Traditional Learning Vs Online Learning on Education in Sri Lanka: A Study based on the Pre and Prior Academic Knowledge of Secondary Students Covid-19 Pandemic Online Learning

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to determine what impact does online learning strategies have on students’ academic knowledge and teachers’ professional development and how the teacher-student relationship is affected by the implementation of online learning and finally to understand how does the implementation of online learning affect student’s academic skills and knowledge. Methodology – This study covers 315 participations (students) including 15 secondary school classes and 41 teachers in Vidyaraja Maha Vidyalaya at Hokandara. Qualitative data would be used for the research to collect for this case study. This case study focuses on the secondary classes to help teachers analyse their strategies for engaging students and increasing student academic knowledge with the online learning instructional method. Key Findings – The key findings include access to technology, online learning, E-Learning in the Context of Sri Lankan Education, E-Learning as a Self-Learning Mechanism, Teacher and Student Knowledge on E-Learning Systems, Teacher-Student Relationship and COVID-19 are other concerning factors that highlighted most after the seven independent variables. Implications – The findings of this research are projected to give a practical contribution to students, teachers and other educators as well as the government of Sri Lanka to understand the ways online learning strategies have an impact on the academic knowledge of the students as well as teachers’ professional development and to advance the learning systems in the secondary education children that is suitable the forthcoming generation.

Full text

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
www.rsisinternational.org Page 653
Traditional Learning Vs Online Learning on
Education in Sri Lanka: A Study based on the Pre and
Prior Academic Knowledge of Secondary Students
Covid-19 Pandemic Online Learning.
Mathale Jayani Wimalika Ellapola
Bachelor of Education (Hons) Degree Program, Horizon Campus Malabe, Sri Lanka
Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this research is to determine what
impact does online learning strategies have on students’
academic knowledge and teachers’ professional development and
how the teacher-student relationship is affected by the
implementation of online learning and finally to understand how
does the implementation of online learning affect student’s
academic skills and knowledge.
Methodology - This study covers 315 participations (students)
including 15 secondary school classes and 41 teachers in
Vidyaraja Maha Vidyalaya at Hokandara. Qualitative data
would be used for the research to collect for this case study. This
case study focuses on the secondary classes to help teachers
analyse their strategies for engaging students and increasing
student academic knowledge with the online learning
instructional method.
Key Findings – The key findings include access to technology,
online learning, E-Learning in the Context of Sri Lankan
Education, E-Learning as a Self-Learning Mechanism, Teacher
and Student Knowledge on E-Learning Systems, Teacher-
Student Relationship and COVID-19 are other concerning
factors that highlighted most after the seven independent
variables.
Implications – The findings of this research are projected to give
a practical contribution to students, teachers and other educators
as well as the government of Sri Lanka to understand the ways
online learning strategies have an impact on the academic
knowledge of the students as well as teachers’ professional
development and to advance the learning systems in the
secondary education children that is suitable the forthcoming
generation.
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
The Covid-19 Pandemic has been and still is a severe
challenge to the world. An outbreak of a novel Coronavirus
(Covid-19) was reported in Wuhan province, China. In
December 2019 (Huang C.-, 2020), they were causing
numerous deaths and complications such as pneumonia and
acute respiratory distress syndrome. The infection rapidly
spread to all parts of the globe and was declared a pandemic
on 11th March 2020 by the World Health Organization
(Organization, 2020). Sri Lanka reported the first case in a
Chinese tourist on 27th January 2020 and subsequently in a
local person on 11th March, 2020. As in many countries
worldwide, part of the consequences of the Covid-19
pandemic lockdown of the schools in Sri Lanka on 13th
March 2020 and only partially reopened in June again closed
the of year vacation in October in the 2020. The emergency of
the Covid-19 outbreak, strict measures were to minimise
human mobility. On 20th March 2020, a nationwide curfew
was imposed and extended with a strict ban on inter-district
travel. Three populous Colombo, Kalutara and Gampaha
districts were identified as high-risk zones. The Sri Lankan
Government announced the nationwide curfew on 19th April
2020 the nationwide curfew and to implement moderated
travel restrictions. Schools are closed until mid-May and will
continue online teach until further notice.
This free public education scheme was implemented in Sri
Lanka in 1943 by way of basic, intermediate, and higher
levels of education up to the tertiary level providing and
enhancing educational opportunities and connectivity for
economically marginalised backgrounds. In our typical
daycare classroom, small childhood children of diverse
economic and cultural contexts are capable of an informal
learning atmosphere more or less even. (Does this sound like a
paraphrase? It's close enough to the initial, encouraging us to
use the original vocabulary and clarify what we wish to
communicate, e.g., how the original source is described.)
From what we hear, physical distancing is inevitable for at
least the next few weeks, and certainly for months if not years,
to come. What occurs when all that is learned in school is
performed digitally so there is no longer an atmosphere to
study in?
According to (Daily FT, 2020) if the government thinks
online courses are the best way out, they can take action to
ensure this becomes more easily accessible, because both
students and teachers will keep the costs down. Online
schooling would certainly not make the differences that are
still developed worse as early as the beginning or over a
prolonged period.

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
www.rsisinternational.org Page 654
Furthermore, this tent will mask the economic pain and reduce
the painful suffering of the thousands of people who have to
find a way to make ends meet, such as by introducing the non-
profit lunch service, improving the underpayment of the
"Mahapola" and adding student accommodation. Steps would
mean that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are
facing face a serious issue finishing their schooling (Daily FT,
2020).
However, the Covid-19 posed enormous challenges the
traditional education system, there was a global need globally
for every government to incorporate online education into
their education system, still Sri Lankan government was not
given much importance into the online education system
before the Covid-19. Online education has become an
essential component of Sri Lankans’ education sector, still
many obstacles and challenges confront the Sri Lankan
education sector to perpetuate online education successfully.
This study further highlights issues concerning the online
teaching and learning environment and a lack of online
teaching and learning skills among teachers, staff, students,
and parents that were considered critical to the smooth
functioning of traditional teaching and learning process of the
secondary school of Vidyaraja Maha Vidyala, in Hokandara
of Sri Lanka during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study
investigates the secondary students’ issues in the impact of
Covid-19 Online learning vs Traditional learning.
1.2. Problem Statement
This study aims to determine whether there is a difference
between traditional and online learning for secondary students
in Vidyalaya Maha Vidyalaya due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
This study would inquire into the issues that would occur in
implementing an online learning experience. Since they did
not have any knowledge about online learning and passed the
two previous terms by downloading academic activities and
working through WhatsApp application and converting PDFs
into worksheets during the crisis. Only the senior secondary
students (year 10-12) had the accessibility to do classes on
Zoom on weekdays to two to three hours. Due to their social
and financial issues, the school administration difficulties.
Regardless of many of its weights to function The Ministry of
Education declared that online education should also be
continued with all students, from 4th January 2021.
Therefore, this study was designed to investigate secondary
students, teachers and parents’ perceptions regarding the
difficulty of online learning and their pre and prior alchemical
knowledge of Covid-19 pandemic online learning. Referring
to (Daily FT, 2020), online classes restrict students who do
not have the economic resources to buy the required
equipment attend and be able to communicate with their peers
and instructors. How many students from where our students
come hail today have secure power supply and internet
connections? When many working-class households are trying
to find a way to support themselves, is it ethical to incorporate
the extra burden of making sure their children have access to
schooling on the internet? Referring to the pupils, how many
have an atmosphere in their households that is peaceful
enough that they can focus and study free from disturbance
from other family members? Do the factors weigh in these
facts as we are seeking to move to online education? These
questions tend to be the trigger points of the problem
statement.
The following illustration represents the general information
on the Sri Lankan education system as the year 2017 (WENR,
2017).
Figure 1. Eduction in Sri Lanka (WENR, 2017)
1.3. Research Question
The following are the research questions for the study:
Q1: What impact do online learning strategies have on
students’ academic knowledge and teachers’
professional development?
Q2: How is the teacher - student relationship affected by
the implementation of online learning?
Q3: How does the implementation of online learning
affect the student’s academic skills and knowledge?
1.4. Scope of the Study
The coverage of this study will be based on 120 days (4
months) of research and examining the impact of online
learning on secondary students’ engagements and
achievements in Vidyalaya Maha Vidyalaya. This case study
will highlight the suitable suggestion to overcome issues
regarding online learning.
• What impact do online learning strategies have on
students’ academic knowledge and teachers’
professional development?
• How is the teacher- student relationship affected by
the implementation of online learning?
• How does the implementation of online learning
affect the student’s academic skills and knowledge?
This study covers 315 participations (students) including 15
secondary school classes and 41 teachers in Vidyalaya Maha
Vidyalaya at Hokandara. Qualitative data would be collected

