Lockdown and learning: How students managed during Covid-19

Mehroz Afrain, then studying in Class 8 in Pune, said, “Those online classes on Teams were a total mess. Most people just logged in for attendance and then zoned out. Only the super-disciplined ones actually paid attention. My entire 8th grade pretty much disappeared thanks to the lockdown.”

Parikhit Baruah, who was a Class 11 student in Guwahati when the lockdown was first imposed, said he also struggled from a lack of discipline and engagement. He said, “Parents, who were also busy with their own responsibilities, couldn’t always monitor us. Additionally, technical issues such as unstable internet connection and limited peer interaction further impacted the quality of education.”

Even for those who were comfortable with online classes, all was not well. Krishna Devi was a Chartered Accountancy student in Pune in 2020. She was used to studying using video lectures even before in-person classes were shut down but long-term health issues caused by a Covid-19 infection had a negative effect on her education. “It took me almost a month to recover and even after recovery, my health was not the same as before. I never used to get sick before Covid-19, but after that, I got a fever/cold almost every month. This caused huge difficulty in my studies,” she said.

Educators also had to face a massive transformation. Aditi Misra, Director, Delhi Public School International, Gurgaon, explained, “Teachers, many of whom had never taught online before, had to rethink their lesson plans to engage and assess students in new ways. Without being physically present, it became harder to gauge student engagement and track their progress.” She added that younger students faced challenges with attention and screen fatigue, while older students encountered difficulties with exams and career planning.

Professor Geeta Shinde, Head of Department, Education and Extension, at Savitribai Phule Pune University, said the lockdowns led to a technology revolution in the field of education, results of which are used till date. However, she points out a caveat, “Education is easily accessible but is it effective? Is it education or illusion of education? Now after five years, we are still feeling the heat. Staying away from schools for almost two years of lockdown has affected not only the aptitude (the learning ability) but also the attitude (the will to learn) to a larger extent.”

Social interactions

But education is not just about learning. For many, the best college memories are made while having a vada pav outside the college gate. Krishna Devi shared that even though she is not an extrovert, not being able to meet friends and family was very challenging. She said, “It was very challenging for me to stay at home all day and also to work alone from home. And as there was nowhere else to go my screen time increased drastically.”

Similarly, Afrain talked about how she struggled with having real connections with her friends and said, “While my friends and I maintained connections through chats, calls, and video calls, it simply wasn’t the same. I deeply missed the casual and spontaneous moments of hanging out with my friends and the shared laughter that only physical presence can provide.”

The disasters of the pandemic and the loss of life and livelihood need no recounting, but students still found positives – like using free time to connect with family and rediscover hobbies. “If we can integrate judicious use of technological innovations of the post-Covid era and the socially active and interactive environment of the pre-Covid era, then we will be able to develop the right attitude and aptitude towards learning and education at large,” concluded Prof Shinde.