Although masks aren’t widely required and there’s no longer a toilet paper shortage, COVID-19 is still affecting people around the world. The virus isn’t just still active – it has, and will continue to have long-term effects on nearly every aspect of people’s everyday lives.
For many young people, the 2020 lockdown is most memorable because they had to abruptly transition to online learning, going from seeing their classmates in person every day to joining a Zoom meeting for school.
Education was an area of society majorly altered by the pandemic. The changes that schools across the world underwent, from elementary schools to college campuses, have not all gone back to the way they were before the pandemic began.
The abrupt change to remote learning during the pandemic led to a significant disruption to the traditional education system. Many students struggled to adjust to the new style of learning of the online format.
There are long-term consequences to months spent unexpectedly learning online from home during a worldwide pandemic; many students have not yet returned to the level of learning they were at before COVID-19 began.
A report from NWEA states that “On average, students will need the equivalent of 4.1 additional months of instruction in reading and 4.5 months in math to meet pre-pandemic levels of achievement.”
Students aren’t just facing lasting academic struggles because of COVID. The pandemic took a toll on the mental health of students, with increased stress, anxiety and depression reported across various age groups.
A study from the National Library of Medicine reported that, “The pandemic adversely affected student mental health, leading to an increased prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). This may have a significant impact on their mental health issues such as frustration, stress, and sadness.”
The abrupt transition to remote learning, social isolation and the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic created a challenging environment for students. The lingering effects of these mental health struggles still persist, impacting students’ ability to focus, engage and perform academically.
The long-term effects of the pandemic aren’t all negative. The pandemic prompted a reevaluation of traditional learning environments. Hybrid and remote learning models, initially adopted as temporary solutions, have become integral components of modern education.
Lana Kuchta, a professor in Boise State’s English department, discussed how students have recovered from the damage done by the pandemic.
“Students have been amazingly resilient,” Kuchta said. “They advocate for themselves a little better than they may have used to, they advocate for what they need as learners and they understand the environments they learn best in now.”
Kuchta went on to talk about how the lockdown and online learning affected not just students, but instructors in the long-term as well.
“We’ve learned to be a lot more flexible and adaptive as instructors, for example, being able to teach in person or move it to Zoom or move things online,” Kuchta said. “We have formats like hybrid courses, there are increases in the number of online courses we’re offering.”
While there were and are devastating consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, both on education and the entire world surrounding it, people have been able to find the good in the situation and use what they learned during the lockdown to make things like education better in the world around them.
The impact of the pandemic on students extends far beyond the immediate disruptions we saw in the past. As we navigate the educational landscape today, it is essential to recognize and address the lasting effects, from learning loss and mental health struggles to educational inequities and the redefinition of learning environments.
