Life Under COVID-19 Lockdown: The Case of University Students In Dagupan, Philippines
Keywords:
COVID-19, Higher Education, Low-Income Students, Qualitative StudyAbstract
This paper aims to explore the experiences of university students in Dagupan, Philippines during the COVID-19 lockdown. Data sources were reflection papers of freshmen students from the College of Teacher Education of Lyceum Northwestern University. Thirty-one papers were reviewed. Eight themes emerged and captured as the 7F’s of the lockdown experience: (1) financial difficulties, (2) fear of infection, (3) feelings of isolation, (4) fulfilling multiple roles, (5) facing the future, (6) family and faith as sources of strength; and, (7) Facebook as indispensable coping tool. Overall analysis showed that first, more than a health crisis, the students perceived the pandemic as an economic crisis; second, the students juggled multiple roles and their role as family member took precedence over all their other roles; and third, despite difficulties, the students demonstrated adaptability as they looked for ways to cope with the situation. This study suggests that the students’ lives during lockdown did not revolve around being students alone, thus, focusing only on improving educational infrastructures might not be enough to sustain their engagement. A holistic, multi-stakeholder approach to addressing the needs of low-income students has to be designed and implemented to ensure the sustained participation of this sector in education.
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