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
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for this method of case study. This case study focuses on the
secondary classes to help teachers analyse their strategies for
engaging students and increasing student academic knowledge
with the online learning instructional method.
1.5. Objectives of the study
The purpose of the study is to conduct survey-based research
on the pre and prior academic knowledge of secondary
students’ Vidyalaya Maha Vidyalaya due to Covid-19
pandemic online learning. The study focuses on the following
objectives.
• To improve the various positive impacts of the
Covid-19 pandemic online learning vs traditional
learning.
• To enlighten various measures taken by the Ministry
of Education in Sri Lanka for the education sector
during this pandemic.
• To investigate some negative impacts of the Covid –
19 pandemic online learning and to present suitable
strategies for continuing education during this
pandemic situation in secondary school at Vidyalaya
Maha Vidyalaya.
1.6. Significance of the Study
The study findings will be partially responsible for the benefit
of student and the education system of Sri Lanka with regards
to remote learning. Moreover, the research will help the
Ministry of Education, government, semi-government, and
private schools to develop strategies that mutually benefit
both educators and learners due to COVID-19. The research
paper will help to learn about the developments required and
currently taken into consideration in the education industry of
Sri Lanka. This ensures that the reader understands how the
secondary education industry functions and observes the
industry’s process to take relevant decisions for improvements
in the country’s secondar secondary system.
1.7. Structure of the Report
Chapter One – takes into consideration about the research
overview. The secondary education industry of Sri Lanka is
the selected industry for out the research. The background of
the study gives a brief description of the current pandemic as
well as the effects on the education industry resulting from
COVID-19 providing along with the problem statement,
research problem, the scope of the study ad highlighting the
importance of carrying out the research.
Chapter Two - the second chapter of the research is focused
on review of the literature in the industry and COVID-19
relating to the study. This chapter contains subsections as it is
the main body of the literature review. These subsections
highlight the factors that addresses the research questions of
the study.
Chapter Three – takes into consideration the research
methodology. Moreover, this chapter contains about the
research strategy, selected suitable research approaches,
sampling methods, sample size, collection of data, recording
and administration of data, instruments taken into
consideration in order to collect data and so on. Furthermore,
this chapters contains about the conceptual framework that
has developed based on the literature review, purpose of this
study and the research problem.
Chapter Four - is the significant part of this research study as
it focuses on the analysis as well as the presentation of the
data collected. This chapter further discusses about the area
that has been selected, the analysis and the interpretation of
the key findings that is needed as a solution to the research
problem and research questions that has been carried out in
this study.
Chapter Five - The final chapter consists of the executive
summary of the key findings. Furthermore, evaluations and
interpretations will be discussed under this section. Moreover,
this chapter includes the suggestions and recommendations for
the intended target group with regards to the findings as well
as assists future researchers in order to expand the scope of
the same study.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Introduction
Online learning has grown in prominence, and it is actually
the most preferred form of distance education. In the last 10
years, the internet has had a huge effect on postsecondary
education and the movement towards internet is still growing.
Moreover, the author discusses and examine the aspects in
which students present themselves digitally and how the
teacher now takes a more active role in the classroom (Stern,
2020). Online education is a flexible instructional delivery
system that encompasses any kind of learning that takes place
via the Internet. Online learning gives educators an
opportunity to reach students who may not be able to enroll in
a traditional classroom course and supports students who need
to work on their own schedule and at their own pace (Sun, A
& Chen, X., 2016). The quantity of distance learning and
online degrees in most disciplines is large and increasing
rapidly. Schools and institutions that offer online learning are
also increasing in number. Students pursuing degrees via the
online approach must be selective to ensure that their
coursework is done through a respected and credentialed
institution (Hayashi, Garcia, Maddawin, & Hewagamage,
2020).
The purpose of this action research study is to determine
implementing the online learning would increase secondary
students’ engagement and mastery of the academic concepts.
As an approach utilizing both tradition and online learning can
modify to best meet the needs of students. Online learning
characterized as an innovative studying method that utilize
technology devices consist of tablets, computer, laptop,
interactive television, audio, video and internet connection,
satellite broadcast and so forth to deliver to the lesson content
(Leiserson, 2020).

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2.2. Online Learning
There are a wide range of terms interchangeably used to
define e-learning such as “distance education”, “electronic
learning”, “internet learning”, “e-learning”, “online courses”
or “learning portal”. Among these so-called online learning
terminologies, the name of “e-learning” is most well-known
and extensively adopted. E-learning is a digital platform,
according to the Technology Standard Committee, using web
browsers as an interface method to communicate with learners
and other programs.
In above statements explain the importance of online courses,
E-learning and electronic or internet learning approached to
development of the students’ 21st century skills such as,
inquiry, problem solving and decision making. The authors
specially mentioned the online learning is very suitable for
this new world and it became central part of the education.
There are both benefits and drawbacks to learning by going
online. To begin with, in terms of pros, it is undeniable that
online learning is very efficient (Hayashi, Garcia, Maddawin,
& Hewagamage, 2020): anybody from anyplace in the world
can now or before in the future can be in the lecture or the
class anytime they want. as a result of that, a majority of the
students have permission to participate in the lecture or class.
students who are injured don't have to worry about getting an
unexcused absence. Due to the advent of internet learning,
many students are turning to outside outlets to do their
research. Their study process is much more efficient because
they don't have to rely on external sources of information
when in the classroom with other students. Students are often
distracted from their own studies and steal other students'
homework assignments or papers, particularly if they believe
their answers would be easier or have questions about them
(Hayashi, Garcia, Maddawin, & Hewagamage, 2020). Offline
learning may not be useful in a class situation, but students
can use it in their everyday lives when researching and doing
assignments are things on their own rather than coming to the
lecture students' lives are also made easier with online
learning if students do not have to leave their homes to attend
lectures or lessons online, then they have a lot of time to
participate in activities they enjoy (Hayashi, Garcia,
Maddawin, & Hewagamage, 2020). This also enables families
to stay at home with less strain while working, while at the
same time saving money and making life simpler for them.
more typical kinds of educational programs, which research
shows have shown to take a greater amount of time to finish,
often take less time to complete there is a minimum age
requirement for completion of five years of education required
for a Sri Lankan doctorate.
Ferdousi (2009) describes e-learning as an interactive forum
that connects teachers and learners. E-learning has become a
central part of university education since it has become a
popular style in the globe to provide educational materials as
it seeks to enhance performance, build skills, promote access,
reduce costs and inspire a lot of learners and educators (Ali &
Magalhaes, 2008). According to Ozkan and Koseler (2008),
the attitude of students can be considered as a major impact on
the e-learning process in which learners are highly encouraged
to self-study, self-discover, and self-organize their own
learning procedure. Additionally, learners’ attitudes are
evaluated by the aspects of self-productivity, pleasant
experience, communication with teachers and classmates and
learning manner. (Passerini, 2020) point out in their research
that learner characteristics, such as attitudes, enthusiasm,
confidence, and trust, must be recognized first. However,
though the online courses may be well designed, rich in the
content and materials, the information system could be fully
equipped, if the perspective of the students is not appropriate,
the online-learning will fail to succeed.
Teachers are not only an essential part of learners’
participating progress, but also a dominant representative in
an instruction. Lessons are at the best when students are
encouraged to become active learners. (Kim, 2012) declared
that teacher is the most significant e-learning effectiveness
driver who plays a crucial role in enhancing learner’s
satisfaction and inspiring students to participate in different
potential learning circumstances. Thus, instructors who are
highly active with e-learning can positively increase student
satisfaction by providing in-time response, motivation
support, dispensing suggestions and giving favorable
assessment. Several key findings identified that students'
responsibilities and how often they used various web-
expanding resources, as well as technological characteristics,
content-area experiences, such as technology and interface
design, were influential in determining their involvement on
the number of online courses they will have. At the same time,
these factors can interact with one another, forming a
reciprocal relationship (Vonderwell & Zachariah, 2005).
Online learning may not be useful in a classroom setting, but
students may use it in their daily lives when they need to
conduct research or complete assignments without attending a
lecture. Online learning also makes students' lives simpler.
Students have more freedom to engage in activities they enjoy
if they do not have to leave their homes to attend lectures or
lessons online (Hayashi, Garcia, Maddawin, & Hewagamage,
2020). This also encourages working people to stay at home
with less stress while saving money and simplifying their
lives. There is a minimum age requirement for completion of
five years of education required for a Sri Lankan doctorate.
More common forms of educational programs, which
evidence indicates take a longer time to finish, also take less
time to complete.
Nevertheless, the negative impacts of online learning are
evident in the way people treat it, specifically the difficulty of
using it. The shortcomings of technology can include:
Students don't get much time to practice, which makes them
less proficient in their use of it, and lack of face-to-to-face
interaction, as well as limiting the scope of what is learned
and created through the application of new technologies (Chu,
2014). Moreover, referring to (Alawamleh, Al-Twait, & Al-
Saht, 2020), self-motivation and time management are
important requirements for learning to expand. Students who
haven't developed their communication skills have a problem

