Probing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on government high school students, Nellore, India

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic is a social and economic crisis and a health issue, which stresses young minds and impacts their academics. Therefore, education during COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 has become a concern. Through this study, we intended to comprehend and explore the academic crisis of hi...

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Main Authors: Rajalakshmi Sulur Anbalagan, Sreshta Gudugunta Lakshmi, Chudalai Sankali Sowndaram, Balasubramanian Arumugam
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-05-01
Series:Frontiers in Education
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1442878/full
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author Rajalakshmi Sulur Anbalagan
Sreshta Gudugunta Lakshmi
Chudalai Sankali Sowndaram
Balasubramanian Arumugam
author_facet Rajalakshmi Sulur Anbalagan
Sreshta Gudugunta Lakshmi
Chudalai Sankali Sowndaram
Balasubramanian Arumugam
author_sort Rajalakshmi Sulur Anbalagan
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic is a social and economic crisis and a health issue, which stresses young minds and impacts their academics. Therefore, education during COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 has become a concern. Through this study, we intended to comprehend and explore the academic crisis of high school students and teachers during the pandemic and examine the learning loss after the reopening of schools.MethodsThis research utilized the conservation of resources theory (CoR) as the conceptual framework to explore the internal and external resources involved in the school sector during the COVID-19 outbreak. Researchers employed inductive qualitative study based on the naturalistic approach. The focused group discussions aided in formulating the research design and conducting interviews with 25 teachers and 50 students. These interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis.ResultsResearchers have extracted six themes, namely COVID-19 academic disruptions/recovery, swaps in lifestyles, teachers’ emotional states, students’ coping mechanisms, systematic mitigation measures and post-COVID-19 recommencements. Among these themes, the swaps in lifestyles theme have sub themes like demanding workload/unemployment, inflation in the economy and academic hindrances. Post COVID-19 recommencement theme consists of three sub-themes: changes in student behavior, compromised education quality, and prevention of spread.ConclusionThese themes show the impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on academics and the physical, mental, social and economic health of Nellore's government school students and teachers. Though this qualitative research cannot be generalized, the need for more recovery measures, strategies, policies, programs and funds from the government to deal with the instability resulting from the pandemic needs addressing.
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spelling doaj-art-3a07ddcbbca04d9f9f24011d8d4ca55f2025-08-20T02:28:18ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Education2504-284X2025-05-011010.3389/feduc.2025.14428781442878Probing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on government high school students, Nellore, IndiaRajalakshmi Sulur Anbalagan0Sreshta Gudugunta Lakshmi1Chudalai Sankali Sowndaram2Balasubramanian Arumugam3Department of Social Work, Amrita School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, IndiaDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, Amrita School of Computing, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, IndiaDepartment of English and Humanities, Amrita School of Arts Humanities and Commerce, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, IndiaDepartment of Mass Communication, Amrita School of Arts Humanities and Commerce, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, IndiaBackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic is a social and economic crisis and a health issue, which stresses young minds and impacts their academics. Therefore, education during COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 has become a concern. Through this study, we intended to comprehend and explore the academic crisis of high school students and teachers during the pandemic and examine the learning loss after the reopening of schools.MethodsThis research utilized the conservation of resources theory (CoR) as the conceptual framework to explore the internal and external resources involved in the school sector during the COVID-19 outbreak. Researchers employed inductive qualitative study based on the naturalistic approach. The focused group discussions aided in formulating the research design and conducting interviews with 25 teachers and 50 students. These interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis.ResultsResearchers have extracted six themes, namely COVID-19 academic disruptions/recovery, swaps in lifestyles, teachers’ emotional states, students’ coping mechanisms, systematic mitigation measures and post-COVID-19 recommencements. Among these themes, the swaps in lifestyles theme have sub themes like demanding workload/unemployment, inflation in the economy and academic hindrances. Post COVID-19 recommencement theme consists of three sub-themes: changes in student behavior, compromised education quality, and prevention of spread.ConclusionThese themes show the impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on academics and the physical, mental, social and economic health of Nellore's government school students and teachers. Though this qualitative research cannot be generalized, the need for more recovery measures, strategies, policies, programs and funds from the government to deal with the instability resulting from the pandemic needs addressing.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1442878/fullCOVID-19educationhigh schoolconservation of resources theoryreflexive thematic analysis
spellingShingle Rajalakshmi Sulur Anbalagan
Sreshta Gudugunta Lakshmi
Chudalai Sankali Sowndaram
Balasubramanian Arumugam
Probing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on government high school students, Nellore, India
Frontiers in Education
COVID-19
education
high school
conservation of resources theory
reflexive thematic analysis
title Probing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on government high school students, Nellore, India
title_full Probing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on government high school students, Nellore, India
title_fullStr Probing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on government high school students, Nellore, India
title_full_unstemmed Probing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on government high school students, Nellore, India
title_short Probing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on government high school students, Nellore, India
title_sort probing the impact of the covid 19 pandemic on government high school students nellore india
topic COVID-19
education
high school
conservation of resources theory
reflexive thematic analysis
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1442878/full
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