Challenges Students Face During the Pandemic

The Covid-19 outbreak negatively impacted people from all around the world. The changes in routine and the loss of security and safety make many people anxious and hard to happily move on with their lives, leading to people struggling to make changes and adapt to a completely new environment. While all people struggle during the Covid-19 pandemic, students, especially younger ones, face many challenges and struggle to cope with them.

Students have been taking online classes for almost a year now and the shift from face-to-face to online classes during the first month of the pandemic was not easy. First, not everyone had access to the same resources and special needs. If the teachers struggled using technology, students had no choice but to wait for them to figure out how to use it. This stopped many students from getting help right away, putting them behind in classes. The work they had to complete would just pile up and eventually, students would lose motivation to catch up and complete all the work. The long-term consequence of not getting the full education and help of teachers would impact students’ professional career or higher education in the future. Not only this, but students also who do not have access to laptops or the internet at home struggled to take classes and to catch up with the learning.

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The coronavirus impacts students’ mental health as well. Many students had to miss their significant life events, such as birthdays, proms, graduation, and vacations due to social distancing. Not being able to physically be with friends and family made students feel lonely and depressed because they did not have any alternative, creative way to stay connected, especially for the elementary students and the kindergartners. Also, with the widespread cases of the coronavirus, many students became anxious about what is going to happen next. This created a huge amount of stress, eventually leading to negative effects on learning and physiological health.

Learning new things can be tough, especially during a pandemic. Therefore, students need to learn how to cope with these new challenges. For example, students can address their stress factors with trusted adults, have a balanced routine, and keep socially connected with family and friends online.