COVID-19 Impact on Education: Learning System, Mental Health of Students and

Effect on Parents

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has infiltrated the education
system, particularly the people responsible for its development. According to research,
more than one billion students are at risk of being caught due to school closures. This
research aims to halt the spread of the virus in order to ensure the safety of all people.
Each country has implemented distance education programs to keep children learning
during the pandemic. So far, many students have been unable to keep up with proper
learning as others due to a lack of resources such as expenses, internet access,
personal phones and computers, TV or even radio at home. Many people are affected
by the pandemic because they are already struggling with these school-based
modalities. As a result, most of the students are forced to drop out of school, losing
hope for their future, and no longer value their education.

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic, Educational System, Students, Proper Learning,

Resources

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious respiratory disease

caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2),
previously known as 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). It was first identified in
Wuhan, China on December 31, 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) on
January 30, 2020 announced the COVID-19 outbreak as a global health emergency and
declared as a global pandemic on the same year in March 11 (Cennimo, 2020). Due to
the increase in virus cases, many COVID-19 precautionary measures have been
implemented, including social distancing, asking people to stay at home and prohibiting
events or mass gatherings to control disease transmission. This forced schools and
universities to temporarily close and suspend classroom teaching and switch to blended
learning, making students, teachers and parents adjust and adapt the new normal. As of
June 11, 2021, UNESCO (2021) reported that there have been 198,613,483 affected
learners out of 11.3% total enrolled learners in 21 countrywide closures at all levels of
learning.

Learning Systems

Because schools were forced to close down and we went from traditional face-to-face to
online learning. Because of COVID-19, numerous students have suffered from this type
of arrangement. "Research regarding online learning and teaching shows that they are
effective only if students have consistent access to the internet and computers and if
teachers have received targeted training and supports for online instruction" (Emma
Garcia and Elaine Weiss, 2020 par. 1). Students are unable to catch up on lessons from
their teachers, while teachers are unable to properly educate their students due to slow
internet and poor cellular connections to their homes, or, in the worst-case scenario,
they are not even connected to the online world. Fortunately, several more teachers are
still making every effort to make students understand the lessons well and do everything
possible to accommodate this kind of set-up not just to teach but also to interact and
understand the situation of all individuals. Online learning also can adversely affect a
student's health because it can expose them to their mobile phone radiation. It can also
lead to sleepless nights due to unfinished schoolwork, which can lead to serious health
issues such as chronic sleep deprivation, high blood pressure, or even heart failure.
Despite these downfalls, online learning can have a positive impact. It can help
someone become more self-sufficient, better manage their time, and discover hidden
talents. Online learning is not for everyone, but you can certainly learn something from
it.

Mental Health of Students

This pandemic has presented many challenges to students, particularly their mental
health as they adjust to the new normal of school. Health experts have urged people to
stay at home and practice social distancing to help flatten the COVID-19 curve, but
social isolation can lead to mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and
unhealthy eating. For many students, a loss of routine, such as social interaction, and
feelings of loneliness, raises the risk of mental illness. There has also been an increase
in domestic violence and abuse during this pandemic, causing distress and trauma.
While studying at home, students become stressed and anxious, wondering when the
pandemic will end, why they are stuck at home, and feeling sluggish and unfocused.
Meanwhile, students have found it difficult to practice self-care. They struggle to
manage their personal lives and problems while studying. There are even students who
drop out of school because they are struggling to adjust to the new normal. One of their
reasons is that they are slow learners, which can lead to overthinking. Everyone can't
afford to ignore the growing number of students suffering from this illness. According to
Middleton (2021), "A child's mental health is just as important as their physical health
and deserve the same quality of support."