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communicating online. The detection of misconduct
throughout online tests is a complex problem.
2.3. E- Learning in the Context of Sri Lankan Education
In this context, the Sri Lankan government closed all schools
and the universities in the country 12th March 2020 and
suspended all academic activities (Adaderana, 2020). The
government also imposed a nationwide curfew on 20th March
2020 (First, 2020). During this period, Sri Lanka's higher
education sector faced various challenges. The closure of
fifteen national universities and other higher education
institutions ultimately affected the teaching and learning
activities of students. School admission, assessment and
examination, graduation ceremonies, recruitment and
promotion activities were temporarily postponed. Employees
working in higher education institutions also faced severe
challenges in receiving their salaries and other allowances on
time because of the continuous curfew. In this situation, the
government announced a strategy called Work from Home,
and this move forced school teachers and other staff to carry
out their academic and administrative work from their
respective homes. In this third and fourth statements explain;
this kind of global pandemic situation, online learning is how
essential to education. As in many countries, worldwide
government announced a strategy called “Work from Home”
and traditional learning environment moved forced to online
learning approach. Technology issues have become a rising
problem among the students in the secondary education. With
reference to (Soris, 2020), When it comes to digital tests, the
main issue that nations including Sri Lanka have is whether
they can assess a students' learning equally and correctly in
situations where they can't be physically supervised.
Moreover, The Sri Lankans are known for taking
examinations seriously and doing so in a tightly controlled
atmosphere with the invigilator serving it as primary monitor
to obtain equitable competitiveness.
SLIIT an educational institute in Sri Lanka argues that online
exams cannot sustain certain conditions. Although there are
still risks, the way online tests are structured for remote
environments varies from how conventional exams are
performed. Technically, strict scheduling can be maintained,
and a bank of questions can be set up, with each student
obtaining randomly selected questions. Since all tests will be
administered using an open book system, there will be a level
playing field, allowing for more difficult questions to be
posed, as learners will be graded on how well they apply their
information to answer the problem rather than on how well
they learn and remembering it. Remote tests can be improved
even further by one-on-one verbal exams. When providing
postsecondary studies in the non-state arena, it is important to
stick to schedules and timetables. For one thing, students pay
for their courses with private money or college loans, which
introduces the concept of "opportunity cost." These learners
must be the first to arrive in order to secure certain positions
(Daily FT, 2020).
According to (Hayashi, Garcia, Maddawin, & Hewagamage,
2020), overall, another significant problem in online classes is
internet accessibility. In small cities and towns, however,
internet availability and connectivity have improved by leaps
and bounds, but good enough bandwidth is still an issue to
need to make reliable internet an impossibility. When students
or teachers cannot access the internet for an extended period
of time, studying, the same resources used earlier in the year
will be gone when they return. This poses a challenge to the
overall educational process. (Hayashi, Garcia, Maddawin, &
Hewagamage, 2020) highlights students benefit greatly from
living in close quarters with those of the same age.
Additionally, in an online class, there are few if any physical
interactions among students and the teachers. In general, this
leads to students having a sense of being cut off from the rest
of the world. It is important that the school makes
accommodations for the students in this situation to
communicate with their peers in other ways, as well as for
teachers.
With reference to (Daily FT, 2020), Despite the fact that Sri
Lanka scores well on most health indicators, child nutrition is
still a major concern. According to the 2016 Demographic and
Health Survey (DHS), more than 20% of Sri Lankan children
under the age of five are underweight. Malnutrition is more
common in poor households, which is unsurprising.
In Sri Lanka, successive governments have implemented a
number of programs aimed at improving child nutrition.
School and preschool meal programs are particularly
important in combating malnutrition among young children.
Up to one-third of a child's daily nutritional needs are met by
free meals distributed in schools. Some parents promise their
children a meal if they attend school. According to statistics,
children from low-income families are more likely to be
malnourished than children from high-income families. In
fact, the number of underweight children in low-income
families is nearly double that of high-income families (Daily
FT, 2020).
According to IPS research on malnutrition in Sri Lanka, a lack
of protein-rich food in daily diets is one of the major causes of
child malnutrition among poor households. It also shows that
growth deficiencies increase significantly with a child's age,
especially after the first two years. In Sri Lanka, for example,
22 percent of children aged 24 to 59 months are underweight.
Growth retardation in children indicates insufficient food
intake, either in terms of quantity or quality (Daily FT, 2020).
Furthermore, nutritional deficiencies in childhood can lead to
permanent growth deficiencies. Inadequate intake of specific
micronutrients, such as iron, folic acid, and iodine, has been
shown to stunt brain and nervous system growth. In light of
this, school and pre-school meal services are critical in
bridging the nutrition gap for disadvantaged children (Daily
FT, 2020).
Schools and preschools have been closed for almost three
months and until further notice due to the COVID-19
pandemic. To make matters worse, many poor families'

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breadwinners have already lost their jobs or sources of income
as a result of the COVID-19 crises' economic disruption. As a
result, thousands of poor children in Sri Lanka may suffer
from nutritional deficiencies as a result of missed school
meals. This is a serious situation, since dietary shocks in
childhood can have long-term implications for health and
education. In light of this, the blog will address several
methods for reducing nutritional effects among vulnerable
children (Daily FT, 2020).
The regular school meal program, which costs about Rs. 6
billion annually and feeds approximately one million children
in grades 1 to 5, covers 80 percent of Government schools.
The preschool nutrition program, likewise, seeks to enhance
the nutritional status of young children in low-income areas.
Schools in these systems follow accepted guidelines to meet
the nutritional needs of children on a regular basis, and the
meals are healthier than food taken from home. This is
generally the only nutritious meal for poorest children in Sri
Lanka (Daily FT, 2020).
When schools are closed, children lose access to food services
worth at least Rs. 650 per month, while preschoolers lose
access to food supplements worth around Rs. 370 per month.
Feeding children is costlier for parents because retail food
costs are higher than bulk-purchasing rates at schools. As a
result, missing school meals during the pandemic would
worsen poor families' food-related financial pressures. Several
relief measures have been implemented by the government to
ensure food security in households during the COVID-19
crisis in Sri Lanka, including price controls for rice and
vegetables, government distribution of vegetables and fruits,
and home gardening.
During the lockdown, Samurdhi recipients and other
disadvantaged classes, including some informal staff, received
a monthly consumption support of Rs. 5,000. These
interventions, however, are insufficient to combat hunger and
nutritional deficiencies, as addressed in a recent IPS article,
owing to inadequate targeting and administration issues (Daily
FT, 2020).
Given the financial strain placed on low-income families
during the crisis, the government should consider diverting
funds and resources to improve emergency nutrition programs
for specific groups such as babies, schoolchildren, pregnant
women, and others. The current situation is unprecedented,
and it is uncertain how long school closures will continue;
primary grades, in particular, will not reopen until September
2020 at the earliest. Because of the precautionary health
measures in effect, schools are unable to provide food services
while COVID-19 is a danger. Instead, with the support of
school boards – principals and teachers – the government
should take alternative steps to ensure that the needs of low-
income children are addressed during these extended school
closures. Delivering rations and expanding cash and voucher
services are just a few of the recommendations. In Argentina,
for example, there is already a policy in place to provide cash
incentives to mothers with children under the age of five; the
incentive has also been extended to include the cost of missed
school meals. To assist families with children under the age of
ten in Sri Lanka, the government should consider converting
school meal allocations to cash vouchers or food packs.
Following the crisis, the government should implement a
special nutritious meal program for schoolchildren that
includes fortified rice to compensate for growth deficiencies
that occurred during the crisis (Daily FT, 2020).
Furthermore, UNICEF suggests that, in the midst of an
emergency, basic nutrition and health programs be rapidly
expanded, as this can significantly boost children's nutritional
status. For example, a few months after the earthquake in
Haiti, about four million Haitians received nutritious food,
including ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF). As part of
primary health care facilities, the Sri Lankan government
should consider introducing special nutrition measures, such
as the use of RUTF to treat malnourished children. The
inequalities in health and educational outcomes exacerbated
by the COVID-19 crisis will be felt for years unless the
government moves quickly to address the nutritional needs of
vulnerable children (Daily FT, 2020).
Through the online platform, students may join in an online
meeting, connect using their video cameras, and be made
aware of the nature of their differences so-of meeting
participants at the same time, as opposed to having to them
finding out about these disparities after they're integrated into
the virtual one. Moving on, Teachers need to have a
fundamental understanding of new ways of learning if they
want to use online learning (Hayashi, Garcia, Maddawin, &
Hewagamage, 2020). On many people, many occasions,
though, this is not the case. Technology is also used by
teachers in their teaching for simple and limited ways. Thus,
in certain cases, they do not have the requisite digital
resources or equipment to conduct online classes. Since
technology is constantly evolving, it is essential for schools to
invest in teaching techniques that enable students to use the
newest offerings, such as keeping up with expanded training
and updates on online tools (Hayashi, Garcia, Maddawin, &
Hewagamage, 2020).
Prior to the Covid-19 era, however, online learning systems
were used in a minor way in educational institutions, or for
personal learning, but they've recently gained in significance
in popularity and have fully overtaken it in recent years. A
shortage of funding in the education resources needed to be
addressed to help with the Covid-19 created a worldwide
challenge for governments to put money into the Internet
education system. Online education was generally had
previously been given limited attention in the Sri Lankan
university sector before the Covid-19 was created. Although
school closures had increased the pressure on the government
to maintain the accessibility of secondary education during the
crisis, an online education option had provided a temporary
alternative so that more students could continue their studies
before schools reopened (Hayashi, Garcia, Maddawin, &
Hewagamage, 2020).

