Students suffer during pandemic as online learning falls short

Bangkok, Thailand – Students in Thailand have expressed dissatisfaction about the education situation in the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying anti-COVID measures, as schools have adopted online learning in a bid to limit the spread of the virus and protect their students.

University students said that their lives have been affected by the online learning system.

Although online learning comes with some benefits, such as both students and teachers would have more time to study and prepare, they explained that their social lives and human interaction have been negatively affected.

They urged the authorities to adopt a hybrid approach of learning whereby students can take online and in-class lessons, allowing the students and faculty to make the best out of both worlds.

“I feel that my life schedule is amess. Our schedule is too tight. We do not manage our lives properly,” said a university student.

Speaking to A24 News Agency, a teacher said despite that distance learning reduced traveling burden, the start time for lessons is being delayed due to internet connectivity issues.

“When some teachers teach online, children would need time to connect and enter the session, prolonging the process and delaying the start time. Some would lose the internet connection. When most older children use the internet, the internet would be under pressure,” the teacher said.

“I think that not going out to meet people limit human interaction. In the past, we had been able to go out to meet friends and communicate with others. But now we have to sit in a square room and talk to our friends through screens. If the situation we have persists, students’ passion and drive to study might run out,” a student told the agency.