Barriers to Education in COVID-19 Pandemic: From the Lens of Government Schools’ Students

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of schools due to lockdown in India. Under these circumstances, students were provided education online. This paper presents the barriers faced by the senior secondary students in online education in this pandemic. Telephonic interviews of three government school students were taken to explore their learning experiences of online education. Then, based on emerging themes from the interviews, a questionnaire was designed and administered to know their learning experiences of online education vis-à-vis digital devices, network connectivity, data availability, study environment, class attendance, live and recorded online classes, online assignments and study material. The sample size was 118 students out of which 84 were from humanities and 34 from the commerce stream. It became apparent from data analysis that lack of a personal device, poor network and no internet data affected their education. In the absence of a personal study room, their families cooperated in providing them a nice study environment. In learning, they missed out on spontaneous interaction with the teacher and classmates. Interaction time between teachers and students also dropped down. Low face to face interaction was a shortcoming too. They faced technical problems. The paper concludes with suggestions for the provision of a personal device, sufficient internet data availability and better network as the basic need to improve online education. Teaching-learning activities can be more interactive. Assignments can be more innovative and original. Amidst all this, the value of school-based education remains intact as it provides an educational environment that is much wider than mere teaching-learning transactions in online education.