Effect on Parents

While parents are concerned about their family's safety in the face of COVID-19, they
also have another burden to bear. One of the most difficult challenges that the parents
face is a lack of resources in the midst of an ongoing health crisis caused by the
outbreak. In most countries such as the Philippines, contact with teachers was limited
due to the pandemic, leaving parents with primary responsibility for managing
homeschooling (Thorell, Skoglund, de la Peña, 2021). Parents working a full-time job
are struggling to help their child with their academic works because most parents do not
have funds or resources to get tutors (Francisco, 2020). There is also the general fear
related to health so parents are more wary with a person having a contact with their
home especially with their child. Parents expressed great frustration in finding high
quality educational activities and resources to support the physical and mental health of
their children during physical isolation (Vanderhout, Birken, Wong, 2020). However, not
only did students and children report an increase in depression, but parents also
reported significantly higher levels of depression. According to the Catalyst survey, 44.3
percent of parents with children under the age of eighteen living at home reported worse
mental health as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to 35.6 percent of
respondents without children under the age of eighteen. "Study results suggested that
parents’ mental health may be an important factor linked to at-home education and child
well-being during the pandemic,” said Shawna Lee (2021), U-M associate professor of
social work. This effect on parents can also have a negative impact on young children's
home education and anxiety. As the risk of future pandemics and natural disasters rises
as a result of climate change, so will the likelihood of families facing stressful situations
in the future. With these global changes, our family's resiliency, relationships, and
mental health are put to the test.

This school year has been hard and difficult for everyone who are only adjusting to the
new normal. Education should be continued however, if it causes destruction among
people's lives, it shouldn't be implemented anymore. Everyone had it hard and we
should at least take a break from all that's happening because we don't have resources
and funds to continue with this new landscape of learning. The short break from school
is so short, this test our resiliency to adapt more into this new normal. However,
continuing would sacrifice the students' mental health even if we take a break. Does
students really learn anything from this set up? As a student, we would frankly say "no".
The face to face set up is still the best way to learn than being stuck up on gadgets and
modules. However, implementing face to face is still a risk to our health because of the
Covid-19. Therefore, we suggest that DEPED and CHED should impose a plan to have
a systematic way of blended learning where we can have a modular and online learning
while also having a face to face set up. With an organized plan, we can have an efficient
and successful education for the students.

Reference List:

Cennimo, D. (2021, June 10). Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Practice

Essentials, Background, Route of Transmission.
https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/2500114-overview#a1.

UNESCO. (2021, June 2). Education: From disruption to recovery.

https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse.
E. García, E. Weiss, COVID-19 and student performance, equity, and U.S. education
(2020) https://www.epi.org/publication/the-consequences-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-for-
education-performance-and-equity-in-the-united-states-what-can-we-learn-from-pre-
pandemic-research-to-inform-relief-recovery-and-rebuilding/

Evan Thompso, Catherine Middleton, How COVID-19 Has Impacted Student Mental
Health (2021)
https://thebestschools.org/magazine/covid-19-impact-student-mental-health/

Thorell, L.B., Skoglund, C., de la Peña, A.G. et al. Parental experiences of

homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic: differences between seven European
countries and between children with and without mental health conditions. Eur Child
Adolesc Psychiatry (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01706-1

Isabel Martel Francisco, Full time parent or full time teacher? How are working parents
these days supervising their children’s classes?
https://ph.asiatatler.com/life/back-to-school-2020-how-are-parents-coping-with-virtual-
learning

Vanderhout, S.M., Birken, C.S., Wong, P. et al. Family perspectives of COVID-19

research. Res Involv Engagem 6, 69 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-020-00242-
1

CATALYST. The Impact of Covid-19 on Working Parents (2020).

Retrieved from https://www.catalyst.org/research/impact-covid-working-parents/

Wadley, J., Parents depressed by pandemic had negative impact on kids’ education,
well-being (2021).
Retrieved from https://news.umich.edu/parents-depressed-by-pandemic-had-negative-
impact-on-kids-education-well-being/

GROUP RESEARCH

Members:
Belonio, Rochelle
Magno, Bradley
Caliso, Keine
Marzan, Stephanie
Ocampo, Deither