Impact of COVID-19 on school education

We have seen that in the past 3 months a news has made its way from a corner on 3rd or 4th page to conquering each and every page on the newspaper . At present total number of  corona virus infectants around the globe is approx. 20 lacs with a death toll of approx. 2 lacs while in India total number of active cases is approx. 25 thousand with a death toll of approx. 1.2 thousand. These figures just tell us about the direct impact i.e. health impact of corona virus but apart from this it has also indirectly affected many lives and many sectors in world as well as India. Amongst many other sector like Real estate sector , Automobile sector etc. Education sector in India has also suffered on of the hardest hit by COVID 19 . Corona Virus transmits through air. An infectant of Corona virus can unknowinglytransmit it to thousand others just by roaming on the streets . Keeping this in consideration Indian Govt. has imposed a nationwide lockdown to minimize the transmission .All school and colleges has also been closed. With over 260 million students India is one of the largest School Education System all over the world . School closure have a negative impact on education and learning of the huge student population of the country .  

1) Education Of students    Many students in our country are  under privileged and school is their only source of education.  When schools are closed students have limited opportunities for growth and development . During this period parents are often asked to facilitate students with their studies . While many Parents can successfully school their children at home  but it is very unlikely to generalise this to entire population of India . Many parents in India have limited education .for them it is extremely difficult to guide their wards .  
2) Students are deprived of Social interaction  Reports says that schooling is the best method to raise social skills of a child . In school students chat with their classmates , discuss different topics , have arguments on those topics , these all activities are very much required to build a personality. When a student is asking question to his teacher in front of whole class or when he is giving an opinion on a topic while having a discussion it actually boosts his confidence and enhance his communication skills . Lack of social skills can have a very negative impact on a child . In absence of this skill an individual will not ever be able to express his views in front of bunch of people and gradually will start lacking self esteem . A person with low self esteem can go either ways to prove himself  i.e. he can hurt himself or others . To avoid these serious consequences schooling is very important .  

3) Disruption at every level of education  The period of March- May  is extremely crucial in Indian education system . During this period Boards exams are held for different certification Boards of secondary and higher secondary education .Many competitive / entrance exams such as JEE ( Joint Entrance Exams ) , NEET ( National Eligibility Entrance 
Test )  etc. are conducted during this period  for admission in Primary institutes of India . Pandemic has hit in such a time that it caused extension of exam date. Delayed exams can lead to disruptions at every level of education as all of them are linked to a chain .   When students are in a flow of giving exams and suddenly something like this happens and their their exams get delayed for a long time it adversely affect their mental condition . Holding pressure of exams for long period make them frustrated and they eventually get distracted .  
4) Unequal resources Online classes are seen as an alternative option of school education . Many students are even benefitted out of this but students of rural areas and under privileged class are in someway or the other falling short in taking the advantages . First and foremost rural areas does not have a consistent and trustworthy internet speed . Students in rural areas are not yet fully accustomed to new technologies due to lack of resources. For them school education was their sole trustworthy resource of education . 

5) Food deficit Proper nutrition and balanced diet is very important for mental and physical growth of a child . Many Children in India still rely on Free food and meals provided by the schools .This can be considered as a major problem for the children’s from lower communities as the schools have been already closed for more than a month . 
 
Measures to be taken  In this situation the only solution that comes in every mind is distance learning sources . One of the main reason for this dependency is its feature to provide information without any physical contact and also  anyone can receive it from any part of the world . Although a certain part of population is still deprived of this facility but for the time being thus is the best solution that everyone has come up with 

Damine Ojha  
Class – 12 (Science)
Salt Lake Shiksha Niketan 
Secured Joint 2nd Position (GROUP - I) in ' E-Competition on Creativity' organized by Techno India Group.

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