TOPIC

Effect of Covid-19 on CGPA of Students of 4th Semester in NUML Islamabad

National University of Modern Languages

SUBMITTED TO: DR. GHAZALA KAUSAR

Assistant Professor

NUML

SUBMITTED BY: NASEER AHMED

BS ENGLISH

NUML-F20-13237

Department of English UGS

Faculty of English Studies

National University of Modern languages (NUML)

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction …………………………………………………………… 04
1.1 Statement of Problem…………………………………………………... 05
1.2 Significance of the Study ………………….. ………………………….. 05
1.3 Research Objectives……………………….............................................. 06
1.4 Research Questions……………………………………………………... 06
1.5 Delimitation……………………………………………………………... 07
2. Literature Review………………………….. ………………………….. 07
3. Research Methodology…………………………………………………. 11
3.1 Theoretical Framework………………………………………………….. 11
3.2 Research Design…………………………………………………………. 11
3.3 Population……………………………………………………………….. 11
3.4 Sample…………………………………………………………………… 12
4. Conclusion……………………………………………………………….. 13
5. References...…………………………………………………………….........15
INTRODUCTION

Since its outbreak in late December 2019, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc across the
world and like any critical sector, education has been hit hard. Students, schools, colleges and
universities have been deeply impacted. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), over 800 million learners from around the world have
been affected, 1 in 5 learners cannot attend school, 1 in 4 cannot attend higher education classes,
and over 102 countries have ordered nationwide school closures while 11have implemented
localized school closure.
Globally, over 200,000 cases of the COVID-19 have been reported in more than
160 countries, which have resulted in more than 8,000 deaths and left several States dealing
with severe outbreaks. The COVID-19 pandemic will adversely impact the progress some
governments were making around increasing the education budget. Therefore, this is a crisis
that requires urgent attention and collective action by all Governments, stakeholders and
communities.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Statement of the problem is that how COVID-19 has affected our education system
and specifically CGPA of our students in 4th semester of Bs English?

SIGNIFICANCE

Significance of the study is that it will help to compare and contrast the data before and
after the COVID-19 on the CGPA of the students. This study will also tell about the
shortcomings of the students and teacher's behavior and attitude towards the grading.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The main objectives of this paper are to provide awareness and to identify the
research areas related to COVID-19. What were the difficulties they were facing and how it
affected the whole world specifically education.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
 The survey questions were loaded into the ‘Survey Pie’ website, a professional online
software program that allowed surveys to be sent electronically, via e-mail addresses, to all
selected students. Included with that e-mail, students found an explanation regarding the
purpose of the survey, a notice asserting the importance of each response and a statement
assuring the participants that their responses were confidential, and no names or e-mails would
be collected. Moreover, this was also shared with students through different whatsapp groups
personal chats. About few days later, 50 responses were received to start the analysis of the
survey.

1. What was your GPA before C0VID-19?

a) Less than 3 (30%)
b) 3-3.5 (50%)
c) More than 3.5 (20%)

20%

50%

30%
2. What was your GPA after COVID-19?
a) Less than 3 (20%)
b) 3-3.5 (60%)
c) More than 3.5 (20%)

20%

60% 20%
Did COVID-19 increase or decrease your CGPA OR it had no impact?
a) Increase (28.60%)

b) Decrease (28.60%)

c) Not affected (42.90%)

28.60%

42.90%

28.60%
4. How were your studies affected by COVID-19?

a) Deeply affected (57%)

b) Affected up to some extent (43%)

0.43

0.57
Was online Education helpful?
a) Yes 13.4 %
b) No 13.4%
c) Miserable 71.40%

13.40% 13.40%

71.40%
6. How was grading level of teacher?
a) Good (28.6%)
b) Relative (42.9%)
c) Bad (28.6%)

28.60%

42.90%

28.60%

FINDINGS AND SOLUTIONS

 From first two survey questions it was found that 10% of the students were decreased
who got less than 3 GPA. There was also a 10% increase in the students who got 3 to 3.5 GPA.
Students who got more than 3.5 GPA remained constant before and after the COVID-19.
Almost 43% of the students said that their CGPA was not affected due to COVID-19. When
asked about the online education 71% of the students said that it was very miserable experience.
Almost 43% of the students said that the grading level of teacher was relative. The cheating
level of students was increased due to lack of interest in studies because of online studies.

FINDINGS OF INTERVIEW

12 students of 4th semester were interviewed and 4 questions were asked these are
described below.

1. How was online education helpful?

Online education was very helpful because we were sitting in our homes taking
classes online it saved our travel time and helped us to learn maximum things in less time. We
learnt a lot from our teachers and also learnt how to cope up with the technology. Our mobile
phones and laptops help us a lot and we also learn from different search engines that how to get
materials from different websites.

