The Impacts of COVID-19 on School Learning in China

Author: Helen Zhang
Wuxi Big Bridge Academy
August 31, 2021

1. Introduction

For over a year now, COVID-19 has wrought unexpected and far-reaching adverse effects on the health, safety, economic and social well-being of societies across the world. Of particular concern is the impact of this pandemic on the quantity as well as the quality of learning of school-age children. Considering the adage, that children are the future of the nation, this negative impact of COVID-19 on school learning is a matter of grave concern both in the short term and the long-term.

This paper will explore these short as well as long-term effects on school learning in China.

Firstly, because during the epidemic, students could not go to school, they had to take online classes at home. This robbed them of face-to-face learning as well as the experience of in- person socializing with their peers. We would like to explore the short-term as well as the long-terms effects of this adverse change. The major short-term impact of the pandemic on schooling was the modality of instruction – classroom teaching and learning suddenly had to go ‘online’. What are the problems in online-teaching and learning?

Online classes face many problems, not all regions and families have the conditions to access the Internet. Some families do not even have mobile phones. If you have a mobile phone, you do not necessarily have a network or Wi-Fi. Therefore, online classes, virtually also to many poor families caused a burden. Of course, this is a hardware problem when these problems are solved. And new problems arise, because the teaching level of different regions is different, and there are differences in children’s performance. The national unified online course, teaching materials cannot seamlessly connect most of the students’ learning. Perhaps in the special period, the education department has done some special work, and it is the best way to solve the problem of children’s learning in front of the epidemic.

Besides the issues of inequitable or spotty availability of the internet and the related equipment, there is the critical question of professional training of the teachers. This pandemic took everybody by surprise. The teachers as well as the school administrators were expected to ‘learn overnight’ how to use the new technology as well method of teaching. That is not so straight forward since it needs professional development, training, and time to learn.

Secondly, at the family level, the parents are naturally very concerned about the students’ performance in the college entrance examination. In China, like in many other countries, high school entrance examination and college entrance examination are very important for students with very significant impact on the rest of their career and life opportunities. Therefore, these are the most concerned issues of parents and all walks of life. The impact of the epidemic will certainly affect candidates to delay the examination.

Thirdly, in many children’s minds, their idols are no longer stars. And more are great people like Zhong Nanshan, Li Lanjuan, Yuan Longping and so on. There is no doubt that the seeds have been planted in the hearts of children. I hope that when I grow up, I will become a person like them and make my own contribution to the society and the country. This outbreak. No doubt for the children, let them grow up more clearly aware of their coming to this society. What to do. What kind of people they should be has a huge impact on their values and world outlook?

2. COVID-19: A brief History of the Pandemic

In this section, I will briefly describe the history of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Caught off guard in the late Fall of 2019, the novel coronavirus pneumonia from Wuhan has been a shocking surprise for China. There are different opinions about the source. Some say it came from the seafood market in South China, while others say it came from the expatriates of last year’s Wuhan military games.

On the morning of December 31, 2019, the expert group of the National Health Commission arrived in Wuhan to carry out relevant testing and verification work. The investigation found that most of the pneumonia cases were the operators of South China Seafood City.

On January 1, 2020, the South China seafood wholesale market was closed, and the public places in Wuhan, especially the farmers’ markets, were locked down in the interest of public health and efforts to control the spread of this deadly virus. In addition, the disease prevention knowledge was widely publicized to enhance public self-protection awareness. People were urged to cooperate with the national and provincial pathogenic research especially with the National Health Commission to timely report the epidemic information to the World Health Organization.

It was clear that this lockdown had a significant effect on people’s daily life. People cannot go to the public since gathering together will make it easier to be infected. School cannot set very large events like concert, sports meeting. Everyone had to wear masks anywhere and anytime which make communication very difficult.

What happened to the transportation, the economy, the unemployment and how families were affected and in return how that affected the children.

