After the eruption of COVID-19, symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers have been perceived as suspected groups of spreaders, and mental health has been a major concern. In pursuit of divulging the facts, this study searched and found that the persons who had more deschooled learning (about COVID-19) were highly prone to have less contact with the suspected spreaders and were more likely to have better mental health conditions. Thus, the findings remained consistent with the hypothesis that deschooled learning is effective for helping individuals to have positive behavior and better mental health.
This study reveals strong association between deschooled learning (about COVID-19) and preventive behavior among students. The findings clearly demonstrate that the students who informally knew more about COVID-19 were highly prone to prevent direct contact from suspected spreaders such as symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers. More specifically, the individuals reject contact with those agents who have more chances to be COVID-19 positive or those having mild/acute symptoms such as sneeze, fever, cough, and breathlessness. The contact prevention happens possibly because the learning informs individuals about possible health threats and thus helps increase awareness among them.[1] Similar to this one, other studies also found associations between deschooled or informal learning and behaviors.[2],[3],[4],[5] Therefore, during the pandemic situation, day-to-day human mobility and interpersonal risky contact can be shrunk by increasing the learning about COVID-19 among individuals.
As this study found, deschooled learning is associated with the mental health conditions of students. The findings demonstrate that those who holds more learning (about COVID-19) have less fear and anxiety related to the deadly virus. This evidently shows that deschooled learning is negatively associated with fear and anxiety. Causally and practically, when an individual becomes well informed about any pandemic like the COVID-19, he/she shows fewer mental traumas e.g., fear and anxiety, because the person knows the way to be safe and conscious within a wider context of pandemic and thus to manage his/her mental health conditions.[6] Prior studies also demonstrated associations between deschooled or informal learning and mental health of individuals.[7],[8]
Interestingly, this study has found a positive association between deschooled learning and perceived vulnerability. As per the findings, the persons who learned further were more prone to consider themselves vulnerable to the pandemic. Considering themselves vulnerable, in such a way, may be effective and improves their mental health,[9] because individuals who perceive themselves vulnerable feel more need of using healthcare centers,[10] and the utilization of healthcare centers promotes their mental health.[11] Thus, other studies also evidence that deschooled learning has positive implications on perceived vulnerability which has impacts on precautionary behaviors.[12],[13]
It is worth mentioning that the online schooling or learning officially started later and was not effective enough in Bangladesh. The government of Bangladesh initiated remote learning through mobile phone, television, radio and internet. The Ministry of Education organized a remote learning TV program named “Amar Ghore Amar School” meaning “My school is at my home” during school closure.[14] But the remote learning was found less effective, as a study explored that 55 percent of students (among the Grade 9 stipend recipients) did not get access to televisions, and only 43 percent having access to TV had watched the TV-learning programs.[15] Besides, for adopting the method of online classes and exams, both students and teachers faced enormous challenges. Despite its high-cost nature, high speed internet connection like broadband is not amply available in most rural areas in Bangladesh. So, the students have to depend on mobile phone data, which is costlier, but it was also ineffective for poor networks in village areas.[16] Many households cannot support their member’s or children’s education as before for getting their income plummeted.[17] 34 percent of the households cut back meals for their adolescents, nearly half of the adolescents spent less time on education compared to before, and 94 percent were engaged in household chores and childcare.[18] These disruptions interrupted the (online) schooled learning initiated by the government, while the individualistic deschooled initiative (learning freely by oneself) at home seemed more effective.
Though every step of this study was done cautiously and carefully, it denotes some limitations. This study explored deschooled learning only about COVID-19 (transmission and cure) and its impacts on preventive behavior and mental health outcomes, but other aspects of deschooled learning may also have various effects on different outcomes. As it is a study conducted among a single cohort of population (students), the findings should not be inferred to the whole population of the country. The study used snowball sampling that is less probabilistic and generalizable in nature. The study was also limited to only those who had access to social media.
[1] Mohammed Nazim Uddin, Sunil Bhar, and Fakir M. Amirul Islam, “An Assessment of Awareness of Mental Health Conditions and Its Association with Socio-Demographic Characteristics: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Rural District in Bangladesh,” BMC Health Services Research, 2019.