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In addition, COVID will be on the verge of complete
curtailment in the foreseeable future. Even if this were to
occur, everyone should expect isolated occurrences of the
pandemic, as it almost certainly would, a new wave of unrest
to follow. Since schoolchildren need to learn long-term and
short-term responses to both natural and man-made disasters,
it is important to produce both immediate fixes and lasting
changes at about the same time of disasters (Gamage, 2020).
In light of the various crises that could occur, the EF
Education Sri Lanka has put in place a program of virtual
discussions about "Timely Learners" in the future to look for
practices in distance education and make suggestions to policy
makers about how to use them. the concerns that arose from
20 to over a dozen more case studies of teachers and
additional comments by the participants in our first discussion
round-up show up on paper (Gamage, 2020).
And over 60% of families with schoolkids do not have
internet access to the internet would have a high (good)
possibility of subscribing to a mobile broadband services by
LISignetGlobal, in 2018 only 34% of Sri Lankan households
with children aged five to eighteen have Internet access to
broadband. All of these connections are made through mobile
networks, which uses a smartphone at a rate of more than 90%
(Gamage, 2020).
This platform is used by a small populations of students at just
a few of these campuses, which allows for an online Real-
Time Classroom learning experience. This time to be spent
would be completed with online instructional resources that
you can complement with your self-learning, which would
add to the duration of each day. Even some of the most
famous schools in Colombo schools have been unable to
provide such an online learning opportunities to their students
(Gamage, 2020).
When one in three-tenths of the families in the world have
internet access, they use apps such as WhatsApp and VIBER
for education, the primary mode of getting information is still
via online correspondence for those families who only have a
smartphone which they use together with their children is
difficult, particularly those who also want to use it in the
family setting, setting it up so it only connects to one or a few
people can be a huge challenge When a large amount of notes
are submitted, the situation gets out of hand. While the
remaining 60% of the population has not yet met their
expectations (Gamage, 2020).
Almost all families in the undeveloped nations are now
covered in Sri Lanka because as opposed to, for example,
when 97% of households there were covered in that country,
owning a phone was considered a luxury. as of the people in
Sri Lanka have regular access to the internet, 50% of the
population is still left without regular or affordable access to
it.
They would be willing to go the extra mile to provide access
to computers to their kids if they see how important it is for
their students' education (Gamage, 2020).
Parents in Sri Lanka pay over the last year allocated 50% of
their money to education and other required course costs,
including tuition, on the average (as a proportion of their total
spending. if the country advances in terms of e-based learning,
children and learners' textbooks will decrease the requirement
for face-to-to-face teaching. This means there will be more e-
but less stressful-people and material-based-provided study
methods that can help a child do their schoolwork and
information will be gained more easily (Gamage, 2020).
A significant portion of the Sri Lankan population has only
the ability to expand their horizons if they are given the
opportunity to develop and prosper. There are 95% of schools
in rural and 65% of the general education budget are provided
to those who have students from a lower socio-economic
background. The central government is expected to pay out
35% of the money, which is roughly equal to the 5% spent in
average on suburban school tuition, with the remainder being
reimbursed by the states. People who live in disadvantaged
areas, impoverished neighborhoods and in countries that were
previously burdened by poverty have lower levels of
education, literacy, and achievement, and greater opportunity
for those living in the north and east of the world may benefit
greatly from increased literacy. Teachers and other experts
move to places where education is most valued, such as
popular urban schools, which make it difficult for rural
schools to keep up with the latest trends and advances.
Students from low-and middle-income families, ethnic
minority, and minority ethnic students from low-income
families tend to be particularly at risk when it comes to a lack
of trained STEM teachers. at the age of 14, many dropouts
claim that a career is no longer essential to their learning The
study, conducted by the National Youth Panel, discovered that
only 40% of those in the age group of 17-18 decided to pursue
their education. One fifth of the students who leave school
dropout from dropout programs fail to enroll in career
training. of those who finish school, over 90% are unable to
enroll at the vast majority of them have no opportunity to
enter university because of lack of seats (UNICEF Sri Lanka,
2021).
Low participation rates and frequent drop-outs: One major
factor for those things is the assumption that employment/the
work market-relevant skills are not being imparted to students
during their school years of study. More than two-thirds of the
drop-outs in the nation (69%) saw little value in a degree of
schooling, which confirms the results of the recent National
Youth Survey, a college completion rate of just isn't required
for gainful jobs. A percentage of the most significant findings
of the Sri Lanka 2018 Graduate Outcomes Survey reveal, as-
Research by Morduch et al. (2017) indicate, technical and job-
specific skills are deficient in students; Troubleshooting and
problem solving skills, both of which are in high-school and
general graduates are non-existent; According to Morduch et
al. (2017), low technical and problem solving and
cooperation/social skills abound in secondary school
graduates (UNICEF Sri Lanka, 2021).

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Additionally, there are significant disparities in both pedagogy
and subject skills between teachers, which influence poor
learning outcomes. Teacher preparation curricula and
deficient instructional resources impede activity-based
learning. The use of newer curricula is enhanced when
materials to develop students are provided, which support the
ability to master difficult concepts are combined with deeper
learning, and access to technology to learn how to help these
concepts are provided are both addressed. Teachers with low
pay scales inevitably contribute to the majority of their lessons
becoming uninteresting and irrelevant for students, thereby
making the profession not worth the effort for the ones who
remain. In addition to a lack of recognition, encouragement,
various incentives are offered as another common motivator
for teachers to disengage from their students, particularly in
low-poverty settings (UNICEF Sri Lanka, 2021).
Adolescents must be motivated and encouraged to become
members of society, while being responsible for keeping their
positive, so that they can have the opportunity and work to
mend conflicts and get on their feet out of every state school
with 94per cent of Sinhalese schools alone continues to
provide instruction in Tamil only since the other sixteen per
cent cater only to 96nin total of students only for the other
sixteen per cent of the sixteen per cent of students (30per
cent). In two out of three quarters of all children, a majority of
whom do not learn the country's official language (England's)
can. This represents a further issue, as well, in that basic
education and teacher training also include courses and
resources that work towards promoting a shared Sri Lankan
identity and instead have ones that undermine global
citizenship and human rights. Inactive students are missing
out on opportunities to get involved in various ongoing
activities, long-term projects and programs, including local or
national ones, that have an effect on their lives. One way to
keep children civically engaged is a duty to value diversity,
especially that a need to better incorporate the education
system, empathy, into children's character development. By
political participation, they must also be motivated to become
agents of change in their own neighborhoods and
communities (UNICEF Sri Lanka, 2021). This project will
benefit the community by assisting the educational ministry to
implement a national action plan, which has given them the
task of managing and coordinating the work in this particular
field to the ‘Peace Education and Reconciliation Unit' (the
school's chapter of education's peace program). However, the
implementation of this national strategy has been very gradual
(UNICEF Sri Lanka, 2021).
2.4. E-learning as a Self-Learning Mechanism
Self-Learning is known “as a mechanism by which persons
take the lead, with or without the help of others, in identifying
their educational needs, trying to formulate learning
objectives, defining human and technological capital for
learning, and assessing learning outcomes” (TEAL, 2011).
Moreover, there has been a lot of study conducted on the
advantages of e-learning for companies, academic institutions,
as well as states (Sharma, Dick, Chin, & Land, 2007). In
school settings, several scholars have established self-
regulation as an indicator of academic achievement.
According to (Geng, Law, & Niu , 2019), Blended Learning
(BL) creates a ‘rich’ educational environment with multiple
technology-enabled communication forms in both face-to-face
and online teaching. Students’ characteristics are closely
related to the learning effectiveness in the BL environment.
Students’ ability to direct themselves in learning and to utilise
learning technologies can affect student learning
effectiveness. The spectrum of an online class is from a
standalone, self-paced curriculum to a highly competitive and
engaging course that includes community assignments
including discussions. One of the drawbacks of the more e-
learning model, and one of the explanations why the self-
paced style is often favoured, is that it necessitates the use of
technologies to promote teamwork as well as continuing
human encouragement and assistance (NEAL & MILLER,
2005).
(Andersson , 2020) - Figure 2 The distinction between online learning and
traditional classroom setups - Sri Lanka & Bangladesh
The graph above depicts the biggest distinction between
studying through e-learning and learning in a conventional
classroom is the distribution of learning, technology and costs.
With reference to (Andersson , 2020), this shows Sri Lankan
education systems are much dependent on online studies and
most of the students have learned to self-learn than depending
on the lecturers or teachers. Nevertheless, the drawbacks of
this scenario can be misguidance, loneliness and lack of peer
engagement (Andersson , 2020). There are no participation
standards in a self-paced program. Early hours lessons might
not be feasible for students who other commitments. They
will train at night, on weekends, or wherever they choose
because online studying allows them to incorporate it into
their schedule. This flexible scheduling often encourages
students to learn from their residences and function outside of
conventional class hours, granting them more flexibility
throughout the day to explore other desires. This can result in
developing a learning schedule according to their own
preferred time spans (Digital Marketing Institute, 2018).

