take an online class. They are new in this virtual world. Some of them don’t even have a smartphone.

Teachers are having difficulties teaching online. And students from rural areas don’t have good internet connections.

They are failing to take the virtual classes.

Most of the students and teachers feel uncomfortable in a virtual class. They prefer the traditional method.

As they are not familiar with this online learning process.

Taking exams has also become a great challenge for the government. As there is a greater risk of copying.

The covid-19 pandemic has devastated the education sector of Bangladesh.

We don’t know when this will be over. Opening education institutes may seem like the best decision.

But we should also check the health issue. Online educationis now the only way we can save our education from shattering.

Let’s hope for a better future.