15 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT ISSN: 2348-4918
Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal
VOLUME: 10, Special Issue 01, (IC-IESP-MULTI-2023) Paper id-IJIERM-X-I, January 2023
IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN: A STUDY ON HOW COVID 19 IMPEDED SCHOOL READINESS OF UPPER KINDERGARTEN AND BALVADI
STUDENTS IN SOUTHERN STATES OF INDIA Cinimol Joseph
PhD Scholar at Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam University, Indore Jins Thomas
PhD Scholar at Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam University, Indore.
1 INTRODUCTION
The accidental emergence of COVID 19 has had a significant impact on education, prompting the temporary closure of many schools and the online implementation of higher education institutions. Government adopted different strategies and methods to continue the education with the available resources. Some Indian states' government educators have received training in the efficient use of virtual reality. The shifting of the face-to-face education syatem to online mode was a challenge to the schools, parents and students.
Although children in higher grades engaged in online learning, the pandemic left kindergarten students with less or no attention. The kindergarten and balvadi children did not gain a lot from the online classes because of their unavailability of the gadget and the cyber illiteracy of parents. Another barrier to online education was the purchase of students' equipment and their access to the internet. In higher grades, many students become dependent on technology and video games, which causes them to become less engaged in academics and more interested in playing games in class. According to UNESCO, the Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the global education system, including the closure of schools and a total shift to online learning. Mustafa, 2020 claims that the system's online environment was negatively impacted by teachers' lack of training and the availability of internet facilities.The students' development of their language and mathematical abilities is adversely impacted by the closure of the nurseries, kindergarten, and balvadies. Government schools in the Southern states began offering students radio and online classes, but many students from economically weakbackgrounds found it difficult to attend the classes. According to studies, students in rural areas were more negatively affected than those in urban areas (Di Pietro et al.,2020). The social relationship of a child expand from family members to their peers and other people. The face to face relationship with their peers help them to improve their social skills and the school closure due to the covid-19 pandemic deprived the students to get this opportunities. They were stopped from any outdoor activities and it was very difficult for them to be within the four walls. Many studies argued that the covid-19 pandemic negatively impacted the social skills of the students. In this study, researchers compare the kindergarten pupils' academic performance before and after the covid-19 pandemicand hence the study is stated as
“Impact of the pandemic on primary school children: a study on how covid 19 impeded school readiness of upper Kindergarten and balvadi students in southern states of India”.
1.1 Objectives of the study
To study the effect of covid 19 on the writing skills of kindergarten and balvadistudents
To study the effect of covid 19 on the Reading Skills of the kindergarten and balvadi students
To study the effect of covid 19 on the arithmetic skills of the kindergarten and balvadi students
To study the impact of covid 19 on the social skills of the balvadi students.
To compare the academic achievement of the sample selected prior to the pandemic and post pandemic.
16 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT ISSN: 2348-4918
Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal
VOLUME: 10, Special Issue 01, (IC-IESP-MULTI-2023) Paper id-IJIERM-X-I, January 2023 1.2 Significance of the study
This study investigates the effect of Covid-19 on the academic achievement and social skills of early age learners which helps the readers to understand the level of the students after the pandemic and helps the teachers to plan and select suitable methods to implement in their lessons and help students to learn properly. During the pandemic, many teachers identified the difficulty to finish the required syllabus and the government reduced the syllabus. In this way the teachers can identify the gap between the present level of the students and review the curricula for the deeper learning of the early year students.
1.3 Scope of the Study
The present study helps the teachers to understand the impact of covid 19 on the reading, writing, arithmetic and social skills on kindergarten students and balvadistudents. This study helps the teachers to understand the necessity to implement the new strategies to smoothen the transition of home-based learning to in school learning.
1.4 Hypothesis
H01: There is no significant difference between the academic achievement of the kindergarten and balvadi students prior to the pandemic and post pandemic.
H02: There is no significant difference between the social skills of the kindergarten and balvadi students prior to the pandemic and post pandemic.
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The present study investigates the Impact of the covid -19 pandemic on kindergarten and balvadi students in southern states of India. A total of 100 samples selected from the private and public schools in the southern states of India. The quantitative data is collected from the academic report of the different schools and the qualitative data is collected through the questionnaire made in google forms which has been mailed to the selected schools. The researchers used structured questionnaire with 5-point scale to collect the data. The questionnaires were peer reviewed and standardized by the researchers. The researchers used t-test and independent sample test to analyse the data collected.