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2.5. Teacher-Student Relationship
In order to reach a wide variety of students in a conventional
and virtual setting, teachers need to be leaders. It is imperative
to concentrate on building strong relationships (Zelihic, 2015).
In order to do that, one must foster trust. is an important
aspect of improving online relationships and ensuring their
full participation? They need to believe they have an active
role in learning and advancing ideas, a feeling of self-interest
satisfied cooperation, regardless of how “thinly or unstable”
that trust may seem. Conversely, (Zelihic, 2015) mentions that
others believe that building rapport in as different when
conducted in virtual platforms is unlike the kind found in
meetings and on the phone calls. An area of study called the
'Theory of Effective Leadership' incorporates behaviors and
diverse leadership positions into highly varied scenarios and
offers an introduction to what makes for a successful leader in
the incredibly ambiguous world of management. Also
provided researchers with an explanation for the proliferation
of communication channels (of various complexity) among
virtual leaders (the) suggested that task-related behavior and
various levels of positivity and dynamism are utilized to reach
students in classrooms. Teachers and students are working
together in environments that are more restrictive of
nonverbal communication than face-to-to-face classes may
pose challenges, and there are still unresolved questions about
their robustness and effectiveness (Song, Kim, & Luo, 2016).
Additionally, (Song, Kim, & Luo, 2016) highlight that
students in online environments can understand less about the
teacher than they would in traditional classrooms because of
the dynamics of the environment and systemic factors. There
is not much research that has been done on the role of teacher
self-internalization (TI) in e-learning settings, although
decades of communication research indicate that it is
important. On the basis of the structural equation model, the
findings state that teacher self-disclosure and students'
emotional responses to SD lead to greater satisfaction for the
perception of information for both students and teachers
(Song, Kim, & Luo, 2016). Once students are helped to
develop their social skills and understand their own self-
determined classroom style, researchers suggest teacher's
unique style of classroom management, a model action, and
the idea of leadership in class is extended, leading students to
new interactions, and teachers will be able to exercise greater
influence over their education (Zelihic, 2015).
2.6. COVID-19
According to (World Health Organisation, 2020), COVID-19
tends to be a novel virus and the majority of people infected
with COVID-19 will have moderate to severe effects and will
recover with no preferential treatment. When an infected
individual coughs, sneezes, or exhales, the virus that causes
COVID-19 is primarily transmitted by droplets. These
droplets are too large to float in the air and fall to the ground
or other surfaces easily. If they are in immediate contact to
those that have COVID-19, individuals can be exposed by
inhaling the disease or contacting a contaminated surface and
afterwards touching the eyes, nose, or mouth (World Health
Organisation, 2020). With reference to (Daily FT, 2020), as
the number of patients testing positive for COVID-19 rose to
43 at the time of publication, the government formed the
National Operation Centre for Prevention of the COVID-19
Outbreak (NOCPCO), directed at reducing the virus's effects
and have implemented strategies to reduce the effectiveness of
the contagious disease. A committee known as NOCPCO was
formed in Rajigiriya as directe by the Presidential Task Force
with regards to COVID-19. Currently, there are 92,303 total
COVID-19 cases, where 88,914 have been recovered and 566
deaths (Google News , 2021).
2.7. Summary of Literature
Teachers are a major contributor to the overall success of
learners, as well as being crucial to the development of the
participation that exists within the community. The best
learning experiences occur when students are given
opportunities to exercise their creativity. (Kim, 2012) claimed
that teachers are the most important source of e-learning
progress by raising learner satisfaction and motivating
students to explore diverse possibilities. That is, teachers who
are more dedicated to online learning will be better able to
positively impact student satisfaction by offering assistance
when students need it, being understanding and offering
praise, and providing encouragement. Exemplary case: where
teachers and learners come together to work on real, concrete
projects to learn through interactivity, as an example, explain,
since educational resources have become readily available on
the trend to meet a broadening set of criteria has been based
on product quality, improving abilities, and opening up
education to as these resources serve to cut costs, as training
materials for the learner population, and reach the largest
amount of people, and meet the relevant criteria (Ali &
Magalhaes, 2008).
Nevertheless, students and teachers do not know for how long
their school systems are closed which means that they are
unaware of their duties, and how to keep up with each other
when the classes (Lucas, 2020). Online learning offers various
challenges to students at the beginning stages of their careers,
but is otherwise brilliant news. Students are encouraged to
need to learn the skills needed to achieve success, such as an
open mind, clear vision, and self-confidence (Ferradás, Freire,
Núñez, & Regueiro, 2020). Following this method student
will have a positive outlook when they take their lessons and
excel. Moving on, digital technology holds significant
promise for enhancing educational equity, but on the other, it,
it must also be used to ensure that the growing disparities are
not further enhanced. Students who are either behind or
struggling in school or for different reasons need extra support
should have access to technology and services to get extra
help as well as to help being able to build up a support
network with family members in the group, including
continuous support from the teachers (OECD, 2012). Teachers
and learning technologies will co-exist, but they will never be
able to completely replace each other.

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III. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Introduction
The study will be carried out according to qualitative methods
of research in order to discover factors to improve the various
positive impacts of Covid-19 pandemic online learning vs.
traditional learning, to enlighten various measures taken by
Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka for education sector during
this pandemic and to investigate some negative impacts of
Covid-19 pandemic online learning and to present some
suitable strategies for continuing education during this
pandemic situation in secondary school at Vidyaraja Maha
Vidyalaya. Questionnaires will be distributed to both students
and teachers to understand the pre and the post education
system due to COVID19. Through the findings of the
literature review, it could be seen that various reasons that
existed pre and prior academic knowledge of secondary
students during the Covid-19 Pandemic and online Learning.
The main reasons or factors are; online learning, e-learning in
the context of Sri Lankan Education and e-learning as a self-
mechanism. These factors were directly and indirectly
influence the online learning environment of the students.
3.2. Research Strategy
The qualitative research is an empirical strategy, as it starts
with current knowledge from the educational system and
extends that by drawing on literature excesses from Sri Lanka
to seek to understand the initial knowledge of students in post-
secondary education. After all the data have been obtained,
nevertheless, a new hypothesis or an old theory has been
disproved, it's all done but the conclusions are still may be
made, either support or discredit the initial belief. While
undertaking this study, the quantitative effort seeks to find
how internet use in Sri Lankan secondary education can be
used, the qualitative aspect seeks to gain an in-depth
understanding about the reasons and possible outcomes of
internet use in the education system.
Students and teachers are taken into the research study to
analyse on how Vidyaraja Maha Vidyalaya has been affected
with COVID-19 and the novel learning platform. Through this
method this illustrates a better view about the school and the
effects of the novel change. The findings will be displayed
through graphs and charts as a thematic analysis and the data
will be presented according to the given questionnaires to
students and teachers.
3.3. Conceptual Framework
Below are to have been shown as potentially affecting pre-
and post-academic preparation in the Sri Lankan students as
well as well as the ways to be the differentiated by the
research under, and here are mentioned and presented as
follows:
Figure 3. Conceptual Framework - Developed by the Author
3.4. Definition of Factors
3.4.1. Access to Technology
The age of the world having widespread use of computers and
the Internet is considered to be a new stage of development in
which people are being "online". It is common for the word
"intern autonomous computing" to describe someone who is
now linked to the internet. all your entries are now redundant,
unless and until they are packed with the proper words.

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The education ministry encourages students to continue their
studies by logging on to the official educational website "e-
thakasalwa" over the period. Students can continue their
studies by logging into the web site on the internet through the
website www.e-thaksoe.gov.lk When students in Grades 1-13
are presented in three languages, the learning material is
offered on the website is universally available (Lanka
Education , 2020)
3.4.2. E-Learning in the Context of Sri Lankan
Education
This term defines the overall online education system of Sri
Lanka. The term would undertake the novel trends, benefits
and drawbacks with regards to online learning occurring in the
industry (Lanka Education , 2020). Referring to much
(including the officials from Sri Lanka) holds that blended
learning unites the two excellent aspects of schooling; it has
been heralded as combining the best of both types of
education. What has been termed as blended learning has
variously encompassed several ideas about it, making it more
difficult to define (NEAL & MILLER, 2005). A number of
scholars use a very expansive definition of learning, and call it
various versions of learning distributed techniques that are
accepted as an official addition to conventional face-to-to-to-
face training. E-learning has simplified the act of education,
no matter what kind of a profession an individual is involved
in. Electronic learning is efficient and strong because it breaks
down complex information into simple terms, the concept is
easily understood. It contributes to improved learning and
comprehension and instruction for the learners (Stern, 2020).
3.4.3. E-Learning as a Self-Learning Mechanism
E-Learning as a Self-Learning Mechanism. Referring to
(Sile´n & Uhlin, 2008), students learning to use what they
already know and what they already know to explore different
problems on their own are important in problem-based
learning and more broadly student-centered learning. Self-
directed learning has generally been thought to mean the
development of own capacity for independent learning, so it
has been taken for granted, for instance to research and expose
the intriguing possibilities and motivations, this paper seeks to
bring forward and improve understanding of individuals'
deeply meaningful possibilities and personal rewards. The
mechanism of independent learning is as well as the need for
teachers to partake in it must be understood as a priority when
it comes to attaining self-directedness, and so teachers must
become involved in it (Towle & Cottrell, 1996).
Referring to the written by (Henschke & Henschke, 2016) the
second definition of self-learning includes taking initiative to
diagnose one's own needs, formulating one's own objectives,
defining and reviewing tools for learning, and then critically
evaluating one's achievements, which is also referred to as
“Defining one's necessities, developing training and creating
goals, obtaining resources, then evaluating and assessing one's
efficacy, as well as an alternative term for the achievement
process is common to individuals who study in themselves (or
with no assistance from others).
3.4.4. Teacher and Student Knowledge on E-learning
According to (The Economic Times, 2021), when education is
performed using services like this, it's formalized but with the
help of electronic tools is referred to as e-learning. Online
learning has proven to be ideal in private sector training
programs where the trainees are given access to classes or
webinars while they are working from the office, or from
various locations around the globe by different corporations
and workers will simultaneously be given the education to
develop skills when interacting face-to-to-face in person. The
use of E-learning methods in school education is a clear
indicator of where education is heading, as opposed to schools
that are stuck with the conventional method. E-learning is
offered to students the ability to study from any location
where they have a secure internet connection. It enables them
to perform their studies in any context that works for
themselves. Additionally, this also makes it possible for
students to arrange their schedules more efficiently (The
Economic Times, 2021).
To stand out from the crowd and get students' attention,
teachers have to be imaginative and flexible on a daily basis
seeking online tools, new and innovative solutions to keep
educators constantly challenged and open-source: overcoming
educational blockages for the education providers, an
alternative means of continuing their education is e-learning
platforms that can be used to help them develop their
knowledge and abilities (Balogh, 2014).
3.4.5. Teacher-Student Relationship
The teacher-student relationship is known as the academic
connection among students and teachers an individual
studying in an academic facility an educator is someone who
has a job that involves instructing (Oreshkina & Greenberg,
2020). By taking advantage of the various ways of
participation, students' different personalities, people are able
to engage on interactive channels just as they do. The use of
communities of practice offers students more opportunities
and avenues for positive engagement such as bulletin boards
and forums helps generate meaningful experiences for the
teachers and other students. Referring to (Lai & Xue, 2012),
Online education is enabling and enhancing an egalitarian
classroom organization which encourages an accessible and
interdependent teacher-student relationship that emphasizes
the use of leader-teacher and student-centered interactions.
emotional unavailability when offering a relevant and efficient
training that cannot be provided in traditional classroom
settings, online education often has a number of weaknesses
that present difficulties when applied to students, specifically,
due to their lack of emotional presence to build online
education, we must make some conclusions about the learning
model and try to create a closer and more intimate relationship
between students and teachers. Students and teachers should
be encouraged to participate, while on the other hand,
incorporating more emotional elements will help to incite
students to involvement (Lai & Xue, 2012).