2. Hurdles faced by you in the online education?

There were many hurdles when we talk about online education sometimes there were
connectivity problems and most of the time we were unable to listen to our teachers as there was
disturbance in the sound reaching us.

3. Are you from village or city? What were conditions of COVID-19 and internet in
your area?
Students from villages faced most of the time internet issues and the students from
cities faced problem of noise around them. Students who were from villages said that there were
not so many cases of COVID-19 in their areas but people from cities were complaining about
many cases in the city and internet issues were faced by students of village. Students of cities
were not having these issues.

4. How you managed to study online? Did you have your laptop or phone?
Maximum students had laptop and phones with them. Most of the time there was only
the connectivity issue otherwise everything was good. Most students made a timetable to study
because there was nothing to do they were not allowed to gop outside so they would read a book
in free time.

SOLUTION
 Solution to this problem is that whenever these kind of situations occur and studies go
online students’ hurdles should be considered. Teachers should always take into account the
conditions of online classes. It is estimated that the attention level of students increased when
the classes were held in camera. Instead of taking exams students should be given more
assignments and projects so that they can increase their creativity and there are less chances of
cheating. As far the students are concerned they should join the class meeting in time. They
should have their mobile phones and laptops charged and their mics should be working at the
time of teachers ask them to speak. They should focus on studies by giving their most of time to
it. They can avoid cheating if they give a proper time to their studies.

DELIMITATIONS

My research work is limited to students of our 4th semester in our university.

Due to limited time I have only 50 students to work on. Delimitation provides a very organized
data in a very limited time because we can access our limited resources and gain useful result.

LITERATURE REVIEW

More than 200 countries across the globe, including Pakistan, had closed
educational institutions (schools, colleges, universities and madrassas) to contain the spread of
COVID-19 pandemic. Those closures had disrupted the learning of more than 1.7 billion
learners (representing 91 per cent of the total enrolled students) across the world. It attempted to
critically examine how schools’ closures in Pakistan perpetuate and reproduce inequalities in
education. People had attempted to explore and explain inequalities in education during
COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and brought the issue of public school students’ learning loss
into public debate. The paper was based on qualitative primary data and is analyzed and
interpreted vis-à-vis the social reproduction theories. We deduced that unequal schools, unequal
parenting and geographical location had further inflamed education inequalities in Pakistan
during COVID-19 pandemic.
Several studies have been done that focus on the GPA of university students, and
identified different factors that affected students’ academic performance. These studies are
summarized below. This following literature will provide an overview of prior studies about
university students’ travel behavior, time and distance from universities, study time and social
time, physical activities, stress, anxiety and academic performance.
According to journal published by Day (2009), Study time, exercise time, and
GPA have all been the subject of debate in the educational community. Most academics believe
that study time, rather than exercise time, has a greater impact on academic attainment. As a
result, some public schools have reduced physical activity time for children in order to receive
financing, as public schools are funded based on academic success.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The basic aim is to know about the difference in the GPA's of the students of 4th
semester. This is not a scientific topic so doesn't include as such any theory but it is framed on
the basic principles of research.
RESEARCH DESIGN

This is a quantitative research method in which a sample is selected to represent

the whole population. I selected this method because I have short period of time as well as
limited resources. In Quantitative method there is limited number of people to be approached
hence it was a kind of best method for me.
This study solely focuses on the concept of digits. In our research mainly the numbers are
included so this is a quantitative research involving 50 students.

POPULATION

The undergraduates are the main population of this research. The undergraduates
of our university are studying in our department are our main target. This is easily accessible for
me as it is in my own university.

SAMPLE

The students in 4th semester in our English department are sample. They are small
and representative of the undergraduates. They are easily accessible and are in my reach.

CONCLUSION

According to the above research it is concluded that students faced many

problems while online education. Survey proved that above 30% of the students have low
grades because of COVID-19. Government and institutions should take into measure all these
problems and should provide possible solutions. We often blame student for being low in
grades, but we don’t take into account that what are the reasons for their failure. Solution to this
problem is that whenever these kind of situations occur and studies go online students’ hurdles
should be considered. Teachers should always take into account the conditions of online classes.
It is estimated that the attention level of students increased when the classes were held in
camera. Instead of taking exams students should be given more assignments and projects so that
they can increase their creativity and there are less chances of cheating.

REFERENCES

1. Ali, M. (2011). Need of Online Education in Universities. Jahangir World Times, 4(2),
11-15.
2. Subhan, A. (2017). Discourse on Online Education Reform in Pakistan. The Dawn, pp.
C4-07.
3. Ahmed, K. (2015). A Study of Issues Faced by Students During Covid-19 in Pakistan.
The News, pp. C12.
4. Tahir, Q. (1975). Positive & Negative Impact of Online Education in Universities. The
Dawn,pp. C4-08