Problems faced by students of online learning due to economic crisis in Sri Lanka: a study based on secondary school students in Galle district

Abstract

Current Sri Lanka has been hit by the worst economic crisis in the history. Due to the economic crisis of country the government of Sri Lanka has decided to close all the schools considering the difficulties of students and teachers coming to schools due to the shortage of fuel. As a remedy, they have introduced the online system. This research was conducted to identify what kind of experience secondary school students had when they were educated through the online system that was introduced in the wake of the economic crisis. For that purpose, this research has been conducted based on five main schools in the Galle district of the southern province. The data collected from the students revealed that the online system was not new to them. That is, during the Covid-19 period, the students were taught through the online system, so the research has revealed that even though they have some knowledge about the online system, it has become difficult for the students to carry out their education in the face of the economic crisis. The most important thing revealed by the research is that only a limited number of people have expressed their interest in the online system. All the rest have revealed their dissatisfaction with the online system. For the welfare of the students, the government should immediately abolish the online system and switch to the face-to-face teaching-learning process.