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3.4.6. COVID-19
The 2019–20 coronavirus disease is an ongoing pandemic of
the novel coronavirus disease 2019 also known as COVID-19
affected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
(SARS-CoV-2) (WHO, 2020).
3.5. Sampling Procedure
This study covers 315 participations (students) including 15
secondary school classes and 41 teachers in Vidyaraja Maha
Vidyalaya at Hokandara. The sampling procedure would be
conducted through quantitative research methods. This
procedure is expected to discover the objectives of the
research question.
3.6. Sampling Methods
The sample will be based on a non-probability sampling
procedure, which will be made by using judgments without
regard to the notion of what is convenient or suitable. The
questionnaire is distributed to the teachers and students of the
Vidyaraja Hokandara, as researcher wishes to get responses
from 315 pupils who would like to take part in the research
and the questionnaires will be used to do background research
for a study of adolescent/secondary school students for the
purpose of preparing a treatment that will then be used for
expanding their prior and future knowledge of the existing
online environment.
3.7. Data Collection Method
There is also primary research for this thesis, using statistical
tools, which looks at the researcher's personal views as a
starting points for which to explore data for the theory.
Questionnaires can be used to collect data that is impartial and
unstructured The compilation instrument will be prepared by
using a surveys as a reference. The questionnaires are to be
used to discover the determining whether or not expanding the
factory will help the factory stay competitive will be
determined and set out How does the introduction of new
learning methods have on students' academic awareness and
their growth as a teacher? The introduction of online learning
has a direct influence on their academic abilities and the
values as well as a multiplicative effect on their acquisition of
new knowledge.
Teachers and students have two separate sets of
questionnaires, one which are geared toward professional
growth and advancement and the other towards program
completion. so a number of questions will be set out for the
survey, and these questions will be distributed in different
locations in the research area in order to allow everyone in the
group the opportunity to answer (refer Annexure 1).
Knowledge regarding respondents is taken into consideration,
ethical issues regarding confidentiality of personal data is in
relation to how it is improved. The information supplied by
the respondents is exclusively for academic purposes, and has
no intended use other than that of being analyzed. To broaden
this further, data gathered by the supervisors and auditors
could also be accessed only by the examiners.
3.8. Developing the Questionnaire
As previously stated, primary data was chosen in order to
collect sufficient information in order to investigate the
factors highlighted in the conceptual framework, which would
aid in eliciting the necessary responses to meet the research's
objectives. There will be no involvement of a third party in
the data collection process. The data collection instrument will
be two separate questionnaires that will be distributed to
teachers and students at Vidyaraja Maha Vidyalaya in
Hokandara. As previously mentioned, two surveys for
teachers and students at Vidyaraja Maha Vidyalaya in
Hokandara will be planned. Prior to circulating the
questionnaires online, permission from the relevant
respondents will be obtained orally. Teachers and students
from Vidyaraja Maha Vidyalaya in Hokandara were chosen
for the survey in order to learn more about the real effects of
online learning in Sri Lanka's secondary education system.
3.9. Data Analysis
The data collected from the respondents, as well as data
collected from previous researches and useful articles, will be
considered in the data analysis section, which will be
interpreted using tables, graphs, and charts wherever possible
to ensure that the data collected makes sense with the data
obtained from previous researches and useful articles. In
addition, survey responses will be presented in the form of
charts and graphs so that the exact responses given by the
respondents can be interpreted. As a result, the data
instrument chosen will eventually provide a clear
understanding as well as aid in identifying the key factors for
the previously described research issue. The qualitative nature
of the study necessitates the use of thematic analysis. This
would draw attention to the critical recording patterns that
must be identified in order to solve the research issue. By
choosing thematic analysis, the data will be analyzed based on
the key behaviors as well as the respondents' related response
patterns, which are derived from the reasons listed in the
conceptual framework.
IV. DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1. Introduction
One of the most critical aspects of the research report is data
presentation and interpretation (chapter 4). This chapter will
concentrate on the elements that influence the secondary
online education sector in Sri Lanka's pre- and prior academic
knowledge as a result of Covid-19. In efforts to provide and
alternatives to the research issue and research question that
was initially carried out, analysis and explanation of the main
results are considered.
4.2. Data Presentation
To determine the extent of pre the and post-school education
sector's influences in Sri Lanka, five variables have been
investigated separately to address various challenges: various
forms of technology accessibility, virtual learning as a means
of enhancing self-study mechanisms, virtual training is

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applied to this sector, an exploration of information within the
school education system, the significance of these aspects of
teacher and student interaction, and the reliability of these
knowledge systems. Furthermore, the necessary data to
continue the research study has been chosen using primary
data, obtained by conducting surveys and distributing
questionnaires. As previously mentioned, these are online
surveys generated using Google Forms and distributed via
email. As previously mentioned, teachers and students at
Hokandara-Vidyalaya Maha Vidyalaya will be the
respondents. Furthermore, the data collected from the
respondents was provided in the form of graphs and maps, and
a personal study was conducted to further investigate the
research issue.
4.3. Data Analysis
The organization of these thematic research practices to
identify causes was listed above as well as being important in
the aforementioned method of research, which began with
data collection not only do thoughts and ideas and views of
the respondents get included in each and every aspect that has
been discovered, but even their ideas and opinions get
reproduced in full according to a logical structure. More
importantly, answers are shown as a factual evidence for this
assertion and the response from the two questionnaires are
represented under each heading.
4.3.1. Participant Age Group – Students
Participants involve students and their ages categories are as
follows:
Majority of the participants tend to be between the ages of 11
to 14 years with a percentage of 44% and 15 to 19 years
representing 39%, 6-10 years with 17%.
4.3.2. Teacher’s Experience
According to the above graph most of the teachers who
participated in the survey had more than 13 years of
experience presenting 34% of the total participants. Teachers
with 1-3 years of experience accounts for 26%, 4-6 years of
teaching experience accounts for 23%, 7-9 years with 14%.
4.3.3. Online Learning
Taking the overall concept of online learning is a factor which
affects both students and teachers and the most significant
component in the online learning platform. Under online
learning the researcher has given different types of questions
to the participants to understand the aspects of online learning.
1. How do you overall feel about distance education?
Teachers
According to the above chart, out of 35 respondents, the
majority of the respondents (54%) tend to have a neutral
feeling towards online or distance learning. 31% of the
respondents tends to have a positive outlook on the novel
emerging platform across the country. 11% of the respondents
have an excellent feeling towards the online learning
platforms and lastly minor respondents from the group of 3%
of the teachers tend to have unsatisfactory feelings towards
online learning.
Students
The majority of the students tend to have a favourable
response towards the overall distance learning. In other words,
56% of the students respond as good, 17% of the students
respond as very good and good each. However, 11% of the
respondents are not satisfied with the novel learning platform
at school.

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2. How Effective Has Remote Learning Been for You?
Student
According to the above chart, respondents (students) tends to
be neutral about the new learning platform, indicating 56%
out of the total respondents. Very ineffective totaled to be
22% and very effective respondents totaled to be 22%.
Teachers
3. How Effective has Remote Learning been for you?
The above table represents the respondents answers for
effectiveness of remote learning. Moreover, out of the 34
respondents only 16% agrees to have sound effectiveness on
teaching, whereas 26% provided negative feedback. The
majority of totaling up to 58% have given neutral responses
not indicating a positive or a negative outcome indicating its
effectiveness.
4. Do you prefer online teaching or in class teaching?
Teacher
According to the above table respondents have replied for the
preference of online teaching and in-class teaching as follows:
18% of the teachers prefer online teaching, 17% prefer dual
teaching methods and 65% of the teachers prefer in-class
teaching.

