LETTERS: Recently, Higher Education Minister quoted a study that said that online classes did not stress out most university students. This suggests that lecturers and parents can heave a sigh of relief as online classes do not have any great impact on most students' mental health.
However, a survey that was conducted on our students, including postgraduate students, at the end of last semester, found them to be stressed out.
Worse still, a few of them broke into tears when expressing their feelings about online classes, and a few of them also decided to quit or defer their studies because they could not embrace the new norm of learning.
The environment at home, which was not suitable and conducive for online classes, made them suffer from stress. Most students said that interruptions from family members, including their parents who were not in their shoes, resulted in them losing their concentration in classes.
They also said they could not focus on their examinations with the time limits and an avalanche of interruptions at home.
No face-to-face interaction with their lecturers made them perplexed by what their lecturers taught in classes. The interaction between students and lecturers deteriorated when involving more than 100 students in one class. They felt insecure and less confident to participate.
They also struggled to understand some subjects that involve mathematics, such as finance, economics, statistics, etc. These subjects, to them, were not appropriate to be taught online. In contrast, their presence on campus without online classes could make them understand better because they could consult with their lecturers in person shortly after their classes.
Some students who had to work to help their families were enormously stressed out. They found it hard to juggle classes with work. They were forced to burn the midnight oil to complete their assignments, which culminated in exhaustion.
This is because they were swamped with a lot of work during the day. On top of that, they received more assignments from their lecturers during online classes compared to face-to-face classes.
Besides, poor internet access also posed a great challenge for them to attend online classes, especially students in rural areas. They had to go to their neighbours' or relatives' houses to access the internet. In the middle of attending their online classes, they sometimes lost internet connection and left unintentionally. Eventually, they did not gain any knowledge from their classes.
Postgraduate students were also in the same boat, struggling to weather the same storm. More responsibilities lie on their shoulders, and that served as a stumbling block to doing a balancing act between family and study. They had no choice but to spend a lot of time with their families to the extent that they could not work on their research.
Sometimes, they were stuck, and thus they progressed at a snail's pace. Hence, they were in dire need of face-to-face meetings with their lecturers to clear the air so that their journey would be plain sailing.
In a nutshell, most students were stressed out by online classes. Therefore, this merits serious attention from everybody including parents, lecturers and the authorities. If this issue continues without any preventive action, more serious problems will loom on the horizon.
Nevertheless, now the students can smile after the higher education minister has allowed them to be on campus in stages next semester. It is hoped that their stress of online classes can be alleviated in the presence of their friends to lend support to each other.
Dr Mohd Shahidan Shaari
Dr Wan Sallha Yusoff
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Applied and Human Sciences, Universiti Malaysia (UniMAP)
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times