  1. Transportation: Do not take public transportation when you have respiratory symptoms such as fever. Take less public transportation to avoid infection.
  2. The economy: Many shops closed: they could not have many profits because of the reduction on customers.
  3. Families: people had more time to stay with their family members because they seldom go outside due to the pandemic. we have a deeper understanding of family affection. In the past, we always felt that the holidays, especially the Spring Festival holidays, were too short, and the family members gathered less and left more. We felt that it was not easy to get together. This epidemic situation made us spend a super long “holiday”. We all stayed at home, and the whole family ate, lived, slept, and slept together for such a long time as never before. Our understanding is more comprehensive and further. Family is deeper.

The change of thought is a deeper understanding of life. The outbreak of the epidemic caught many people by surprise. Due to improper prevention and control or inadequate understanding, many people were infected with the virus and lost their lives. The healthiest of us, while feeling lucky, are deeply saddened by the fragility of life and the inconstancy of life. It used to be said that the moon has its ups and downs, and people have their ups and downs. It is the true facts that touch the deepest part of the mind.

3. Impact on Education at the School Level: Short Term Effects

3.1 The nature of the short-term effects in China itself

The major short-term effect was the very suddenness of the crisis. It was extremely disruptive of the life as people knew it. The range of effects included closing of businesses, lay- offs, closing of schools, shortages of food and essential supplies and generalized increase in uncertainty. The situation was particularly serious for parents with young children since after school closure, their schooling was interrupted and at the same time the parents were obligated to take care of them.

Thus, the major short-term or immediate effects could be job-related for the adults which meant financial uncertainty and budgetary crisis. Secondly, disruption of family life especially jeopardized the education of the school-aged children. Thirdly, the women in the society had to share a disproportionate burden of this crisis. Besides facing the heath crisis that everybody else faced, they disproportionately lost jobs, and, at home, they were expected to take care of the household duties such as cooking, cleaning and, on top of that, make sure of home-schooling of their children.

The picture shows that during the epidemic, which city helped which particular area.

The modernization of national governance system and governance capacity will be further accelerated, and the level will be further improved, especially the ability of defense against major biological risks will get new breakthroughs. The outbreak of the epidemic has conducted a practical test on China’s governance system and governance capability, which not only shows the effectiveness and achievements of the governance system and governance capability, but also exposes its shortcomings and defects. It provides living data and information for accelerating the improvement and improvement of the governance system and governance capability in the future, and provides a reference for the development of digital, artificial intelligence, robot, blockchain and other modern industries The application and role of science and technology in crisis management and risk prevention and control provide a realistic basis, and provide a rare opportunity for China to turn crisis into opportunity and save danger. This is another wake-up call for China’s biological risk crisis after SARS, prompting China to speed up the modernization of its governance system and governance capacity.

There will be new changes in people’s values. The most glorious and critical moment of human nature. The novel coronavirus pneumonia animal disease animal novel coronavirus pneumonia has been confirmed. For a long time, people have pursued the idea of “everything is human food”. The virus infecting wild animals has caused SARS, Ebola, new crown pneumonia and other viruses to spread to humans. After this outbreak, there will be great improvements in legislation and people’s habits, animal ethics and values. We should deal with the relationship between man and nature with a more rational attitude, respect, and revere nature, and treat wildlife well. The actual combat of the epidemic prevention and control not only highlights the glory of human honesty, kindness, integrity, justice, love, and courage, but also has a new sublimation in dealing with the relationship between people. People sincerely respect the ordinary medical staff, soldiers, farmers, workers, and those who are not afraid of sacrifice and sacrifice for everyone What ordinary fighters, volunteers and donors have done shows the importance of harmonious relationship between people, which makes people turn their attention from power, wealth and fame to respect and revere life.

Thus, it is very clear that the COVID -19 crisis had severe and unanticipated immediate effects which left the society in a virtual shock.

The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) had spread across 215 countries and territories in all 5 continents by May 12, 2020. On January 30, 2020, the unrelenting spread of COVID-19 prompted the World Health Organization to declare it a public health emergency, and on March 12, 2020 COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. This pandemic has caused great social and economic disruptions, leading to a decline in consumption, investment, services, and industrial production activities around the world. In particular, the insurance market in mainland China has been severely affected. The year-on-year (YOY) growth rate of gross premium in the first quarter of 2019 was 15.8%, while the rate was 6.27% in the first quarter of 2020, indicating a decrease of 9.53 percentage points in growth rate. In addition, the monthly YOY growth rates of premium in the first three months of 2020 were −12.53%, −21.35%, and 1.93%, respectively, showing a sharp decline compared to the rates of 23.97%, 10.19%, and 6.76%, respectively, in the same periods of the previous year.