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5. Do you Prefer online class learning or in-class learning?
Students
Preference of learning in students were much given to a
neutral answer where most of the students were unable
respond indicating either online or in-class learning showing a
percentage of 39%. Conversely, 33% of the students prefer
online learning and 28% of the total respondents preferred in-
class learning.
6. What are the Benefits of Online Teaching?
Teacher
Referring to the above table, many teachers stated about
saving time and money, some respondents indicated how it
can affect studies of students and ability to be familiar
learning using new technology. The below chart illustrates a
summary of the above entire table. The chart below provides a
summary of the benefits indicating the percentage involved.
Benefits
Frequency
Percentage (%)
All
4
12
Convenience
5
15
Technology
4
12
Improvement on studies
10
29
Saves time and money
4
12
Reduce Transportation
3
9
other
2
6
No benefits
2
5
The above table and chart illustrates a summary of online
teaching; it can be seen that 29% of the teachers’ view
“improvement on studies as a major benefit. Moving on, 15%
of the teachers highlight “convenience as another benefit
giving a total of 15%. Next, 12% of the teachers highlight that
online education saves money and time, another 12% of the
teachers focus on improvements in technology which enables
students to learn better than in classrooms. 9% of the teachers
state not needing to travel tends to be another significant
advantage. 6% of the teachers have stated about other benefits
such as has the ability to other work and similar advantages.
Similarly, 12% of the teachers have found all above

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mentioned benefits. Conversely, 5% of the teachers have not
seen any benefit on online learning.
4.3.4. E- Learning in the Context of Sri Lankan
Education
1. Do you have adequate resources for distance learning?
Students
According to the above chart, 78% of the students stated about
having adequate resources for online learning. 11% of the
students seems to be unsure of having sufficient materials or
resources to study online. On the contrary, 11% of the
students indicated not having sufficient resources for online
studies.
2. How Much Time Do You Spend Each Day On an
Average On Distance Education?
Teachers
According to the above illustration, 49% of the teachers teach
online for 1-3 hours, about 36% percent of the teacher spend
3-5 hours, 23% of the teachers spend time between 5-7 hours
and 3% of the teachers spend more than 10 hours on teaching
online to students.
Students
According to the above chart, 56% of the students spend 3-5
hours in learning online, 22% of students spend 1-3 hours
learning online, another 22% spending 5-7 hours online and
none spending more than 10 hours online learning.
3. How Helpful Your School Has Been in Offering You the
Resources to Learn from Home?
Students
Referring to the graph above, 33% of the students stated a
favourable response by stating the schools provided sound
resources to learn from home, 33% of the students stated an
average response. Moreover, 28% of the students stated as
‘excellent’ and 6% stated ‘poor.
4.3.5. Access to Technology
1. Do you have adequate resources for Distance Learning?
Teachers
According to the above chart, 69% of the teachers state about
having adequate resources for online learning. On the other
hand, 17% of the teachers are unsure about the resources
required for online learning and 14% of the teachers stated not
having sufficient resources for online learning.
2. Do you have access to a device for learning online?
Teachers
According to the above chart, 86% of the teachers have
devices to teach online, 9% of the teachers are unsure about
having the right device suitable for teaching. On the other

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hand, 6% of the teachers lacks proper devices suitable for
online teaching.
Students
Referring to the above chart, 78% of the students stated
having proper resources for online learning, where 11%
lacked proper resources and another 11% where unsure about
having proper or adequate resources.
3. What Device Do You Use for Distance Learning?
Teachers
Conferring to the above illustration, it can be seen that 77% of
the respondents mainly use laptops and 17% use smartphones,
3% use desktops and laptops each.
Students
According to the above diagram, majority of the students
learn through laptops as it shows 56% out of the total
respondents. Moreover, 39% of the students use smartphones
for online learning and 6% use tablets. There are no students
using a desktop computer for learning.
4.3.6. E-Learning as a Self-Learning Mechanism
1. How Effective Has Remote Learning Been for You?
Students
According to the above graph, majority of the responses states
that remote learning was somewhat effective. In other words,
56% of the respondents indicated that it did not affect much.
22% of the respondents stated as very effective and another
22% of the respondents stated very ineffective.
2. How Effective Has Remote Teaching Been for You?
Teachers
According to the above pie chart, majority of the teachers
stated that the effectiveness of remote teaching tends to be
‘average’ and ‘not effective’. In other words, around 29% of
the teachers stated an average effectiveness and another nearly
29% stated not effective at all. Conversely, 26% of the
teachers rated their effectiveness as ‘excellent’ and 15% of the
respondents stated effectiveness as ‘fair’.
3. How Has Distance Learning Affected Your Routine?
According to the above graph, majority of the teacher’s
routine has been negatively affected. In other words, 24% of

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the teachers stated that distance learning has affected their
routine in a negative way. Similarly, 24% of the teachers have
stated that the distance learning has affected their routine in a
very negative manner. Examples such as; “Stressful, less sleep
and busy are stated.
4.3.7. Teacher and Student Knowledge on E-Learning
Systems
1. Students’ Participation in Online Learning
Teachers
Conferring to the above pie chart, most of the participants
have stated that the dedication of students on online learning
platforms as ‘somewhat dedicated’. In other words, this shows
an average result in student learning through online platforms
as 66% of the teachers or respondents agree to the statement.
Moving on, 17% of the teachers stated student dedication
regarding online learning as ‘highly dedicated’. 11% of the
teachers cannot decide student dedication on learning online
and 6% of the respondents seems to be unsure to comment on
the statement.
4.3.8. Teacher-Student Relationship
1. The Amount of Work Given to Students
Teachers
According to the above graph, majority of the respondents the
amount of work my students has been assigned to complete
each week is ‘just right’. In other words, 66% of the
respondents stated just right. Moreover, 17% of the
respondents states the amount of work given is ‘too little’ and
11% of the respondents states ‘too much’. 6% of the
respondents are unsure about the amount of work given to the
students.
2. Student Support Given by Teachers.
Teachers
Referring to the above pie chart, majority of the respondents
believe that they give a sound support to the students. In other
words, 49% of the respondents agree on giving a sound
support to the students. Similarly, 23% of the respondents
believe that they give an excellent support to the students and
another 22% of the respondents believe they give a fair
support to the students. Conversely, 6% of the respondents
believe teachers provide a poor support to the students.
Students
According to the above chart, 33% of the students stated a
favourable response by stating the schools provided sound
resources to learn from home, 33% of the students stated an
average response. Moreover, 28% of the students stated as
‘excellent’ and 6% stated ‘poor.
3. Improvement of Student Performance
Teachers
According to the above chart, most of the responses tend to be
negative with regards to student performance. In other words,
26% of the respondents’ state students have ‘not improved’ at
all. Similarly, 26% of respondents’ state less improvement in

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student performance. 18% of the respondent’s state that there
is an average improvement in performance and 15% of the
respondents stated a moderately improved performance in
student learning. Conversely, 15% of the respondents state a
high improvement in student performance.
4.3.9. COVID -19
1. Level of Stress with Regards to Distance Learning During
The COVID-19 Pandemic
Teachers
According to the above mentioned chart, 40% of the
respondents tend to be less-stressful and 40% of the
respondents tend to be moderately stress-free. Conversely, 6%
of the respondents were stated as being stressed and another
6% were much pleased to teach online during the pandemic.
Students
According to the pie chart below, majority of the students felt
comfortable learning online during the COVID-19. In other
words, 44% of the students stated ‘good’ and 33% stated
‘average’, none stated ‘excellent’. 11% stated ‘fair’ and
another 11% of respondents stated ‘poor’.
4.4. Key Findings
This section summarizes the main findings derived from the
thematic review conducted to answer the research questions
raised in the introduction chapter. When it comes to the
reasons for the growth of the online secondary education
sector in Sri Lanka, similar trends can be found in the
responses given by the respondents. The key findings include
access to technology, online learning, E-Learning in the
Context of Sri Lankan Education, E-Learning as a Self-
Learning Mechanism, Teacher and Student Knowledge on E-
Learning Systems, Teacher- Student Relationship and
COVID-19 are other concerned factors that highlighted most
after the seven independent variables.
According to the conducted survey, most of the students and
teachers have resources to online learning platforms and most
of them access through laptops. Moreover, it lowers obstacles
to learning content, embraces learners where they are in a
variety of learning environments including needs, which gives
educators a better understanding of the teaching environments
they're developing. Through the survey, it found students are
facilitated with technology for learning and only a minor
proportion did not have access to online learning. Students are
given a fair support on online learning platforms. However,
there tends to be a problem with regards to the overall
performance of the student in online learning. On the contrary,
teachers believe a significant advantage of online learning is
improvement on studies but these two factors tend to clash in
reality. Moving on, majority of the teachers believe that they
give a sound support to the students despite the performance
of the students. The effectiveness of remote learning tends to
be on an average level. This could be another clue to indicate
insufficient performances level of students. Teachers prefer
traditional classrooms rather than teaching online, as this
could affect the overall performances of the student. As most
of the students tend be physically attending online lectures
with their mind elsewhere. Moreover, the student in an online
class does not have direct contact with the teacher. As a result,
they can find it difficult to ask their online teacher questions
because contact is sometimes impersonal. These courses, on
the other hand, also include alternatives to live query
resolution, such as online forums, emails, and chatrooms.
Individuals who use these options can find it easier to get
answers to their questions. Researchers concur that
communicating with a teacher in person is the most effective
method of learning because it is engaging and allows for two-
way communication. Synchronous online courses would be
more suitable for these individuals.
Many teachers stated about saving time and money, some
respondents indicated how it can affect studies of students and
ability to be familiar learning using new technology. Students
on the contrary, tend to have a favourable response towards
the overall distance learning.
Teachers believe student support is given but students tend to
doubt the support the given by schools for online learning.
This shows there is a communication gap between the student
and the teacher which can ultimately have a negative impact
on student performance.
The significant benefits of online learning tend to be
convenience, improvement on studies, technology, saves
money and time and reduce transportation costs.
V. CONCLUSION
5.1. Introduction
In the final chapter, the researcher will synthesize the results
of the entire study, including the conclusions. In this chapter,
theories and empirical results that were discussed and checked
will be listed. and so that others can benefit from this advice
will be applied in similar circumstances to teachers and

