Impact of

COVID –
19 on
Educatio
n
By: Ravindra Ramadhar

Figure 1 – cepal.org
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Page
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Literature Review 4-9
Methodology 10
Findings 11-12
Analysis 13
Conclusion 14
Bibliography 15
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Title Page

CANDIDATE NAME: Ravindra Ramadhar

CANDIDATE NUMBER: 1600890000

CENTRE NUMBER: 160089

NAME OF SCHOOL: Tunapuna Secondary School

TERRITORY: Trinidad and Tobago

TEACHER’S NAME: Mrs. St Rose

PROFICIENCY: General

DATE SUBMITTED: January 2021

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Introduction

Who would have thought that the impacts of the corona virus were this cruel? An

interview survey study by JMIR Publications (2020) reports that 91% of students reported

negative impacts by the pandemic .As you should have known by now COVID-19 is an

infectious disease which most likely originated from zoonotic origin, from bats or another

closely-related mammal. According to the Ministry of health of Trinidad and Tobago, most that

are affected by the virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory sickness, but shall recover

without need from special treatments. Elderly people, as well as those with underlying medical

problems such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic respiratory

disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.

Figure 2 – Ministry of Health s

An interview survey study by JMIR Publications (2020), reports that of the 195 students who

participated, 177 of them (91%) indicated increased that their lives where affected in negative

ways due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Nutrition of millions are at stake as the entire food

system is affected. Without the means to earn an income during lockdowns, many are unable to

feed themselves and their families. Many children around the world do not have access to the

internet or electronic devices and those who do, face technical difficulties often
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Literature Review

Problems Facing People

United Nations (2020), more than one billion youth are now no longer physically in

school after the closure of schools and universities. The disruption in education could have

medium and long-term consequences on the quality of education, though the efforts made by

teachers’ to cope with the unprecedented circumstances to the best of their ability should be

recognized. Even though the elderly are more likely to die from COVID – 19 there still lies a

chance for completely healthy people to die as well; and that is a chance you don’t want to take.

Families are affected as the parents or the head of the household are laid off because of

restrictions, diminishing their livelihood, which cause low morale and depression, affecting the

mental health and well-being of the children.

Nutrition

The pandemic has been affecting the entire food system and has laid bare its fragility. Border

closures, trade restrictions and confinement measures have been preventing farmers from

accessing markets, which includes buying inputs or selling their produce, and agricultural

workers from harvesting crops, which disrupts domestic and international food supply chains and

reducing access to healthy, safe and diverse diets. Nutrition of many students is affected as the

school feeding programmes is no longer in service, many students will be malnourished.

Problems facing younger children

Josephine Elia states that Children are naturally resilient, and most fared relatively well in the

early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as the disruption lingered, children began to face greater

challenges, says Dr. David Perry. He says schools were not prepared for the rapid transition to online

learning and children struggled with fewer in-person interactions. Perry While students may have earned
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passing grades; many may be unprepared for the next school year. Parents should watch for signs of

mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, and self-injurious thoughts or behaviors.

Children may be worried about contracting the virus themselves, or they may fear for the safety of a

parent or another adult. It's also important to remember that COVID-19 can cause other strains on

children's mental health. Josephine advises parents to make the children exercise, promote curiosity,

Encourage spirituality, give the children words of encouragement, let them experience nature, get to know

your child’s friends to help them cultivate these relationships, monitor screen time and listen to music as

it allows them to get in touch with their emotions.

Problems In Education

UNICEF (2020) reported that due to school closures aimed at controlling the spread of

COVID-19, more than 1 billion students are at risk of falling behind on their education.

Countries have implemented remote education programmes to keep the world's children

educated. However, many children around the world – notably those from lower-income families

– lack access to the internet, personal computers, televisions, or even radios at home,

exacerbating existing learning inequities. Students who do not have access to the tools required

for home-based learning are limited in their options for furthering their education. As a result,

many people risk never going back to school, ruining years of educational achievement around

the world. With school closures in 188 nations (as of April 2020), many are looking for new

ways to deliver ongoing education through technologies like the Internet, television, and radio.

However, in many low- and middle-income nations, particularly among impoverished

households, access to these technologies is limited.

Challenges in Online Teaching and Learning

According to Pearl Jacobs (2013) in traditional courses, the most important factors that

might affect students learning are considered. These include age, reason for taking the course,
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preconceptions about the content of the course and familiarity with the technology required for

the course. It is important to identify the types of students enrolled in the course in order to

design an appropriate interaction system that will allow the student to learn and enjoy the

experience. The original role of the online teacher was to facilitate online discussion. The

increasing number of online courses has made education much more accessible. Online learning

creates a situation in which the instructor may not be readily available to provide feedback. This

can actually enhance the learning experience for students by stimulating their fellow students to

learn. There is agreement in the literature that online education is quite different from the

traditional classroom approach and must develop its own pedagogies (Baran et al., 2011) One

characteristic that is often mentioned as lacking in online learning is higher-order thinking. This

may be because instructors attempt to take traditional classroom practices and superimposed

them on online courses. If instructors create an effective online learning environment, it will lead

students towards higher levels of learning. The various social media and networking sites that

students participate in have led to the belief that students are all tech savvy. This is a false belief.

