Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that range from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The most recent Coronavirus is called COVID-19. Since its inception in China, it has engulfed the world and managed to disrupt every social institution, including the education sector. Today, the education sector is crippled, destroyed by the COVID 19 effect, forcing students to find out alternative steps to carry out their academic progress.

Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan, China, in December of 2019. Since its first cases in China, COVID-19 has spread to almost every country worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, 15.7 million global cases were reported, including 640 thousand deaths, as of July 24, 2020.

After the start of the coronavirus outbreak in some countries, amid public health emergencies, schools and other educational institutions were forced to shut down. It was the only option available as the health officials were scrambling to get a grip on these outbreaks. Currently, school closures have disrupted the education of at least 300 million students worldwide, according to UNESCO.

Though Coronavirus made people stay locked inside their homes, it forced the educators to bring up new and alternative methods of study. In such systems, the teachers are having to take classes from home, review the progress of students, and take assignments and evaluate them. It is also bringing up a new era in education where the students manage to learn from home and also earn academic degrees. Nowadays, students are participating in online classes hosted by their teachers, submitting assignments, and so on. But such steps are effective only if the students are capable enough to have access to digital Equipment. Third world countries like Bangladesh have many students who don't have the money to afford that Equipment to participate in online classes. Besides, some students face financial issues to keep up with these classes because of the cost of mobile data plans and the unavailability of mobile networks in remote places. As a result, the methods used as the alternative to conventional education is not being fully applicable in our country. 

It is uncertain how long these outbreaks could last. WHO has already hinted that the effect of Coronavirus could last for more than 10 years. However, the outbreak seems like a short term issue, and the consequences could last for many years in a country like Bangladesh. In such a case, the students could be affected badly. The best way to gather knowledge and skills is to go to school. But the closure of schools for such a long period could mentally and physically demoralize the children. Also, it is going to cause a major disruption in student's learning and other assessments. The impacts of closures on children's success are typically negative. After returning schools, their grade could be lower than the previous year; some could drop out. The impact is much more severe for disadvantaged children and their families, causing an interruption in learning, compromising nutrition, childcare problems, and economic problem to families who are unable to work.

It is now a matter of great anxiety in education, seeing the disruption caused by Covid-19. It has disrupted education on an unprecedented scale. The closure of schools to ensure the health of the students has led to massive inequality. The countries with digital advancement have already managed to cover up the damage caused by the outbreaks by shifting to digital methods of study. Such efforts are laudable but the countries which are lagging in technology fail to implement these digital methods. In Bangladesh, educational institutions have begun to test run those digital methods to make up some grounds. The students having access to computers and smartphones are managing to participate in those classes. But not every household in our country has a computer or smartphone. And if they do, the cost of mobile data prevents some of them from participating. This is not serving the students equally and will inevitably lead to a greater disparity in educational outcomes at the end of lockdown.

While we talk about education, we often forget the wellbeing and the expertise of teachers in such cases. The coronavirus crisis is having a deep impact on the mental health of teachers. They have to manage a higher stress level than usual in these hard times. They are preparing lessons for students at home, taking classes online regularly. They are experiencing heightened stress and anxiety in preparing those. Also, it is to be remembered that many of these teachers don't have the expertise of preparing these slides and other stuff. Some of them don't have any knowledge about using them at all. Despite that, they are working full time to keep the education system up and running. It is unfortunate, though, that their efforts are unnoticed by the officials. Some teachers are working full time, being unpaid for months. Many of them are not getting full payments as their salary are cut off to some percent to mitigate the damage done by the outbreak. Even after that, the efforts taken together by the teachers and officials deserve applause for their full-time duty in these hard times.

Despite these challenges, the shift in education also means that opportunities are arising and becoming available to students. Now, the emphasis is being put on online and distance education making programs more affordable and known to the students. This switch is an opportunity for many students to try out remote education and may make it more likely that they will engage with online classes in the future. Students being newly introduced to remote education may go to take a future degree online, due to the benefits of distance learning and the options available.

The impact of the Coronavirus on education is an important consideration. It may be too early to say how students and teachers will cope with online learning, but the progress awakes a hope for a new and convenient infrastructure for the education in our country. It's possible that once the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control, we may see a continued increase in education systems using online platforms for study aids. Who knows, someday, in the future, students might embrace the online platform for their higher degrees.