Student vs Pandemic: The Combat for Lucid Sanity

"During the course of one and a half hour filled with hesitations, self-consciousness and distractions of automobiles outside, I found myself surfing and chatting on the internet. It’s almost two years since my school switched to online learning set-up and I don’t think my experience was bizarre; I imagined similar scenarios playing out in other virtual classrooms across the world," Glorinel said.

The surge of COVID-19 pandemic has backfired which resulted the schools shut all around the world. Globally, over 1.2 billion students in 186 countries are affected by school closures due to this health crisis. As a matter of fact, education has changed drastically along with the disparate birth of learning whereby teaching was striving remotely on different digital platforms. With this abrupt shift of educational setups in many parts of the globe, some are hesitant whether the integration of distant learning will be efficient and how such shift would impact the students’ coping abilities.

The emergence of new modality for learning has brought a profound impact on students. As a result, different challenges and hardships had surfaced among learners:

Intermittent connectivity and lack of resources are some of the major issues that a student has to juggle. This may sound cliché but issues with internet connection only add to the online student’s frustration and a hindrance to learning sessions making it hard to keep up with the classmates in the learning context.

“My main struggle as a college student is because of the poor internet connection here in our locality. Sometimes I can feel that I was left behind by my classmates and with the topics online.” Mr. Burgos said during an online interview.

In addition, being left behind was also a challenge to all students. During normal set-ups in the classrooms, teachers can adjust their pace and facilitate with the learner’s needs but in an online environment, it is more difficult to do so. Students utter the words ‘thank you” and then leave the virtual class doubtful or worst having no learnings at all.

“During my online class, I’m just waiting for the time to end because even though I tried myself to stay focus, I just can’t learn something.” Ms. Cabatuan said during an interview.

Moreover, maintaining balance as a child and as a student was also an issue in online learning. Many students struggle with the chores at home while doing their activities online. Sometimes students being a breadwinner would resort to stress and anxiety for being bombarded with a lot of dilemmas both school and at home.

“It’s really hard to balance my studies as well my work especially in this online setup. This setup affects my mental health.” Ms. Capa said in an online interview.

On the other hand, improving social aspect has also brought great impact despite being in a distant learning modality. This can be through virtual classroom collaborative activities or even around social media outlets set outside the online classroom. Interacting virtually fosters a considerable bond, a camaraderie founded with shared goals and many other supportive attributes for the students. This is indeed a trial harder to face for some than others.

“I still enjoy learning even though I seldom attend class and I have classmates also that turned into friends which are always helpful, making my experience in the new normal more enjoyable and fruitful,” Miñoza said in an online interview.

Nonetheless, the COVID-19 pandemic will continuously extend hardships beyond those that come up in the course of distant education. Even though this viral spread subsides or vaccination becomes fully dosed to everyone, the changes from online classes back to normal learning setup may beget disruptions of its own—adapting back to higher standards of responsibility, habitual attachment to gadgets and landing on ideas and insights that arise out of discomfort in the room. This unpredictability is often existing in the future, thus, we must significantly recognize these urges when they arise.

These challenges are only a few that students face during online learning. The sudden switch to online classes dramatically affects our mental health and sparked uncertainties among students about their academic futures. It’s easy to be concerned about your future education during this time, but it’s important to remember that you aren’t alone.

Lastly, spread the message of hope and optimism during these trying times. Have empathy for others and try to comprehend their situations because it has never been easy to all of us. Let us stay safe, sane and well-informed as we combat the unseen. We are a few steps closer towards a better world with a healed humanity.

Together let us hold unto each other and ensure that our ‘new normal’ will be a better one, shall we?