COVID-19 is a disease caused by the new Coronavirus that emerged from Wuhan, China in December 2019. Its symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Coronavirus has spread around the world quickly and it has had a huge impact on economics, education, and many peoples’ lives in general. Countries all around the world have been taking it seriously by closing their borders since they don't want to spread Coronavirus even further.
Coronavirus has caused lots of schools in many different countries to close down because they couldn't risk more people becoming infected. Some of these countries include the USA, Canada, the UK, Italy, China, France, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Moldova, and more. Some schools (with the necessary resources) have created a distance learning platform. It is the same as a normal school but the only difference is that you are at home and you talk to your teacher/classmates face-to-face online. On the other hand, schools that do not have access to the relevant technology would then have to go over the missed topics once schools reopen.
Recently, many schools all over the world have gone on lockdown due to the quick spread of COVID-19, causing many schools to shift into a DLP-Distance Learning Program- and others learning with paper based tasks at home during isolation. Some students believe online distance learning is more efficient, while others believe receiving paperwork over the quarantine is favorable. Ariana Rotaru, a 14-year-old girl, currently living in Romania, tells us about her experience with distance learning. Ariana studies online from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm using Google Meets: "The lessons go as normal; we do tests and assignments," explained Ariana. Ariana believes that online distance learning is tedious because you cannot communicate as much, and you listen to teachers and finish assignments. Flossie is a 9-year-old girl living on the Wirral, UK, and describes her story with the distance learning plan. Most schools around her area, including hers, closed on the 20th of March 2020. The way Flossie continues her education is she has been given a pack of paperwork that she needs to complete whilst her school is closed. "I feel devastated not to be able to visit and see my best friend," Flossie complained. Destiny Aaron is a 13-year-old girl from Washington State, United States of America. The way Destiny studies during the process of isolation is she uses online applications for only some lessons, such as Math, Science, and ELA, while for the other lessons she completes paper-based assignments. "Some students do not feel like doing the work because it will not be graded, others do not do it because they think they have plenty of time to finish it, and some do the work in general. Overall, I believe it is sufficient for some students, but not all," Destiny explained.
From this perspective of many students, this was the most suitable arrangement made to resume our education and keep individuals protected. Online schooling is an enjoyable and unique way of learning; it is convenient for many scholars and teachers, and we have a chance to discover more about distance communication and collaboration. Despite this, it takes away our opportunity to participate in activities and to do our exams. This way of learning is also quite challenging; you must make sure all technology is functioning, and your eyes will become tired after staying online for too long. Thus, the distance learning program has disadvantages, but it is also highly beneficial. As COVID-19 is spreading day by day, it is likely that students will continue learning at home.
Moldova
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus led most of the Republic of Moldova to go under lockdown, all the schools in the Republic are closed. Heritage International School is one of the schools that is on a complete DLP and has helped other schools to continue educating their students online: “We have helped 15,000 teachers in Moldova.” (Robert Ford, Director of Heritage International School). Many schools do not have access to technology. A student from a public school, Daria explains: “We have many teachers in our school, who did not work with technology, but lately they needed to use it, to sustain our learning process. We began having conversations online, then teachers gave us some tasks and now, it doesn’t even matter whether we are in school or not.” The director of Heritage International School announced that- “Distance learning isn’t all online. Some schools don’t have the technology.” Students in Moldova are enjoying their independence and are delighted to be learning at home!
Jacob Muir, 14 years old
Currently Germany has around 30,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases, and most of the country is in quarantine. The past few weeks have been very interesting for me, as the COVID-19 virus ravages its way through Europe, leaving quarantine, travel bans and panic-buying, in its wake. After Heritage International School was closed by order of the Moldovan government and online school began, my parents decided to move me to Germany to be with my mother before the borders closed. My brothers attend a boarding school, where one of them came in contact with a person who later tested positive for COVID-19, a chance of one in 2,700. Therefore, once they returned from school my family was put on a 14-day quarantine, banned from stepping over our property line. It is not very interesting in quarantine, there is not much to do other than surf the internet, as visiting friends or taking a walk in the forest is prohibited. There is no danger of running out of food as we have stocked up on supplies, and even if we run out, there is always the possibility that our neighbors and family could go grocery shopping for us.
Now while we think one of my brothers had COVID-19, we don’t know for sure, the medical service is supposed to come to our house to collect samples for testing, but they have not come yet. I don’t blame the medical services, they must be swamped with work; the government has even assigned military doctors to treat patients. Other than twice daily fever checks, and one of my brothers and my sister having a small throat infection, (easily remedied with antibiotics, ah modern medicine!) life here continues mostly as normal.
My friend here in Germany has been affected by COVID-19 too. His online schooling is much less intense than ours, only having to finish a handful of online assignments every day. This showed me how lucky we are to be able to attend a quality online school and attend school just like normal.
Talicia Carraz 14 years old
It has been a very unusual experience for me to go back to China during the COVID-19 outbreak. Since the school I attend, Heritage International school, was shut down the school developed a DLP to help students continue learning from home. Since there was no need to stay in Moldova any longer, my parents thought it would be better if I came back to China, since the virus has stopped spreading there. The same night I departed with my luggage to China. The whole airport was full of people in white medical suits. When we got out of the airport, the whole city was empty; there were no cars on the highway. I had never seen China so empty before. Now, the situation is getting better and better. There are no more new cases, only foreigners that come have been tested positive for COVID-19. Currently, the Chinese government is really strict about foreigners entering the country. Since my arrival, I have been through a variety of different procedures. The police have been coming to my house, taking my temperature, and asking me questions about quarantine as follows: “Which country did you come from? Did you have any contact with people with COVID-19? Did you have any symptoms during the last few days?” During the outbreak, foreigners weren’t even allowed to enter the country. Now the situation got better but all the foreigners that are entering China are immediately sent to hotels for quarantine. Luckily the Chinese government allowed me to go home for the reason that I wasn’t in a country that had a lot of cases. The COVID-19 pandemic is really frightening.