CHALLENGES FACED BY STUDENTS AND RECENTLY GRADUATED STUDENTS

The peaks and troughs of the pandemic have added to the standing anxieties of students in their final years and class 12. Many have had to change their plans and whatever they had hoped to achieve throughout these years.

Emotional/mental challenges

Students have had the loneliest and most isolated period of their lives in the past 18 months. They have had to bid adieu to their schools, colleges, classmates and teachers from the screens of their laptops and/or smartphones. With an increase in the total cases and subsequent deaths, an enormous population has had to deal with loss confined to their homes. Students have lost their family members and have not been able to attend funerals and/or seek support. Being shadowed by the clouds of uncertainty many have described a deterioration in their levels of motivation and productivity. Students have reported high levels of emotional instability including anxiety,depression and other mental issues. They have disclosed a variety of fears including a fear of death, falling sick, losing their loved ones, and not being able to build a career.

A number of researchers have also reported a rise in the cases of overall mental instability during the pandemic. As a consequence, many mental health care organizations began providing help in terms of counseling and therapy online.

Financial challenges

The pandemic and the following lockdown resulted in thousands of people being laid off and losing their jobs. Moreover, the college placements for final year students were reduced by half which became a major source of stress. Students found the online placement processes inefficient and tedious. The pandemic has led to the divide between the privileged and the marginalized to grow exponentially. As education shifted online, many have found it difficult to arrange for appropriate devices and a stable internet connection. According to a survey conducted by Learning Spiral published at the beginning of 2021 , about 50% of Indian students in both rural and urban areas did not have access to the internet. Another survey conducted by both, Child’s Rights and You (CRY) and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on 821 children aged 9-17 years, across 13 cities, reported that one in every four children cited financial problems as one of the most significant stress factors during the COVID-19 months. The pandemic introduced a high level of trauma and financial stressors apart from the regular strains due to the unending uncertainty.

Building a career

The pandemic has created a drastic change in the way industries work. Moreover, there has been a major impact on the quality of knowledge being offered to the students. An underdeveloped skill set acts as a hindrance when seeking a job especially when job opportunities have been reduced drastically. As mentioned above, many students have quit studying because of financial constraints. Furthermore, gaining experience and building a strong CV has been next to impossible in such dire times. Students of class 12 reported trouble in taking decisions regarding which subjects to pursue. Universities have shifted the admission processes online which makes it difficult to communicate with them in case of any query due to which many students have missed application deadlines.

Competitive Examinations

Students who have been preparing for competitive examinations like CAT,JEE,NEET etc for years, now find themselves clueless as exams have been postponed indefinitely. This has caused major disruption in the lives of students and has been a source of frustration.