While research on COVID-19 and equity markets globally is evolving (Ali, Alam, and Rizvi 2020; Haroon and Rizvi 2020), a literature has developed that examines the impact of pandemics on various energy issues (Apergis and Apergis 2020; Fu and Shen 2020; Gil-Alana and Monge 2020; Liu, Wang, and Lee 2020; Narayan 2020; Qin, Zhang, and Su 2020). In addition, there are also studies on socioeconomic factors (Fang, Long, and Yang 2020; Qiu, Xi, and Wei 2020), pandemic mitigation (Chudik, Pesaran, and Alessandro 2020), and households’ spending and consumption (Baker et al. 2020; Eichenbaum, Sergio, and Mathias 2020). However, there is no empirical study on the impact of the pandemic on the insurance market. The fundamental function of insurance is to protect people from risks. Encountering the catastrophic hazard of COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of a well-functioning insurance market. Thus, it is of great practical and policy value to study how the pandemic affects the insurance market.

In this empirical study, we employ monthly provincial-level panel data and fixed-effects models to study the impact of COVID-19 on China’s insurance market. We find that COVID-19 had a significant adverse impact on the insurance market in the short term due to the limitation of insurance marketing channels and the suppression of household insurance demand. The development of social security and digital insurance could help alleviate the negative impact of COVID-19 on the insurance market. This study provides insights into the impacts of COVID-19 on the Chinese insurance market.

3.2 Impact on Health

Risk of Severe Illness from COVID-19. People with moderate to severe asthma may be at higher risk of getting very sick from COVID- 19. COVID-19 can affect your nose, throat, lungs (respiratory tract); cause an asthma attack; and possibly lead to pneumonia and acute respiratory disease.

During the epidemic period, travel was restricted to varying degrees, and we spent several times more time at home than before. In the serious lack of exercise, subtle changes in our body function, which is the most affected metabolic function.

Our body will take in a large amount of toxins through diet, breathing, percutaneous absorption and other reasons every day. In addition, the waste generated by our own metabolism will deposit in the body, which will increase the burden of various organs of the body, and increase the risk of thrombosis, arteriosclerosis, hypertension and other cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

When the metabolism function of human body is normal, these substances will be gradually discharged from the body. But the pressure of modern life, including lifestyle and other factors, most people’s metabolic function is disorder, resulting in toxins cannot be discharged from the body. Especially during the epidemic period, many people appeared dizziness, insomnia, forgetfulness, abdominal distension, diarrhea, constipation, palpitation, shortness of breath, arrhythmia, and other “poisoning” phenomenon. This is a serious sub-health symptom, if left alone, will gradually develop into cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, tumor and other serious diseases.

Of course, these symptoms can be gradually improved by changing daily habits. However, due to the pressure of work and life, coupled with environmental pollution and food hygiene, it is almost impossible for modern people to really restore their body to a real healthy state. Currently, we need to take some measures for health intervention.

3.3 Financial Impacts

Here, quotes the extent of the unemployment due to the epidemic and extent of the closing of the businesses and loss to the economy and the impact on employment both men and women. See if you can clearly show that women suffered higher unemployment. The financial impact comes primarily from (a) being out of work and/or getting infected of ill because of the virus.

In Keynesian economics, “uncertainty” refers to the risk that cannot be insured. The recognition of uncertain risk cannot be judged by the actual loss caused by the event. Compared with many other epidemics, the mortality rate of the new coronavirus epidemic is not necessarily very high, but the main reason why people panic is the uncertainty of the mode of transmission and the method of prevention and control of this epidemic. It is this uncertainty of the new coronavirus epidemic that leads to people’s sense of insecurity, so that people take more cautious preventive actions than other epidemics, and reduce a large number of tourism, entertainment and other activities, and correspondingly reduce a large number of consumer activities,so at this stage, in order to avoid the occurrence of small probability events, people tend to “make a mountain out of a molehill” or even “make something out of nothing”, and take a wide range of preventive measures. This will inevitably increase the cost of economic activities.