3 DATA ANALYSIS
The researchers used t test to find the difference between the academic achievement of students before and after the pandemic. The researchers used structured questionnaire with five point scale to collect the data and used independent sample test to analyse the data. The data analysis is shown in the following tables:
Table 1 Descriptive Statistics for the academic achievement of early year students
Before Pandemic After Pandemic
Subject N Mean Standard
Deviation Standard
Error Mean Standard
Deviation Standard
Error t value
English 100 84.98 10.29 1.03 77.49 4.10 0.41 -17.96
Mathematics 100 89.5 11.52 1.15 78.05 3.78 0.38 -16.83
ICT 100 79.6 2.16 0.22 78.06 3.41 0.34 -1.36
The data analysis table shows that the t value for mathematics and English are -17.96 and -16.83 respectively and the P value is ,0.0001, therefore the result is significant at p<0.05.
But the t value of ICT is -1.36 and the p value is 0.176 so the result is not significant at p<0.05. The results also shows that the distribution is normal. There is no significant difference between the academic achievement of ICT skills of students before and after the pandemic but there is a considerable difference in the academic skills of mathematics and English before and after the pandemic. Many of the kindergarten schools and some of the balvadi schools used online platforms like zoom or Microsoft teams to take online classes during the pandemic. The teachers were trained to use different gamification techniques includins Kahoot, class dojo to make the class interesting. This might have helped the students to increase the ICT skills of early learners.
17 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT ISSN: 2348-4918
Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal
VOLUME: 10, Special Issue 01, (IC-IESP-MULTI-2023) Paper id-IJIERM-X-I, January 2023 Table 2 Independent Sample Test
N Mean Standard
Deviation Standard Error Mean Do you think that the students
are able to communicate properly?
Teachers 50 2.6 1.12 0.15
Parents 50 2.3 1.11 0.15
Do you feel that students can co-operate to their peers and elders?
Teachers 50 2.08 1.07 0.15
Parents 50 1.86 0.99 0.14
Do you feel that the students are responsible in doing their class work and home work?
Teachers 50 2.0 1.65 0.23
Parents 50 1.86 1.62 0.23
Do you think that students listen to the instructions properly?
Teachers 50 1.76 0.99 0.14
Parents 50 1.74 0.98 0.13
Do you think that the students
are self-controlled? Teachers 50 1.5 0.9 0.12
Parents 50 1.54 0.89 0.12
4 FINDINGS
From the analysis results, it is evident that the closure of school due to the COVID 19 Pandemic impacted a lot to the academic skills of early age learners. The results also shows that the early learners are capable to handle the computer and to attend the online classes with the help of parents. The data analysis results of the survey about the social skills of students did not show much significant difference. The co-operation skills of the students show a significant effect of covid -19 on them. Most of the parents and teachers are of the opinion that students are self -centred after the reopening of the school.
5 CONCLUSION
Having completed the investigation on the effect of Covid-19 on the academic achievement and social skills of early years learners, the researchers conclude that there is irrefutable evidence to prove the effect of covid 19 on the reading, writing and arithmetic skills of kindergarten and balvadi students. At the same time there is no conclusive evidence to support the claim that COVID 19 had an impact on the social and ICT skills of students who moved from Balvadi to grade 1 post COVID 19. There is a significant difference between the academic achievement of the kindergarten and balvadi students prior to the pandemic and post pandemic. Hence the first hypothesis is rejected. There is no significant difference between the social skills of the kindergarten and balvadi students prior to the pandemic and post pandemic.Hence, the second hypothesis is accepted.
The researchers conclude that much needs to be done to bridge the learning gap that has creeped in the early years learning programmes. A strong foundation is crucial and thus it’s imperative that adults working for the welfare of little children need to be conscious about this gap.
REFERENCES
1. Di Pietro, G. B., Biagi, F., Karpinski, Z., & Mazza, J.(2020) The Likely Impact of COVID-!9 on Education Reflections Based on the existing Literture and recent International Datasets. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
2. Mustafa, N. (2020). Impact of the 2019-20 Coronavirus Pandemic on Education. International Journal of Health Preferences Research,1-12.
