1. Introduction
The worldwide lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic posed a huge challenge in resuming teaching and learning. According to UNESCO (2020), the Covid-19 pandemic forced schools in 191 countries to close down, affecting some 1.5 billion learners (Panaoura, 2021). Countries around the world unanimously acquiesced that the closure of educational institutions was a necessary and effective strategy in breaking the critical transmission chain of Covid-19 pandemic (Dutta & Smita, 2020). The IAU Global Survey conducted by the International Association of Universities (IAU) revealed that 67% of the participating institutions reported having replaced conventional education with fully online education (Marinoni, Van’t Land & Jensen, 2020). The online survey conducted from 25 March 2020 to 17 April 2020 included 576 institutions from the America, Africa, Asia and Pacific, and the European regions.
International Journal of Education and Pedagogy (IJEAP) eISSN: 2682-8464 [Vol. 4 No. 1 March 2022]
Journal website: http://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijeap
TOWARDS EQUITABLE EDUCATION
Saras Krishnan1*
1 Faculty of Engineering & Quantity Surveying, INTI International University, Nilai, MALAYSIA
*Corresponding author: saras.krishnan@newinti.edu.my
Article Information:
Article history:
Received date : 24 February 2022 Revised date : 29 March 2022 Accepted date : 30 March 2022 Published date : 31 March 2022
To cite this document:
Krishnan, S. (2022).TOWARDS EQUITABLE EDUCATION.
International Journal of Education and Pedagogy, 4(1), 130-136.
Abstract: Despite the unprecedented disruption in learning caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, countries were able to take immediate steps to ensure the continuity of education from the school levels to the higher education levels.
However, the measures taken were less efficacious with the economically challenged communities. This article discusses the changes made necessary by the urgent transition from conventional learning at education institutions to fully online learning from home and the challenges faced in the transition period. More importantly, this article discusses the provision of equal educational opportunities to everyone during this transition period, especially to communities from the disadvantaged backgrounds.
Keywords: learning loss, mental health, remote learning, socio-economic status.
At the surface level, it appeared that schools and universities successfully transitioned from conventional education to fully online education almost immediately. However, questions remain as to whether the quality of education was compromised and if anyone was left behind in the process.
As Schleicher (2020) puts it, Covid-19 crisis has revealed the inadequacies and inequities of education systems, including access to technology, the environment, and misalignments between resources and needs. Moreover, while students from privileged backgrounds could continue to have an education, the urgent transition may have left behind students from the disadvantaged backgrounds.
2. Covid-19 Impact on Education
A study by Upoalkpajor and Upoalkpajor (2020) corroborated a relationship between Covid-19 and educational activities, and impact of Covid-19 on education. The impact relates directly and indirectly to numerous social and economic issues such as students’ financial conditions, health care and internet services. Students at tertiary level experienced educational disruptions due to Covid-19 on an unprecedented scale. These disruptions had an impact on students academic functioning (Charles et al., 2021) and the regular flow of academic programs (Jacob, Abigeal & Lydia, 2020) resulting in negative affects on students’ academic growth and mental states (Chandasiri, 2020). Some of the reported negative effects are dysfunctional learning behaviours (Meo et al., 2020), loss of social interactions (Dutta & Smita, 2020), and detrimental mental and physical health (Dutta & Smita, 2020). This section discusses further the impact of remote learning during the pandemic.
Financing of education
The pandemic inevitably forced diversion of public and government funds to the health sectors, and in maintaining and reviving the economic sectors. Nevertheless, in order to accommodate the sudden changes in the education sector, government channelled large amount of funds to the supply of digital devices, and for financial support of students and schools (Schleicher, 2020). On the home front, financial crisis during the pandemic caused some students to terminate their learning as their parents are not able to support their education or students lost their part time jobs (Dutta & Smita, 2020).
