Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on secondary level education in Bangladesh: A qualitative study

Abstract

Like many other countries in the world, educational institutions in Bangladesh remained closed for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was no face-to-face classes for a prolonged period due to pandemic, but after sometimes various educational institutions offered synchronous and asynchronous online classes. Students attended live classes through various online platform such as Zoom, Google meet, Skype and Facebook live. However, attending online classes was not easy and smooth for many students. Students faced numerous obstacles in attending online classes and many of these stories were reported in electronic and print media. However, there is a dearth of research in Bangladesh context that explored the difficulties students faced in attending online classes. This qualitative study explores various difficulties students faced to attend online classes during the pandemic. This study identified a number of reasons behind these difficulties including poor internet connection, high internet cost, lack of necessary resources, lack of ICT knowledge and lack of institutional support. More importantly neither teachers nor students had any prior experience of online teaching and learning. Moreover, uncertainty, loneliness and mental stress were also created barriers for students in their online education. Finally, this study is important as the results and recommendations will help various stakeholders to plan and take necessary actions in any kind of emergency situation in the future