A Comparative Study of Emergency Remote Education Amid COVID-19

Abstract

The outbreak of the new coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) severely threatened people's health and safety for a long period. It has caused a serious impact on people's work, life, and learning. Most governments around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of COVID-19. These nationwide closures are impacting over 91% of the world’s student population (UNESCO, 2020). As a response to the interruption of education due to the crisis, this study compares emergency remote learning cases in three countries, namely India, China, and the United States, narrating the overall view, reflections, and lessons learnt in the education field. The findings show that there are some common challenges that all of the three countries are facing, like ensuring every student having access to remote education, unprepared teachers, increased burden of parents as well as students’ lack of self‐discipline when isolated at home. With challenges, come opportunities such as education transformation from a traditional system to a new era as well as improvement of digital literacy. Finally, suggestions on improving remote education from the viewpoint of policymakers, teachers, and students are given to escalate the level of remote education during the pandemic, so as to promote the reform of information-based education.