The impact of covid-19 on secondary level education: special reference to Nasriya Central College – Chilaw division, Puttalam district

Abstract

The role of education is vital, not only as an individual right, but also as a key factor in social and national development. Currently, the lifestyle of people and the behavior of society completely depend on the COVID-19 pandemic. The main objective of this research is to identify the impact of the COVID-19 on secondary level grade six to nine education in Chilaw, Nasriya Central College. Identifying a family's economic background; investigating SWOC among secondary students during the pandemic period; and recommending policies for future e-learning implementation. Data for the research was collected through the primary and secondary data collection methods. The finding of this study is that the strength of interest can be seen in continued school attendance after reopening school (4.78). Weakness as a weakness as challenges are present in facing the (term) examination (4.40) after the school reopening. an opportunity to revise their previous lessons. Challenges: the highest mean value among other factors (4.93) was that students faced subjectrelated difficulties during the access of the online education method. Students failed to obtain better clarification in subjects. Furthermore, 71.5% of students’ families lost their jobs and faced economic challenges during the lockdown and curfew period. Further analysis of the relationship between SWOC factors (internal-external and cross association) through the chisquared test the study's recommendations include introducing smart class rooms to every grade, allowing students to aggregate knowledge related to online learning methods, providing adequate knowledge on accessing electronic devices, and the government distributing electronic devices for educational purposes.