How has the Pandemic effected Students?
Recent statistics tell us that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in 502 million cases and 6.19 million deaths all over the world. For the majority of the population, this was the first global pandemic that had such a heavy toll on human life as well as the way we live in a society. This affected the education sector in a big way, with A level and IGCSE exams being cancelled students had a lot to deal with.
Among all the sectors affected by the pandemic, one particular area which witnessed a huge change and major shakeup was the educational sector. Educational institutes had to come up with new ways to stay connected with the students, while the teachers also had to rely on technology to continue teaching the students. But among all the stakeholders of the educational sector, the party which was affected the most were the students!
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How have the Pandemic affected Students?
At the time of writing this article, most educational institutes all over the world have opened once again but are still following precautionary measures such as face masks, social distancing, and so on.
The schools, colleges, and universities have opened once again, and a somewhat normal educational cycle has started, but we can’t say that things are the same as they were before the pandemic. So let’s look at how the pandemic (COVID-19) has affected the students:
1. Distance Learning
Almost all of the educational institutes moved towards distance learning at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, no one was ready for distance learning which made the transition a rather difficult task. Students and parents had to make arrangements to continue the education while the schools and teachers had to introduce different measures to keep the learning going.
Overall, distance learning was a great introduction to the educational sector. On the one hand, it allowed the students to learn from the comfort of their homes, while the teachers were also able to connect to a lot of students using the technology. Even after the pandemic, many students have moved toward online educational institutes, and many popular college courses are offered online as well, such as the IGCSE.
2. Skills Development
One of the positive sides of the COVID-19 for the students was that they developed vital IT skills! In order to continue distance learning, students had to learn how to attend online meetings, share screens, and use various online services (Google Docs, Zoom, Email, and so on).
Some of the additional skills developed by the students during the COVID-19 were speaking skills, writing skills, and how to properly communicate. This means that the students of IGCSE ended up learning valuable skills during the COVID-19, which is a major plus point!
3. Social Distancing
As the COVID-19 forced the students to continue their education at home, they were forced to limit their interaction with their peers. So in a sense, we can say that the COVID-19 had a negative social impact as well on the students – In a physical classroom, students get to interact with each other and thus learn valuable social skills which can serve as the foundation for later in life.
So while students witnessed the benefits such as skills development and distance learning, a major negative aspect was the social impact and social distancing.
4. Student’s Health
COVID-19 also had a negative effect on the student’s health – Besides the COVID-19 infection, students also struggled with mental health problems caused by social distancing and travelling restrictions. Although the world is now pretty much open once again due to the falling COVID-19 cases, the ill effects witnessed at the height of this pandemic will still continue to have their toll on the health of the students.