Education in Post COVID-19 Period: Impacts and Initiatives
Creators: name: Ahmed, Tanjil
Publisher: name: The Daily Sun
Year: 2021
Subjects: Education
Post Covid-19
Bangladesh
Challenges of Education
Impacts and Initiatives

description: The pandemic Covid-19 has drastically hit the education sector along with the economy around the globe. Never before has there been such a catastrophe in the health, economy, and education worldwide at a time due to any natural epidemic. It is sincerely observed that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the education sector than the rest of the sectors where groundbreaking action is essential to adjust to the new normal.
Globally, more than 160 crore pupils have been affected directly or indirectly. The actual number of dropouts, especially at the primary and higher levels, is relatively high and very alarming. According to the United Nations (UN), more than 23.8 million students have dropped out this year. At least four crore children have been deprived of pre-primary education (UN, 2021). However, the main reasons behind such dropouts are economic barriers, poverty, and uncertainty.
In Bangladesh, since the present Covid-19 situation has somewhat eased, by following hygiene rules, the Ministry of Education has opened the education institutions and propelled a limited range of curricula from primary to higher secondary level. As well, the public universities remained open as per the guidelines of the government, the Ministry of Education, and the University Grand Commission (UGC) since September of this year.
However, the biggest concern in the present circumstances is the absence and dropout of students in educational institutions. A joint study by the private research institute namely Power and Participatory Research Center (PPRC) and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) found that 19% of students dropped out of primary school and 25% at the secondary level (PPRC & BIGD 2021).
Although many assume that during the pandemic, child marriage at the school or college level has been caused the highest number of female learners' dropouts, the number of male learners' dropouts is not insignificant. Just as many impoverished families are forcibly married off their cherished daughter due to the family crisis (especially economic crisis), so too many male children are obliged to carry out the family responsibilities through petty occupations.
Particularly in this catastrophe, a large number of families from the poorest to the poorest have been compelled to take their children out of school and place them in low-wage occupations. As a result, male and female students have both dropped out alarmingly. In this regard, economic crises, child marriage, and child labor have been identified as the core causes of students' dropping out of education amid the pandemic.
Similarly, the Covid-19 pandemic has posed a severe adverse impact on the students in terms of increasing physical complications, emotional difficulties (such as insomnia, stubbornness, and loneliness), internet addiction, and physical violence, etc. Particularly, depression, anxiety, and stress have been increased terrifyingly among the learners during the pandemic. Psychologists articulate that the implications of such depression and anxiety may horrific.
In recent statistics, it has been found that 52.6% of students are suffering from heavy depression and anxiety (Sultana, 2021) whereas another study demonstrates that 12.7 percent had suicidal tendencies (Tasnim, 2020).
Therefore, the government, education ministry, and other concerned authorities should take appropriate steps to prevent dropping out as well as eliminate the mental complications of learners from elementary to higher education. However, the following recommendations can be effective policies in terms of protecting students from dropping out at an alarming rate in the post-Covid-19 period.
Firstly, responsible and warm communication of students and their families with the educational institution must be ensured so that the educational institution can ensure the symmetry and progress of the students. Secondly, students and their families need to be counseled through the participation of the head of the respective educational institution, civil society, and the local representatives so that the guardians of the students cannot take any wrong decision or move any wrong path.
Thirdly, considering the emotional state of the students, the teachers and parents should create a friendly environment, as well as develop a good and friendly relationship with them. Moreover, guardians should ensure an easy and comfortable physical engagement for the children and adolescents so that they can get rid of mental trauma.
Fourthly, in order to reduce session jams, lesson time in the classroom should be increased in a flexible manner. Fifthly, the government and education ministry should increase as well as implement education scholarships/stipends inclusively so that marginalized students can bear the education cost and adjust to the post-Covid-19 situation.
Sixthly, since the learners have been psychologically affected severely during the pandemic, every educational institution should ensure the consultation of a psychiatrist under the supervision of the education ministry. Particularly, the main purpose of such consultation is to know the mental state as well as improve the psychological condition of the students' at a regular interval.
Seventhly, indigent students should be brought under the 4thPrimary Education Development Program (PEDP-4) so that they can continue their education. Moreover, the education institutions should arrange recreational events/programs (such as study tours or cultural events) so that students can be stimulated to cope up with the new normal.
Finally, the Ministry of Education and the concerned authorities should take the proper monitoring and evaluation activities in order to ensure the check and balance between the planning and implementation. Correspondingly, the educational institution, the guardians of the students, civil society actors, local representatives, and the development partners have to work together to bring the students back to the educational institution as before.