Constraints Confronted in Online Education during COVID-19 Pandemic in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Online learning was adopted by all the educational institutions worldwide due to the outburst of COVID-19 pandemic. It has wreaked havoc on numerous areas of the economy, and the education sector is no exception. The lockdown imposed by the Union and State Governments to stem the spread of the virus and mitigate its effects has taken the academic community by surprise. University Grants Commission (UGC) insisted Higher Educational Institutes to take online learning during lockdown period. This study was aimed to enumerate the constraints confronted by students and teachers participated in online education. The study was conducted among 275 Undergraduate students and 150 teachers in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. Constraints were collected in the form of open ended responses and tabulated in to different dimensions based on multiple responses. The constraints from students has been enlisted into six dimensions namely technical constraints, institutional constraints, socio-emotional constraints, health constraints, learning constraints and environmental constraints. The constraints from teachers have been enlisted into five dimensions namely teaching constraints, monitoring constraints, evaluation constraints, socio-emotional constraints and learner constraints. Necessary steps need to be taken to improve the quality of online learning in case of pandemic situation in future scenario.