COVID-19: Impact on Our Education
The COVID-19 has affected worldwide educational systems, leading to the closures of schools, colleges and universities. Most governments around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions to stop the spread of COVID-19.In Bangladesh, this virus was confirmed to have spread in March 2020. The first three known cases were reported on 8 March 2020 by the country's epidemiology institute, IEDCR. For that reason, our educational institutions have been closed since March 17, 2020.
As of 7 June 2020, approximately 1.725 billion students are currently affected due to school closures in response to the pandemic.
According to UNICEF monitoring, 134 countries are currently implementing nationwide closures and 38 are implementing local closures,
impacting about 98.5 percent of the world's student population. 39 countries' schools are currently open.
Hence, 36,786,304 of pre-primary to upper-secondary and 3,150,539 of tertiary students are currently out of their respective educational institutions because of this pandemic coronavirus in Bangladesh. (Source: Wikipedia)
The Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh will not go away in two or three months, rather it is likely to stay for two to three years, Professor Dr. Abul Kalam Azad, Director General of Health Services, said this while talking during the daily health bulletin on Covid-19 on 18th June, 2020.
Education most often takes place through schooling and there are two phases of education in Bangladesh namely pre-primary to upper-secondary and tertiary level. It is very much uncertain how long the Covid-19 could continue. The barriers in education due to Covid-19 will not just be a short-term issue, but can also have long-term impact.
School closures impact not only students, teachers, and families but also have far-reaching economic and societal consequences. School closures in response to the pandemic have shed light on various social and economic issues, including student debt, digital learning, food insecurity, and homelessness, as well as access to childcare, health care, housing, internet, and disability services. The impact was more severe for disadvantaged children and their families, causing interrupted learning, compromised nutrition, childcare problems, and consequent economic cost to families who could not work.
In response to school closures, UNESCO recommended the use of distance learning programs and open educational applications and platforms that schools and teachers can use to reach learners remotely and limit the disruption of education.
In Bangladesh, the government has been conducting classes on Parliament TV from morning to evening, while many government and private education institutes have adopted online classes. However, students from poor rural families are unable to reap the benefits.
Aisha Ferdous Asha, 12, a student of class seven, has been trying hard to make up for the valuable time of education lost during the pandemic.
She has been at home since school closed on March 17 and his family has no TV, smartphone or internet. She walks more than one kilometer every day to attend TV classes and to take notes from a teacher.
“But it is not possible to attend all classes and I have missed about half of the classes already. I secured an A+ in class six, but I doubt I can keep up the result this year,” she said.
Like Asha, thousands of students in rural and impoverished areas of Bangladesh are in great difficulty with their education.
The curriculum for primary and secondary levels of education may be abridged if the Covid-19 situation worsens in the country.
The ministries concerned said they are observing the developments closely and are thinking of shortening the syllabuses as the pandemic has already caused a major academic disruption.
"It will be tough for students to recover from the academic losses. We will take a decision to concise the syllabus if the [Covid-19] situation aggravates," said Md Mahbub Hossain, secretary (secondary and higher education) to the education ministry.
The education ministry of Bangladesh has already shut down institutions till the first week of August.
In the meantime, the ministry concerned has already cancelled the first-term examinations for the primary students and is thinking of curtailing future exams too.
Director General of the Directorate of Primary Education Md Fasiullah said that they will shorten the syllabuses and trim exams if the situation goes beyond control.
"Firstly, we will try to recover the losses. But if the situation goes bad, we will have nothing to do but shorten the curricula," he said.
Professor Ziaul Haque, chairman of the Dhaka Education Board, said they have not received any such decision yet.
"Shortening the syllabuses can be the best option. But, we have to wait to see how the situation unfolds in the upcoming days," he said.
Meanwhile, the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams have also been postponed. Over 12 lakh examinees are passing days in uncertainty as they do not know when, or whether, the exams will begin. The exams were scheduled to begin on April 1.
Professor Dr. Syed Golam Faruk, Director General of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, said they are trying to provide quality lessons to students and also said about HSC examination that they cannot hold the exams because of emphasizing social distancing.
The classes and exams of all public and private universities have also been suspended for an indefinite period.
Universities and college campuses are places where students live and study in close proximity to each other. They are also buzzing cultural hubs, where students are brought together from nations around the world. Recently, the foundations of this unique ecosystem have been impacted significantly by the rapid spread of the Covid-19 outbreak, creating uncertainty regarding the implications for higher education.
During class closures, dips in enrollment at the beginning of a new semester and cancellations may be temporary, and it’s hard to foresee whether the novel coronavirus will result in long-term disruption to our education system.
Md. Minhazul Kabir
Lecturer
Department of English
Jashore Govt. City College, Jashore.