COVID- 19 AND STRESS IN TEACHING EMPLOYEES

Abstract

The corona virus outbreak came to light on December 31, 2019 when China informed the World Health Organization of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of an unknown cause in Wuhan City in Hubei Province. Subsequently the disease spread to more Provinces in China, and to the rest of the world and finally, World Health Organization (WHO) declared it as pandemic. The virus has been named SARS-CoV-2 and the disease is now called COVID-19.Symptoms of corona virus include, fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, runny nose, sore throat and persistent pain or pressure in the chest. In extreme cases, pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome and kidney failure occurs. In few it has been found to be fatal. As a result, a panic created in the world population, when the outspread and deaths could not be controlled. COVID-19 pandemic, forced the governments to shut down not only the offices and markets but also all the educational centers like primary schools, higher secondary schools, colleges, institutes and universities to protect the students and faculty members from corona virus and community spread of the disease. This created a hurdle in face to face learning, a regular practice of education. Teachers and students were compelled to adopt Information and Communication Technology (ICT) techniques, into their teaching- learning process, as a result of lockdown and to make the effortsof continuing education, successful. Other than untrained staff, mental unpreparedness of the students, there were many technical issues in this project, theincompatible devices, slow network and remote residences caused problems in connectivity and communication issues, not only for the students but for the teachers too. Although, the institutions declared work from home for the employees, this work from home situation created psychological trifles between the employers and employees too. The employees who were quite naïve with the IT usage, online activities and record keeping of online activities, faced difficult time in compilation of data. Objectives-This study highlights the stress faced by teaching employees due to the unexpected and unprepared changesin schedule and practices of teaching methods. Tools- A self -structured Assessment scale of Stress Assessment was used on 72 teaching faculties who were working from home during lockdown period due to COVID- 19. Analysis- The average and percentage of scores was calculated to assess the results. The results show that High level of stress was observed in the teaching faculties. Conclusions-The researches concludes that such sudden changes may cause stress, anxiety and psychological disturbances. High level of stress was observed in the teaching staff due to coping mechanism. It was related to Waking and Sleep related Stress, Work duration related Stress, Rights related Stress, Insecurity related Stress, Blood pressure related Stress, Increased Risk Behavior such as smoking and drinking and Stomach related problems, high Perceived Stress and Stress Busters.