Obstacles in Online Learning Faced by the Government School Students of Remote Areas in Batticaloa

Abstract

Everyone could see an unprecedented health crisis in the system of education during the pandemic situation of COVID-19 worldwide. That is, the transformation of the learning method from face-to-face into a digital version. Therefore, there are so many challenges that students faced while learning online and especially the students, who study in remote areas, were affected vulnerably when doing their studies online. In that respect, this paper examines and analyses the obstacles faced by government school students in remote areas during COVID-19 as they learned online. The data were collected from ten different schools, which are located in the remote areas, of five educational zones in the Batticaloa district. Thirty participants were randomly selected from each school and a questionnaire was distributed to collect data. Thus, a total of 300 questionnaires of participants were taken to analyze and point out the obstacles of online learning as faced by the students of government schools in the remote areas. The qualitative research method was used to accomplish the research objectives. The results indicated that the socio-economic status, limited experience of technology, lack of interconnection with teachers, not having a proper learning environment at home, ineffective feedback, unsatisfactory teaching methods, physical tiredness and lack of motivation affected online learning. Also, the article suggests recommendations to improve the online learning effectively for both students and teachers with the support of the Sri Lankan government.

KEYWORDS: Online learning, Obstacles, Social economic status, Teaching methods, Technology