Online Classes and its Effect on the Students of Public Universities in Bangladesh

Abstract

This study attempts to trace the effects of online classes on the students of public universities in Bangladesh. Through a quantitative research design, 500 university students who are currently studying in various public universities are selected conveniently, and through a qualitative research design, 50 students are selected purposively. A semi-structured questionnaire and interviews over the phone are used as tools for collecting data. Most of the tertiary level students attended classes from town and from their parents’ houses but the matter of great sorrow is that due to network unavailability, some of the students have to participate in classes from the field or local markets. Most of the students attended online classes from town or metropolitan areas because of a lack of network facilities. The students from villages found it difficult to attend the online classes in most of the cases. Again, most students used smartphones to attend online classes though some have no smartphone or no laptop. Furthermore, this study also attempted to find solutions to mitigate the hindrance behind online classes – most of the respondents suggested making an emergency education policy framework to mitigate the challenge. Again most of the students feel consequences after attending online classes like neck pain, ear pain, shoulder pain, and blurry vision etc. Most of the students do not enjoy attending online classes. Most tertiary-level students think that it is more difficult to learn online than traditional learning. The most important thing is Government of Bangladesh should offer adequate and strong networking access along with device support to the students of all classes and races to make online classes effective and sustainable and also to confront the challenges created in this pandemic period.