The impact of the new coronavirus epidemic on the economy is a typical external impact, which is not from the internal economy, but from external factors. This external factor has two characteristics, one is sudden, the other is caught off guard. External shocks will certainly and are interfering with China’s economic growth, and even blocking some industries (such as tourism and entertainment), but in the long run, they will not block China’s economic growth and seriously unbalance China’s economy. Therefore, the nature of the new coronavirus epidemic crisis is not an economic crisis, but a social crisis and psychological crisis caused by the social public health crisis; the industry decline reflected by the crisis will not be normal, but a temporary phenomenon of rapid economic growth. We should have a clear understanding of this. The internal cause is the basis, and the external cause is the condition. Objectively speaking, China is a big country with a huge market, and domestic demand is becoming the leading force of the economy. External changes will have a considerable impact on China’s economy, but not enough to form a dominant impact. No matter how strong the external shock is, the key lies in the anti- shock ability of various industries, the anti-shock strategies of various departments and the willpower of Chinese people to cope with the external test.

3.4 Impact on Learning

Different families have different access to the Internet, so students may meet problems when having online classes.

For students who want to go abroad for further study, they probably meet lots of trouble. Those who are in China cannot go home to reunite with their families, while those who are abroad cannot go back to China to reunite with their families.

Since the epidemic erupted during the Chinese Spring Festival, most Chinese students were not able to get together with their family members and relatives.

In terms of study, there will certainly be some delay. I do not know about it in foreign countries. In China, most universities only start classes in September. In the first half of the year, online courses are the main course. How much can I learn? How much can you learn?

As I know, lots of graduators who wanted to enter American universities can only stay at home, having online courses, because when China over comes the epidemic, other countries like Japan, USA, UK also erupted the COVID-19 disaster.

Students who only had online courses could not experience the campus life abroad or at home. And because of the different time zones, students taking foreign courses had to sleep in the morning and study in mid-night. Their time had been inversed.

Schools across the nation are closing to stop the spread of COVID-19 and in the scramble to provide at-home learning, a major problem has risen to the forefront: millions of American students don’t have reliable access to the internet.

According to recent federal data, approximately 14 percent of U.S. families with school-age children lack high-speed internet. Most of those families are low-income or live-in rural areas. While there are plenty of best practice guides available for online learning, strategies for bridging the digital divide are scarce.

The COVID-19 crisis has forced education systems worldwide to find alternatives to face-to-face instruction. As a result, online teaching and learning have been used by teachers and students on an unprecedented scale. Since lockdowns – either massive or localized – may be needed again in the future to respond to new waves of the infection until a vaccine becomes available, it is of utmost importance for governments to identify which policies can maximize the effectiveness of online learning. This policy brief examines the role of students’ attitudes towards learning in maximizing the potential of online schooling when regular face-to-face instruction cannot take place. Since parents and teachers play a fundamental role in supporting students to develop these crucial attitudes, particularly in the current situation, targeted policy interventions should be designed with the aim of reducing the burden on parents and help teachers and schools make the most of digital learning.


Figure 1. Mean Index of ICT use outside of school for schoolwork, by socio-economic groups.
Note: The index of ICT uses outside of school for schoolwork measures how frequently students do homework on computers, browse the Internet for schoolwork, use e-mail for communications related to school, visit the school website, and/or upload or download materials on it. Higher values of this index correspond to more frequent and more varied uses. Socio-economically disadvantaged/advantaged students are defined as the students in the bottom/top quartile of the PISA index of socio-economic status.
Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database.

Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on international higher education and student mobility Research findings of this study on Mainland China and Hong Kong university students’ attitudes toward studying abroad have approved the negative impact brought by the COVID-19 pandemic on international higher education and student mobility. The barriers for students to pursue their further degrees overseas include travel bans, visa restrictions, and campus lockdowns in destination countries, as well as students’ and their families’ worries on health and safety.