Lack of interaction and internalization
Studying in home environment as opposed to studying at campus environment led to lack of social interaction with instructors and fellow students. This factor resulted in interruptions to peer-learning process (Dutta & Smita, 2020). Besides that, closure of international borders affected the mobility of international students resulting in lack of international exposure and opportunities for social networking. Online education is not a substitute for an actual study abroad experience. Moreover, as more international students opted out of studying abroad, some institutions’ financial standings were affected especially where there is a large percentage of foreign students (Schleicher, 2020).
Teaching and learning
Although educational institutions appeared to have successfully transformed conventional education to remote online learning in a short time, in reality there were no sufficient tools, knowledge and experience, in most cases, for effective transitions. Not only there was a lack of social contacts and face-to-face interactions, educators may not have sufficient experience and time to conceive and deliver new instructions and assessments (Dutta & Smita, 2020). Evidence shows that students are not able to focus and are less motivated to engage in the learning activities (Meo et al., 2020; Di Pietro et al., 2020). They are stressed, anxious and spend less time in learning causing lower performance.
Students from the disadvantaged background face more stress as they have limited space and resources. For instance, some participants in the study by Dutta and Smita (2020) did not have electronic devices or internet access at home not to mention experiencing frequent power cuts. In general, the students’ home environment was not conducive for proper learning.
Learning loss
Covid-19 pandemic has caused the largest disruption to education in history (Engzell, Frey &
Verhagen, 2021). As pointed out by Di Pietro et al. (2020), the effects of Covid-19 on education systems caused reduction of available human growth, innovation and employment. In addition, the learning loss experienced by the students reduce the matching proficiency for new graduates on the labour market resulting in lesser earnings and higher job separation rates (Upoalkpajor &
Upoalkpajor, 2020). In specific, Engzell, Frey and Verhagen (2021) reported up to 60% more learning loss among the less educated households compared to the general population.
Parental role
Lockdown and learning from home caused a shift in parental role whereby parents became a more intense mediator between the teacher and the students especially for students at lower levels (Panaoura, 2021). However, the concurrent effects of lockdown on the parents’ income make parents less equipped to provide emotional and financial support. This is especially the case when parents are struggling with economic uncertainty or demands of working from home (Engzell, Frey & Verhagen, 2021), As such, there are considerable disparities among families in the degree to which they can aid their children learn (Upoalkpajor & Upoalkpajor, 2020). While some parents can afford to provide additional learning help and sustenance for their children, the parents from economically challenged backgrounds did not have the capitals nor the disposition to do so. The latter were consumed with the concern of sustaining their job and being able to continue livelihood.
Health problems
The restrictions to movement and cease of usual day-to-day activities have reportedly affected our physical and mental health. Participants in the study by Dutta and Smita (2020) experienced weight gain, weakness and fatigue caused by lack of night sleep, loss of appetite and physical inactivity.
Other observed physical problems are headaches, backache, strain to the eyes and ear-pain (Dutta &
Smita, 2020). The study by Chaturvedi, Vishwakarma and Singh (2021) showed that the students’
ability to adapt to new academic habits in the remote learning and about graduating on time, not to mention the stress of getting jobs and being established (Dutta & Smita, 2020).
3. Educational Inequity
Patel et al. (2020) rightfully said that the phrase ‘Covid-19 does not discriminate’ is a dangerous myth. Daily reports and studies have shown how Covid-19 was more punishing towards those most economically disadvantaged communities. To begin with, economically disadvantaged people who cannot afford proper accommodation live in slums and overcrowded areas. As such, they are not able to comply with social distancing measure because of the high density of population in these places.
Moreover, the lack of proper amenities and health facilities aggravated the situations for these people.
The low socio-economic status (SES) groups are more likely to have unstable work conditions and unsteady incomes, and the pandemic exacerbated these conditions. Low SES communities faced poorer economic sustenance, worse health conditions, and grave financial issues leading to the halt of already sparse education for their children.
The disparity in the educational progression and achievement among students from different SES groups is a well-documented global issue (Chmielewski, 2019). As said by Broer, Bai and Fonseca (2019), theoretical and empirical evidence emphasized the impact of SES on educational outcomes, making SES one of the most critical variables in education research. More importantly, studies found that students from different backgrounds demonstrate larger achievement gaps where educational inequality is prominent (Broer, Bai & Fonseca, 2019).