[2] Sara Santini, Flavia Piccinini, and Cristina Gagliardi, “Can a Green Care Informal Learning Program Foster Active Aging in Older Adults? Results From a Qualitative Pilot Study in Central Italy,” Journal of Applied Gerontology, 2019.
[3] Maria Luisa Perez Guerrero, Edgar Castelan Maldonado, Jose Maria Monguet Fierro, Juan Jose Fabregas Ruesgas, Carmina Saldaña Garcia, Arturo Bados Lopez, and Adela Fuste, “Informal Mobile Learning for Cognitive Behavioral Obesity Therapy: Motivation Level,” In J. Luca & E. Weippl, Eds., Proceedings of ED-MEDIA 2008--World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications (Vienna: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, 2008), pp. 4343-4347.
[4] Melanie Hingle, S. Going, B. Orr, K. Hongu, N. Merchant, M. Nichter, D. Roe, L. Borden, K. Astroth, S. Marsh, “Stealth Health: Youth Innovation, Mobile Technology, Online Social Networking, and Informal Learning to Promote Physical Activity,” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2013.
[5] Miao Zhang, Qinmei Li, Xueying Du, Dan Zuo, Yani Ding, Xiaodong Tan, Qing Liu, “Health Behavior Toward COVID-19: The Role of Demographic Factors, Knowledge, and Attitude Among Chinese College Students During the Quarantine Period,” Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, 2020.
[6] Mohammed Nazim Uddin, op.cit.
[7] Derek Richards and Brendan Tangney, “An Informal Online Learning Community for Student Mental Health at University: A Preliminary Investigation,” British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 2008.
[8] Michelle A. Kelly and Paul Hager, “Informal Learning: Relevance and Application to Health Care Simulation,” Clinical Simulation In Nursing, 2015.
[9] Joop Van Der Pligt, “Perceived Risk and Vulnerability as Predictors of Precautionary Behaviour,” British Journal of Health Psychology, 1998.
[10] Deblina Roy, Sarvodaya Tripathy, Sujita K. Kar, Nivedita Sharma, Sudhir K. Verma, and Vikas Kaushal, “Study of Knowledge, Attitude, Anxiety & Perceived Mental Healthcare Need in Indian Population during COVID-19 Pandemic,” Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2020.
[11] Henrik D. Zachrisson, Kjetil Rödje, and Arnstein Mykletun, “Utilization of Health Services in Relation to Mental Health Problems in Adolescents: A Population Based Survey,” BMC Public Health, 2006.
[12] Sarah T. Stahl and Aaron Metzger, “College Students’ Ageist Behavior: The Role of Aging Knowledge and Perceived Vulnerability to Disease,” Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, 2013.
[13] Joop Van Der Pligt, op.cit.
[14] Iftikhar A. Chowdhury, “Bangladeshi Children Share Experiences of Remote Learning and the Challenges They Face,” Unicef, 22 December 2020. Cited in https://www.unicef.org/rosa/stories/bangladeshi-children-share-experiences-remote-learning-and-challenges-they-face. Accessed on 2 December 2021.
[15] Kumar Biswas, T.M. Asaduzzaman, David K. Evans, Sebastian Fehrler, Deepika Ramachandran, and Shwetlena Sabarwal, TV-Based Learning in Bangladesh: Is It Reaching Students? (Washington DC: World Bank, 2020).
[16] Md. Al-Amin, Abdullah A. Zubayer, Badhon Deb, and Mehedi Hasan, “Status of Tertiary Level Online Class in Bangladesh: Students’ Response on Preparedness, Participation and Classroom Activities,” Heliyon, 2021.
[17] Iftikhar A. Chowdhury, op.cit.
[18] Sarah Baird, Jennifer Seager, Shwetlena Sabarwal, Silvia Guglielmi, and Maheen Sultan, Adolescence in the Time of Covid-19 : Evidence From Bangladesh (Washington DC: World Bank, 2020).