Some practical reasons like the delays of English tests also prevent students from completing the application in time (Mercado, 2020). The impacts of the pandemic on international higher education are manifested in various aspects. As to student mobility, the decrease of international students due to the pandemic will bring a significant impact to overseas higher education institutions, especially for those that financially depend on the tuitions of international students (Marginson, 2020a; Tesar, 2020). For example, the UK universities would face an approximately £2.5 billion loss in tuition income in the new academic year (University and College Union, 2020). Meanwhile, with the international students becoming scarce resources, the competitions for them will increase in international higher education. Moreover, the rate of recovery from the pandemic and post-pandemic governance will become a significant factor for destination countries to attract international students (Goris, 2020; Marginson, 2020a). This study argues that the domestic job market will become competitive because college graduates will stay for jobs instead of studying abroad. The predicted global economic recession will exacerbate this effect after the pandemic (Mercado, 2020).


How COVID-19 impacts Chinese students abroad: Survey of 400 students

3.5 Psychological Impacts

The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic is a crisis for the public. Crisis events have three characteristics: sudden and unpredictable, bring tension and pressure to people, the usual initial method cannot solve people’s psychological crisis, is the normal response to crisis events, and people will have corresponding stress reaction, which will last about 6-8 weeks. Stress psychological reaction can be divided into emotional reaction, self-psychological defense reaction and behavioral reaction. The most common emotional reactions are anxiety, anger, guilt, fear, depression, helplessness and so on. When dealing with stress, individuals have an adaptive tendency in their internal psychological activities, that is, self-psychological defense reaction, to extricate themselves consciously or unconsciously from troubles and relieve their inner uneasiness, to restore emotional balance and stability.

Oxford Department of Psychiatry, also found that people with a pre-existing psychiatric disorder were 65% more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than those without. The researchers say this finding was unexpected and needs further investigation. In the meantime, they say, having a psychiatric disorder should be added to the list of risk factors for COVID-19.

Sufferers of “long COVID” – who are still experiencing symptoms months after testing positive – also appear to experience mental health issues, which can be triggered by a range of factors including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), lethargy, fatigue and olfactory disorders such as a loss of their sense of smell.

Even for those who have not tested positive, lockdown measures have increased feelings of loneliness, isolation, restlessness and anxiety, as millions of people have been quickly forced to adapt to new realities and make drastic lifestyle changes. According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which represents 18,000 psychiatrists in the UK, more people are seeking crisis mental health services as a result of COVID-19.

Pandemics have had a detrimental impact on the mental health of affected populations throughout history. For example, The Lancet reported that outbreaks of the Ebola virus caused “widespread panic and anxiety, depression resulting from the sudden deaths of friends, relatives, and colleagues, and stigmatization and social exclusion of survivors.” And the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919 had a long-standing impact on the mental health of survivors as a result of the massive and sudden loss of life which plunged many into a chronic state of helplessness and anxiety.

Even though the link between pandemics and mental health is well-documented and researched, there is still more research needed to fully understand the causes and solutions. Scientists are still examining how COVID-19 affects the brain and the central nervous system to determine how much that plays a role in receiving a diagnosis vs the trauma of suffering with symptoms, and in some cases narrowly avoiding death.

3.6 Are there any positive impact as well?

Only 15% more – not much Appreciation and desire for a simpler uncomplicated life

Rapid medical advance and technology advancement. Young children may learn new skills by having to use online learning tools.

  1. Protection of wild animals and punishment of crimes of eating wild animals. This will undoubtedly be beneficial to the harmony between man and nature in the future.
  2. Exposed some social problems, need to establish, and improve a set of disaster prevention and control system.
  3. The epidemic situation in China has been basically controlled and the national confidence has been improved.
  4. China takes the lead in controlling the epidemic in the world, aiding foreign countries, deepening international cooperation and enhancing international status.

4. Impact on education at the school level: long-term effects.

4.1 What is the nature of the possible long-term effects

Besides the short-term effects noted above, it is easy to imagine the lingering or the long-term effects of COVID_19 pandemic. This section is going to note several of these long-term effects.