The unforeseen calamity that befell the world in these past two years has made us question our preparedness in facing such tragedies again. When education systems were excitedly advocating hybrid lessons and online classes before this, we realize going fully online may not be the ideal or ultimate decision in all situations. Covid-19 made worse the education situation for developing nations who already had a broadening education gap prior to the pandemic (Dash, Sinha & Ghosh, 2021). As said by Dash, Sinha and Ghosh (2021), the lockdown measures enacted by governments of developing nations have created huge barriers for students from low SES backgrounds. A sizable number of children from rural, remote or backward areas were unable to access online education due to scarcity of infrastructure such as gadgets unavailability and lack of affordable internet connections.
Broer, Bai and Fonseca (2019) pointed out that educational inequality have a strong association with the attainment of educational qualifications and social positions. In most education systems, differences in educational achievements are associated with students’ background, namely their SES background. However, while the positive association between SES background and educational achievement is universal, the magnitude of such associations depends on the social context and education systems. Thus, expanding access to school may not directly increase inequality but rather reveal the previously hidden inequalities that was outside the school system (Chmielewski, 2019).
Di Pietro et al. (2020) mention that policy makers should ensure that students are able to make up for the learning loss during the pandemic giving attention especially to those transitioning from one level to another. That aside, government must give more attention to students who were not able to receive an education or continue their education because of economic constraints. Students from low SES backgrounds must firstly be educated on the use of technical devices and online class platforms (Dutta
& Smita, 2020). As argued by Dash, Sinha and Ghosh (2021), in order to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for everyone, particular focus must be given to students who have constantly been excluded from even minimal educational opportunities.
Upoalkpajor and Upoalkpajor (2020) suggest establishing a task force under the leadership of the relevant ministries to come up with immediate and short-term measures and be ready to effect redress when the crisis is over. Government must ensure that parents are equipped to create a conducive learning environment, and support children in this new mode of learning (Dash, Sinha & Ghosh, 2021) especially low SES parents. This is because while all parents may equally recognize the importance of academic skills lower-SES families have much lesser resources and information about how to foster their children’s achievement (Broer, Bai & Fonseca, 2019).
4. Conclusion
Studies show that the prolonged closure of education institutions and home confinement caused learning disruptions among other ensuing adverse affects (e.g., Dutta & Smita, 2020). The closing down of learning institutions has had negative repercussions on students’ learning despite students continued to be educated remotely. As mentioned by Broer, Bai and Fonseca (2019), ideally achievement gaps among students should be a reflection of the differences in their abilities or efforts only. Sadly, students from economically challenged backgrounds felt larger impact of the learning disruptions and disruptions to assessment (Dutta & Smita, 2020) due to limited funds and resources.
Students who had some exposure to online learning and hybrid learning probably found the changes to education during the pandemic less foreboding. However, limited access to technology and the channeling of funds to the medical and economic sectors significantly suspended learning. As revealed by the the study on the impact of Covid-19 on the higher education institutions around the world by Marinoni, Van’t and Jensen (2020), European countries were the most able to transit to online learning with the highest percentage (85%). This is probably because most European countries have high SES. However, we are concerned if students in the developing nations are able to receive decent amount of education and support during such tragedies.
In retrospect however, the pandemic has shown us our strength and resilience to overcome challenges without losing hope and to thrive in the wake of these challenges. The pandemic that shook the entire world brought together humanity in one common survival goal. Survival does not mean only in terms of being alive but in terms of continuing a life as normal as possible amidst the abrupt and enormous adjustments in the day-to-day living that we faced. Acknowledging that we cannot halt education at any cost, we almost instantly were able to shift to a different way of teaching and learning. Educators and learners diligently learned new skills that are required for the remote online learning. However,
economic groups, we should seriously look into ways of narrowing the gap and work towards equitable education.
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