Recent research suggests that young students are not well acquainted with ordinary desktop

applications that have been taught to them. In order for students to benefit from online courses,

they must be comfortable with the technology. Mobile devices are suited for this task and are

much more difficult to work with for school work.

Problems Facing Students

According to JMIR Publications (2020) there are numerous amounts of challenges in

which students are facing. The survey they conducted indicated that (71%) of the students had

increased stress and anxiety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A vast number of students have

difficulty in concentrating on academic work as there are various sources of distractions. Out 173
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with concentration difficulties, (46%) said that the reason was due to their environment, (23%)

said that is was due to a lack of accountability, (10%) stated that the distractions were due to lack

of interaction and (3%) was due to monotonous life patterns. “A vast majority of the participants

(177/195, 91%) indicated that COVID-19 increased the level of fear and worry about their own

health and the health of their loved ones”. A majority of participants (168/195, 86%) reported

disruptions to their sleep patterns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over one-third (38%)

reported such disruptions as severe. Half of students who reported some disruption (50%) stated

that they tended to stay up later or wake up later than they did before the outbreak. In the survey,

the majority of respondents (167/195, or 86 %) said the epidemic has worsened social isolation.

Over half of these students said their general interactions with other individuals, such as friends,

had greatly diminished. A third of respondents (52/167) expressed concern about a lack of in

person interactions, such as face-to-face meetings. Others (5%) said that interruptions to outdoor

activities (such as jogging and hiking) had a negative impact on their mental health. A majority

of participants (159/195, 82%) showed concerns about their academic performance being

impacted by the pandemic. (38%) of students were concerned about changes in the syllabus and

with the quality of the classes, 23% were worried about the progress of research and class

projects as a result of lack of physical interaction. Some students (137/195, 70%) reported

increased eating habits since COVID-19 was implemented. (20%) addressed that their eating

patterns have become more inconsistent; some students (12%) reported decreased appetite,

whereas others (5%) were experiencing emotional eating or a tendency to eat when bored.

Students (14%) reported that they were having healthier diets, as they were cooking at home and

not eating out as much as they used to. A majority of participants (86%) reported disruptions to

their sleep patterns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over one-third (38%) reported such
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disruptions as severe. Half of students who reported some disruption (50%) stated that they

tended to stay up later or wake up later than they did before the outbreak. (7%) of the students

reported increased hours of sleep, while others (6%) had poor sleep quality. A fairly large

amount of respondents (130/195, 67%) described that the pandemic has resulted in significant

changes in their living conditions. More over half of the participants (115/195, or 59%)

expressed anxiety about COVID-19 having an influence on their financial status. COVID-19 has

impacted or is anticipated to impact many people's existing and future employment prospects,

such as part-time jobs and internships (38%). In the aftermath of COVID-19, some (18%)

acknowledged the financial troubles of their family members, especially parents, who were laid

off or received wage cutbacks. The effect of COVID-19 on class workload among the college

students was not conclusive. Although slightly over half of participants (54%) indicated their

academic workload has increased due to COVID-19, the rest stated the workload has remained

the same (36%) or rather decreased. “When asked about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

on depressive thoughts, 44% (86/195) mentioned that they were experiencing some depressive

thoughts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Major contributors to such depressive thoughts were

loneliness (28/86, 33%), insecurity or uncertainty (10/86, 12%), powerlessness or hopelessness

(9/86, 10%), concerns about academic performance (7/86, 8%), and overthinking (4/86, 5%).”

Out of 195 participants, 16 (8%) said the pandemic had caused them to have suicide thoughts,

with 5 percent (10/16) saying they were light and (3%) saying they were moderate. Six

participants (38%) said that the prevalence of depressive thoughts contributed to their suicidal

thoughts. Academic performance (6%), troubles with family when they came home (6%), and

dread of insecurity and uncertainty (6%) were among the other reasons given. “To cope with
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stress and anxiety imposed by COVID-19, college students reported seeking support from others

but were mainly using various self-management methods.