4.2 Long Term Impact on Employment Prospects Employment issues

Employment issues

In China, campus recruitment is major means for students to find employment. Campus recruitment is divided into autumn recruitment and spring recruitment. The autumn recruitment is generally aimed at students who have no plans to go for higher degrees, and want to work directly after graduation. Spring recruitment is aimed at those students who are otherwise accomplished, but performed poorly in postgraduate entrance examinations and hence need to find employment. For prospective graduates in 2020, the adverse impact of the epidemic on employment prospects is a matter of great concern. For students who participated in the autumn recruitment, whether they can graduate as scheduled becomes an important factor in deciding whether they can successfully enter the job market. Meanwhile, domestic and large enterprises have been adversely affected by the epidemic and whether demand for students as employees will accordingly shrink is causing great uncertainty.

For students waiting for the spring recruitment, this period is also very difficult. The spring recruitment was canceled due to Covid-19. Whether it will be reorganized after the full reopening of schools depends on too many unknown factors. Most of the students waiting for the spring recruitment either participate in the postgraduate entrance examination or take the public examination. Nevertheless, due to the epidemic, the timing for these tests has also become uncertain. It is feared that China may experience the largest spurt in rates of graduate unemployment in the last twenty years.

Employment

In China, campus recruitment is the main means of College Students’ employment. Campus recruitment is divided into autumn recruitment and spring recruitment. The target of autumn recruitment is generally the students who want to work directly after graduation without further education plan. Spring recruitment is targeted at students who have other achievements but do not perform well in the postgraduate entrance examination, so they need employment. For the fresh graduates in 2020, the adverse impact of the epidemic on employment prospects is a very noteworthy issue. For the students who participate in the autumn recruitment, whether they can graduate on time becomes an important factor to decide whether they can enter the job market smoothly. At the same time, large domestic enterprises have also been adversely affected by the epidemic. Whether the demand of students as employees will shrink correspondingly also brings great uncertainty.

It’s also a tough time for students waiting to be recruited in the spring. Spring recruitment was cancelled because of covid-19. Whether the school will be reorganized after the full reopening depends on too many unknown factors. Most of the students waiting for spring enrollment either take the postgraduate entrance examination or take the public examination. However, due to the epidemic, the timing of these tests has also become uncertain. There are concerns that China may experience the biggest surge in graduate unemployment in nearly 20 years.

4.3 Long term Impact on Learning Opportunities/education

Impact on studying abroad

According to news from the Ministry of Education, there are about 1.6 million overseas Chinese students, and currently there are still about 1.4 million abroad 5. It had seemed earlier that the interest in studying abroad among Chinese students was on the rise with 413,900 Chinese studying abroad in 2013 and 662,100 in 2018 6. The countries to which students go for higher education has diversified over the last few years. 7. The impact of the epidemic on the overseas study programs remains uncertain because much will depend on the decisions of universities in other countries to invest in higher education as well as their policies on migration. The global outbreak of the epidemic may lead to the postponement of enrollment of foreign students in many universities posing a dilemma for those students who have already been admitted. Government-sponsored overseas education is also greatly affected, including joint training of students and visiting scholars. Since the trajectory of the coronavirus remains uncertain many programs of training that were premised on global partnerships might need to be suspended.

In summary, the delay of graduation and rise of unemployment is inevitable. Overseas students who have already found a job, similar to domestic students, also face the risk of delayed entry into the work force or the cancellation of their positions. The long-term effects of such delays and uncertainties on the students who were accustomed to thinking that higher education will give them a secure future will need to be carefully studied in the coming years and plans for mitigation of these hardships will be an important project for the government and the universities alike.

The impact on postgraduate education inland

Despite the increasing interest in studying abroad, the poor management of the Covid-19 pandemic in many countries has made some families look at the prospect of overseas studies for their children more critically now. Accompanied by the pressures for adequate jobs mentioned above, the prospective graduates might prefer to take postgraduate admission examination, increasing pressure on domestic graduate admissions. The number of participants in the postgraduate entrance has exceeded 3.41 million in 2020 8. The epidemic will undoubtedly make the situation worse next year.

Apart from the students, the Ministry of Education and the colleges are under great pressure as they plan for the organization of examinations for the postgraduates, the written tests that have to be administered to such large numbers of students, and little experience with online testing methods. The biggest challenge is going to be how to alleviate the unemployment problem for the educated youth and restore faith in the Chinese economy.

