Closing schools in The UK represents a logical solution to imposing social distancing within local communities due to the current situation with COVID-19.
Closing Schools and universities for a prolonged period will have a disproportionately negative impact on most students. These students now have fewer opportunities to learn at home. Plus, the time they spend outside of school may represent an economic burden for their parents, who may face challenges in taking care of their children for a long time.
How COVID-19 Affected Education
The hard-earned gains in expanding access to education can also halt, and even ended, with extended school and university closures. and access to alternative options -such as distance learning – remain out of reach for some people. COVID-19 crisis has affected the world in many ways causing losses in human capital and reduction in economic opportunities. Besides that, the educational system also has been affected badly.
Examination Cancellation
The UK government had to cancel exams in 2020 for thousands of students around the country due to the pandemic. All the efforts and time spent on studying, attending lectures, writing research papers is for nothing. Instead, Ofqual came up with a system for teachers to estimate the grades on their own. As it may sound unfair to all those students, but there was no other option to protect the country and the students themselves.
Remote Learning
After closing school and universities for a while already, the government realized that no one could tell when the quarantine will be over. While students spending all the time at home begin free with no homework nor exams, they had to make the education remotely. Modern technology helped a lot in that situation. Attending lectures and lessons online became so easy, and the chances of cheating and plagiarism have decreased.
University or college teachers still require students to write some essays or research papers to help improve their knowledge and grades. But essay writing did not get any easier with the current situation. In fact, students spend more time writing assignments on their own without consulting their teachers and professors. Modern technology helped in solving this issue. Students can find many trustworthy information sources, essay examples, and existing research papers on websites like Gradesfixer. Such information resources help students develop essay writing skills and improve their knowledge in different subjects. Some countries discuss using the remote education system for a longer period as they do not see the urgent necessity to reopen schools. Only the teachers face some obstacles keep the students engaged during online classes that why they start sharing with the students more materials to study and read on their own.
The Education Output
Keeping our children safe and healthy is the main aspect of the remote education system. the government now faces a serious challenge measuring education output. The existing measuring system is not developed enough to capture remote learning, so no one could tell how effective this method in comparison with the usual class attendance method. Therefore, The UK government developed a new system that encompasses the contribution of online learning towards the outcome.
The Bottom Line
the current situation is not easy for governments, students, teachers, or people in general. Social distancing forced governments to develop new methods and systems for societies. The mission is to protect the human capital and, more importantly, to keep fundamental processes like education going. Recently, things are getting better, and any countries already started allowing students to go to school once again. Human intelligence is far beyond any pandemic; that is why education is a must. Keep learning, adapting, and developing. nothing can really stop you.
