Page 15 - XITE Magazine 2021

Annual Magazine

Covid-19 And Its Effect On Student Life:
Covid-19 And Its Effect On Student Life:
Covid-19 And Its Effect On Student Life:
A Student's Perspective
A Student's Perspective
A Student's Perspective
Nishi Kiran Guria
B.com 1st year

The Covid-19 pandemic impacted us all but I being an undergraduate student; want to share my experience on
the impact of the Covid-19 Lockdown and Unlock phase on a student's life. During this time, being a student
had its advantages and disadvantages. Talking of my personal feelings, I was initially happy about the
lockdown all over India as schools and colleges were closed, life was full of entertainment and I could enjoy the
entire day playing games, watching movies right from the morning to the night. However, after some time,
there were no more movies for me to watch and the games lost their charm. I found myself eagerly waiting for
the 'unlock' to meet friends and relatives. By this time we also started our online classes which initially felt
enjoyable as it was a completely new learning atmosphere. Sadly, within a month's time I experienced the
numerous disadvantages of this particular way of learning. I would like to point out a few advantages and
disadvantages from a student's perspective.
Advantages:

School and Collages holidays: Since schools and colleges are closed, students can use this quality time in
pursuing activities or hobbies of their interest, for which they may not have found time earlier. Many students
have also used this time to cope with academic backlogs.
Time to spend with family: In these busy times, students rarely can manage to spend quality time with their
families and rejuvenate the bond. The lockdown may be a blessing for this purpose. It gave students ample time
to spend with grandparents, cousins, parents and other relatives. Everyone is working from home and one has
to just pick up the phone to connect to family and friends staying outside.

Disadvantages

There are significant disadvantages in the form of a huge loss in jobs, lives, and the economy of the Country.
Focusing on the disadvantages from a student's perspective, they are;
Impact on Health: according to several reports, only 50-60% students attend online classes, whereas in the
classroom the attendance is around 80-90%. Online classes also have some serious health effects like effect on
the eyes of the students due to long hours in front of the blue screen. Very young children studying in the pre-
primary and primary grades are impacted psychologically as they have low concentration power and are
generally trained through activities and not just classroom instruction.

Infrastructure Gap: Lots of poor students do not have access to smart phones, laptops and computers and they
are just being left behind, which is unfair.
Change in Evaluation Criteria: Due to the inability of institutions to conduct physical examinations, students
are being awarded marks on the basis of the online internal examinations. This may impact their career in the
future.
Weighing the advantages and the disadvantages, I would like to conclude that this pandemic is not a blessing
to students at all but may foreshadow the future difficulties that a student may face while competing for
opportunities to come.

Volume-VIII, 2020 13