The dissertation/project titled “Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Secondary Level Education in Bangladesh: A Qualitative Study”. This dissertation is my own work and there is no plagiarism in the dissertation. Like many other countries in the world, educational institutions in Bangladesh remained closed for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students encountered many obstacles when attending online classes, and many of these stories were reported in the electronic and print media. However, in the context of Bangladesh, there is a paucity of research that explores the difficulties students face in attending online classes. This qualitative study explores the various difficulties students face when attending online classes during a pandemic.
I want to dedicate my work to my Almighty, my loving parents, my supervisor and all my well-wishers. I am also grateful to my supervisor who informed me how to write a whole thesis paper.
Introduction
Usually, Bangladeshi school students are mainly used to face-to-face learning via white or blackboards where teachers lecture and students listen. Students in schools not used to online learning maintained a schedule to do their regular class online. They learned how to log into Zoom or Google Meet and how to connect with the teachers with proper audio clips and video files during online sessions.
They weren't used to using a lot of technology for learning purposes, so they had to learn how to connect to online sessions. At the same time, however, they also enjoyed some of the benefits of online learning, as they could stay at home and avoid traffic jams. To properly address these issues, teachers and students need the right skills and knowledge about using technical effects.
Both teachers and students faced distance problems, technical problems, lack of internet access and insufficient financial conditions. The main aim of the study is to explore the problems faced by Bangladeshi school students during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Literature Review
Students occasionally lose confidence due to terrible lectures and therefore decide to keep quiet and not ask questions. If the instructions are long and the teaching approach lacks precision, then students tend to get bored. Teaching maximum subjects can also lead to consistent pressure among students (Zaman, 2020).
Therefore, most of the time, teachers had to make extra efforts to shorten the time of classes and to cover maximum cases so that it could be convenient for college students to handle them (The Financial Express, 2020b). Sometimes it even felt depressing for the university students to take place on the platform of online classes. The pandemic has become a burden for the university students who could not meet their simple needs in the crisis.
Online classes through TV or smartphones are working for the moment, but a maximum number of university students are facing a shortage of these devices. UGC offers repayable smooth loans to these university students who cannot afford any digital devices; however, the mortgage disbursement emerged as a protracted process. College students generally did not pay attention to the classes given by the instructor in online courses due to poor presentation skills.
Among them, 60% of college students used their cell phone constantly and they did not study at all in a moment of blocking (Emon et al., 2020). Most of the time, college students are deeply involved in unnecessary gossip in many Facebook and WhatsApp groups, which threatens their future. This kind of anxiety, frustration, and family stress also caused some college students to commit suicide—a truly heartbreaking tragedy (Emon et al., 2020).
While the government started televising classes, it was a challenge for most students to be there, as 50% of families had more than one satellite TV (BBS, 2019). In addition, students struggled with anxiety due to the interruption of their physical presence in the classroom. Nevertheless, some private universities forced their students to finish semester tests of their final year and force them to graduate.
Research Methodology
What are the difficulties students face in attending online classes during the covid-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. What are the difficulties teachers face in teaching online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.
Findings and Analysis
In online sessions, they can attend class from their homes without having to deal with traffic. According to her, internet problems are also common for all online education students. Like most of the participants, she has learned exclusively through online platforms during the pandemic.
With online classes, she felt more comfortable while learning because she didn't have to physically go to school and didn't have to deal with traffic jams. She faced internet problems in the online sessions as sometimes the power went out and the internet connectivity became bad. As we all know, internet connectivity is of utmost importance for conducting online lectures.
From the data I found, most students find it difficult to afford consistent internet access. People's biggest fear is that the situation will worsen during the monsoons due to delays in repairing damaged power lines, transformers and electricity poles. Thus, poor internet connection and expensive mobile phones and mobile data pose major obstacles for most students in rural and remote areas of our country.
An education survey by Dhaka University found that most of the students want to participate in online sessions, but expensive data, poor connectivity, electricity problems and lack of devices are major barriers. Teachers cannot manage their time properly due to slow and high internet connection of various students. In online education, Bangladeshi students have had to attend online classes and complete their assignments by looking at the screen, which has led to more time spent with the mobile phone or computer.
My children recently developed fever and headache after attending online classes and I had to take them to the doctor,” said Nitin Goyal, president of Chandigarh Parents Association. Therefore, students may be able to attend their regular classes in online classes with proper time. Most students are familiar with the physical benefits of activity and exercise, but we should not forget that physical activities help students develop their brain, health and cognition.
Regarding the technology of our country, most of the institutions do not use technology to a large extent. Moreover, even electricity is not available in their areas as it is mostly announced that electricity will be out for the whole day.
Discussion
Every institution should also have up-to-date technology so that if a disaster like COVID-19 occurs, they can take the necessary steps immediately. If this type of virus spreads, institutions can take classes online, but there will be no internet connection problems or other technological problems that they have faced. As discussed, fully online classes are not ideal for students as they are harmful to their eyes and brain.
Different types of apps like Zoom and Google Meet are used by teachers and students who do not have enough knowledge about these apps and yet take online classes using these apps. To be prepared for the future, they must therefore be trained in these types of apps, so that they can follow lessons perfectly. When we talk about dental education during the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual reality and augmented reality, haptic technology is being used for skills training.
Blended learning and virtual curriculum can also be included in the dental trend for the future (Haroon, 2020).
Conclusion
Possible immunological pathways for the variable immunopathogenesis of COVID-19 infections in healthy adults, the elderly, and children. Private universities can conduct academic activities online: UGC. https://en.prothomalo.com/youth/private-universities-can-run-academic-activities-online-ugc. Associations between fear of COVID-19, mental health, and preventive behavior among pregnant women and husbands: Modeling actor-partner interdependence.
Primary school education via radio, which will start tomorrow. https://www.thedailystar.net/city/news/primary-education-thru-radio-set-launch-tomorrow-1943081. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: a quick review of the evidence. Bangladeshi children share their distance learning experiences and the challenges they face. https://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/en/stories/bangladeshi-children-share-experiences-remote-learning-and-challenges-they-face. https://covid19bd.idare.io/. Education and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Weekly assignments for high school students begin November 1. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/education weekly-assignments-for-secondary-students-begin-nov-1. UGC allows private universities to conduct a limited number of classes. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/education ugc-allows-private-universities-to-take-classes-under-special-circumstances. 2020), The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Tertiary Education in Bangladesh: Students' Perspectives.