Figure 3 - imf.org
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Methodology

Effects of COVID-19 on College Students’ Mental Health in the United States:

Interview Survey Study by JMIR Publications

The aim of this study is to identify major stressors associated with the COVID-19

pandemic and to understand their effects on college students' mental health. This paper

documents the findings from online interview surveys conducted in a large university system in

Texas. They state “We conducted interview surveys with 195 students at a large public

university in the United States to understand the effects of the pandemic on their mental health

and well-being. The data were analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods.” The

paper was published on the 3rd of September, 2020. The mean age of the participants is 20.7; the

male to female ratio is 84:111

Education and COVID-19 by UNICEF

UNICEF's new Data Warehouse is designed to allow easy access to data on child malnutrition

across a range of countries. UNICEF claims that it is the world's leading source of data on

children and maintains databases of hundreds of international valid and comparable indicators.

Their data is based on recent data collection efforts from UNICEF Country Offices and UNICEF

National Committees that entails a survey of over 100 questions.

Special issue on COVID-19 and Youth by the United Nations

The United Nations has a very large number of reputable sources such as The World Health Organization

as well as several countries’ national health data.

The challenges of online courses for the instructor by Pearl Jacobs

Pearl Jacobs is an online instructor she gathered her information based off of research which she

referenced in her article.

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Findings

Data by UNICEF

 The economy is in a terrible state as almost every country is in a recession and a lot of

businesses are not open; and those that are open are operating at strict protocols and are

not making as much revenue

 Everything is inflated and most countries’ money is losing value

 Many are malnourished due to the pandemic.

 Many are unemployed and are in desperate need for work.

 Many students are worried, have changed their sleeping habits, and have difficulty in

concentrating due to the pandemic.

 Most young children are not taking the pandemic well and are behind academically as

there are no teachers to teach them and parents aren’t handling it well

 Many are having financial difficulties even if they are working.

 Prolonged use of electronic devices can cause headaches and eyestrain.

 For the majority of students, their morale is low.

 Many students have become more insecure.

 Many students have increased stress and anxiety.

 There is difficulty in group projects as there is no physical interaction.

 While more than 90 per cent of the countries adopted digital and/or broadcast remote

learning policies, only 60 per cent did so for pre-primary education.

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 Policy measures taken by the governments to ensure learning continuity through

broadcast or digital media allowed for potentially reaching 69 per cent of schoolchildren

(at maximum) in pre-primary to secondary education globally.

 31 per cent of schoolchildren worldwide (463 million) cannot be reached by the

broadcast- and Internet-based remote learning policies either due to the lack of necessary

technological assets at home, or because they were not targeted by the adopted policies.

 Online platforms were the most used means by the governments to deliver education

while schools remain closed, with 83 per cent of countries using this method. However,

this allowed for potentially reaching only about a quarter of schoolchildren worldwide.

 Television had the potential to reach the most students (62 per cent) globally.

 Only 16 per cent of schoolchildren could be reached by radio-based learning worldwide.

 Globally, 3 out of 4 students who cannot be reached by the remote learning policies come

from rural areas and/or belong to the poorest households.

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Analysis

Theme Out of 195

Own health and the health of loved ones  177

Difficulty in concentration  173

Sleeping habits  168
Social relation/social isolation  167
Academic performance  159
Eating patterns  137
Changes in living environment  130
Financial difficulties  115
Class workload  106
Depressive thoughts  86
Suicidal thoughts 16 

Figure 4 - Participants’ ratings on mental health aspects in an order of negative impacts (mild,
moderate, and severe). - jmir.org
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Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic has a detrimental influence on higher education due to the

long-term pandemic scenario and onerous measures like as lockdown and stay-at-home

directives. The findings indicate the urgent need to create interventions and preventive methods

to address college students' mental health.

From The Challenges of Online Courses for the Instructor, I found that most teachers are

doing the best they could to teach and make the classes as interactive as they could however

most students are not making their best efforts. Although, some of them may not have the proper

tools to engage in the online classes, the students’ environment affects their academic

performance, and without face-to-face interactions, it is much more difficult to learn and teach.

Figure 5 - HealthyChildren.org
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Bibliography
Jacobs, Pearl. "The Challenges Of Online Courses For The Instructor." Research In Higher
Education Journal 21(2013): 1-18 retrieved from The Sacred Heart University website:
https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=cj_fac

Merck and Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA. 5/19/2021 Josephine Elia, MD, Sidney Kimmel Medical
College of Thomas Jefferson University | Nemours/A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children: retrieved from
MSD Manual Consumer Version:
https://www.msdmanuals.com/home/news/editorial/2021/05/18/14/32/covid19-and-mental-health-in-
children

UNICEF | for every child (September 2020) Education and COVID-19: retrieved from UNICEF’s
website: https://data.unicef.org/topic/education/covid-19/

United Nations | Department of Economic and Social Affairs Youth (8 April 2020) Youth and
COVID-19: retrieved from the United Nations website:
https://www.un.org/development/desa/youth/news/2020/04/covid19/