As we all know, students have diversified to receive higher education. They will go to various countries for further study. The impact of COVID-19 on overseas study projects is still uncertain because each country’s policies are different. The global explosion of the new crown may cause many universities to delay their applications, and the students who have already been admitted are in a dilemma because they can only take online courses after paying the same tuition fees. As the trajectory of coronavirus transmission is still uncertain, some global activities may be forced to suspend.

Graduation will be delayed and unemployment will rise because of the epidemic. It can be said that graduates at home and abroad are facing the same problem. The long-term impact of these delays and uncertainties on students who are used to thinking that higher education will bring them a safe future needs to be carefully studied in the next few years. The plan to alleviate these difficulties will be an important project of the government and universities.

Despite people’s enthusiasm for studying abroad, the poor management of covid-19 in many countries makes some families prefer boring exam-oriented education to international education. If it goes on like this, it may be worse.

In addition to students, the Ministry of education and universities are also facing great pressure when planning to organize postgraduate examinations. However, there is little experience in online examination methods for large-scale examinations in China. The TOEFL or AP test for international students can be implemented online. It is clear that the university entrance exams in China will never be online, because many would cheat if in that case. The biggest challenge will be how to alleviate the unemployment problem of educated youth and restore confidence in China’s economy.

5. Concluding Remarks and Future Research

In this paper, I have examined and analyzed the nature of the impact of COVID-19 on school learning in China, a topic not only of great interest to me personally, but also of great significance for the world at large especially China.

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has brought many disadvantages to countries around the world including China. Focusing on China, its health, well-being, economy, transportation, and schooling along with many other sectors have been adversely affected in the first year and a half since this outbreak. The focus of this paper is the impact on school learning both in the short as well as the long run.

After an introduction in the first section, I present the history of the pandemic to provide the proper perspective to the issue at hand. The following two sections constitute the heart of this research study where I explore the short and the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on school learning China.

In terms of the short term, this paper finds that major impacts have been on the health, psychology, economics, and education part. People’s health conditions are weakened by this pandemic period, and they became afraid of this. The rate of unemployment rose for may shops closed because of the epidemic. Education was quite terrible because students could not go to school as usual. They stayed at home for months until the situation got better. While having online classes, they met a lot of problems.

On the other hand, in terms of the long-term, this paper finds that major impacts have been in terms of good effects on China, like, cities in China tried to work together to overcome this difficulty. Chinese medical power became stronger because many people were waiting to be cured, etc.

Future research.

Of course, it also promotes the rapid development of science and technology in human society. In the short term, the situation of students in class has changed greatly, from face-to-face teaching to online teaching. Although this is the best way during the epidemic period, it still has disadvantages. Moreover, COVID-19 has also aroused many students’ thinking. They organize related speeches, research, and other activities. In the long run, the employment of students is facing great difficulties. The life trajectory of many graduates may be changed because of this epidemic. The postponement of recruitment and examination, the postponement of graduation, and the change of teaching methods are unprecedented. Many families are also hesitant about whether they should study abroad or stay at home.

To study these topics, I investigated a lot of materials, read a lot of literature, and found many useful articles to help my research. Some lovely pictures and scientific charts have also become a great help. However, there are still some deficiencies in the study, such as the limited information, I did not conduct a questionnaire survey of the surrounding population, nor did I conduct further data analysis on the charts.

In future studies, I may not be confined to domestic surveys. I will look at the whole world and study the different effects of COVID-19 on different countries and different policies.

References

  1. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/asthma.html
  2. https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/55608/14-tips-for-helping-students-with-limited-internet- have-distance-learning
  3. http://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/strengthening-online-learning-when- schools-are-closed-the-role-of-families-and-teachers-in-supporting-students-during-the- covid-19-crisis-c4ecba6c/
  4. https://www.researchcghe.org/perch/resources/publications/wp54to-publish.pdf
  5. https://americanethnologist.org/features/collections/covid-19-and-student-focused- concerns-threats-and-possibilities/analysis-on-the-influence-of-epidemic-on-education-in- china
  6. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1540496X.2020.1791074?scroll=top&need Access=true&
  7. https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/anxiety-depression-and-insomnia-impact-covid-19- mental-health?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-Jitqu2H8AIV4DytBh3FNwJ2EAAYASAAEgIUoPD_BwE

About the author

Helen Zhang