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students will be suggested for them as well, namely,
suggestions will be offered to build on the improvements of
online learning.
5.2. Summary of the Project
The Covid-19 Pandemic has posed, and continues to pose, a
major threat to the world. A new Coronavirus (Covid-19)
outbreak has been identified in China's Wuhan province.
Several deaths and complications, such as pneumonia and
acute respiratory distress syndrome, were recorded in
December 2019. The virus quickly spread around the globe,
prompting the World Health Organization to announce a
pandemic on March 11, 2020. Sri Lanka reported the first case
on January 27, 2020, in a Chinese tourist, and the second case
on March 11, 2020, in a local. As in several other countries
around the world, the Covid-19 pandemic forced Sri Lankan
schools to close on March 13, 2020, and only partially
reopened in June before closing for the year on October 5,
2020. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak's emergency, strict steps
were taken to restrict human mobility. A nationwide curfew
was imposed on, until further notice, along with a strict
prohibition on inter-district travel. Colombo's three most
populated districts, Kalutara and Gampaha, have been
designated as high-risk areas. The Sri Lankan government
declared a nationwide curfew and moderated travel
restrictions. Schools will remain closed until mid-May, with
online instruction continuing until further notice if not
months, if not years. What happens when all that is studied in
school is done online, and there is no longer a place to study?
If the government agrees that online classes are the best
choice, they should take measures to make them more widely
available, so both students and teachers can save money.
Online education, whether started at the beginning or over a
long period of time, does not intensify the disparities that have
already formed.
It clear that through the research seven independent variables
are discovered. They are known as; access to technology,
online learning, e-learning in the context of Sri Lankan
education system, e-learning as a self-learning mechanism,
teacher and student knowledge on e-learning systems, teacher-
student relationship and COVID-19. The main objectives of
the research were to what impact do online learning strategies
have on students’ academic knowledge and teachers’
professional development? How is the teacher student
relationship affected by the implementation of online
learning? And How does implementation of online learning
affect the students’ academic skills and knowledge?
Moreover, the findings of the study will be partially
responsible for the benefit of students and education system of
Sri Lanka with regards to remote learning. Moreover, the
research will help the Ministry of Education, government,
semi government and private schools to come up with
strategies that mutually benefits both educators and learners
due to COVID-19. Furthermore, this study discusses on
significant factors such as what impact do online learning
strategies have on students’ academic knowledge and
teachers’ professional development, how is the teacher student
relationship affected by the implementation of online learning
and how does implementation of online learning affect the
students’ academic skills and knowledge. This study covers
315 participations (students) including 15 secondary school
classes and 41 teachers in Vidyaraja Maha Vidyalaya at
Hokandara. The sampling procedure was conducted through
qualitative research methods. This procedure discovered the
objectives of the research question with support of the
respondents of both teachers and students in Vidyaraja Maha
Vidyalaya at Hokandara and the information retrieved benefits
the overall secondary education sector of Sri Lanka.
Moving on to the key findings, the researcher discovered
seven independent variables that affects the online education
of the secondary education sector in Sri Lanka. The factors are
access to technology, Access to Technology, E-Learning in
the Context of Sri Lankan Education, E-Learning as a Self-
Learning Mechanism, Teacher and Student Knowledge on E-
Learning Systems, Teacher- Student Relationship and
COVID-19.
5.3. Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, this study is carried out in order to
identify the factors affecting online education in Sri Lanka
and narrowed down to the secondary education sector. With
the discovered factors, the researcher has recommended
strategies to improve the overall performances of the students
when learning online as a problem exists in student
performances and effectiveness of studies.
5.4. Recommendations
Based on the key findings covered in the data presentation and
analysis (Chapter 4), it can be identified that the main problem
student performances and effectiveness of learning. Therefore,
there are series of strategies which needs to be implemented to
improve the overall performances and the effectiveness of
student online learning. Any teacher who teaches online must
participate in a conversation about acceptable and responsible
online actions. Although students should have been taught
about digital literacy and citizenship prior to COVID-19 and
the transition to online learning, there is a need for a refresher.
Students need a greater understanding of their digital
footprint, how to effectively interact online, resources to use
when engaging in digital environments, and techniques for
when they feel insecure or unsafe online from all teachers, not
just the librarian or technology teacher.
Teachers and the management of school are advised to create
an effective approach, where learning efficiency is normally
measured by the amount of money, time, and energy needed
to achieve desired results. This means that if there are less
costs and time commitments, the learning process will be
strengthened. The goal here is to come up with a strategy that
will boost both productivity and reliability.
To have a positive effect on the overall method of learning,
this approach should be applied to every aspect of online
education: curriculum, philosophy, implementation, teaching,
management, technology, and institutional culture.

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Moreover, courses empowered with videos can be another
strategy to improve performances by empowering videos.
Moving on, digital videos are extremely common, and
integrating them into the eLearning process will give
education a flexible and convenient twist. Images, as a result,
can never be ignored as a valuable resource for teachers,
students, and educational institutions. Learners will be able to
hear and see the different ideas being taught and will interpret
them in a similar way during daily experiences as a result of
having videos. Furthermore, they aid in the learning process,
especially in the case of complex topics that necessitate a high
level of comprehension. The videos are an excellent resource
that can be accessed at any time and from any place. Students
with internet access can view and learn from a range of
devices, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Communication is the key to successful online education, and
this field has seen significant advancements over time. In this
age of networking, courses can make use of social media
networks, e-mails, student chat groups, and other means of
communication to enable students to connect with their
classmates and teachers. Students' interest grows when they
are able to explore course-related subjects, ask questions, and
even compare their evaluation ratings, which fosters a healthy
competitive spirit and makes them perform better every time.
Virtual Reality (VR) is a relatively new technology that has
quickly swept through the world of eLearning. The primary
motive for using virtual reality in education is to better
understand how the human brain works. On average, the brain
can recall 10% of what students learn, 20% of what they hear,
and 90% of what they do or are stimulated. VR can be used in
online learning in a variety of ways, including: Virtual reality
can be a blessing in disguise for physically challenged
students. They are able to experience the whole world through
their headset, which has a positive effect on their learning
process as well. VR courses have largely been based on
history and science courses to date, but the fact remains that
this technology can be applied to any theme or topic,
providing limitless possibilities. Virtual reality allows students
to visit areas that are physically inaccessible or far away,
giving them a sense of presence. These classes have the ability
to be a good competitor to conventional classrooms. Students
now have the option of training at their own pace while
learning online, but the lesson plan is likely to remain
traditional. Instead of sticking to the old guidelines, courses
should experiment with flexible lesson plans tailored to the
individual needs of students. They won't have to struggle with
a single topic for hours, but instead will be able to break
things down into manageable chunks with focused study time
on difficult concepts. Regardless of how advanced or unique
an eLearning system is, it should always be backed by a team
of competent and skilled teachers who design courses based
on the needs of the students.
A disciplined schedule, well-thought curriculum, and
associated elements constitute such a course, making the
learning process as smooth as possible. Even when switching
to online education, having a qualified teacher on hand is
essential. We know that, like traditional diploma and
professional courses, e-courses assess students' knowledge
through assessments, and that a student is awarded a
certificate of recognition after passing these tests. But wait,
what if someone doesn't get the desired result? This is where
result-oriented assessments have a major role to play. This
basically analyzes the fields where students were not able to
score and then provides simple step-by-step learning programs
followed by tests to help them do better.
Most of the online courses do lack result-oriented
assessments, due to which if a student does not score well,
they would have to repeat the course altogether and go
through same curriculum and chances are they would end up
with similar scores, such a cycle can be broken with the help
of result-based assessments.
The essence of state-of-art eLearning system is not only based
on the modules but the amount of money that you are willing
to spend on making it worthwhile. If you lack the required
finances for developing an exceptional online course, then a
good practice would be to seek help from reliable online
lenders. This is because the pedagogy of online education is
similar to giants of the internet and must be treated as a core
business, where you need appropriate budgeting and potential
sources to fulfil these demands. Every innovative
methodology comes with a price; and for these loanable
funds, it can be a great option to translate methods into action.
Therefore, these strategies are recommended when planning
to create a successful online class. Thus, teachers and the
management of the schools including the government of Sri
Lanka is advised to reflect the above-mentioned practices and
notice the difference it can create to the learning process.
5.5. Limitations
Moving on to the research's limitations, this study is focused
on primary data collected from students and teachers at
Hokandara Vidyaraja Maha Vidyalaya, an educational
institution. While of respondent has a fair opinion about the
effects of online learning as a result of COVID-19, these
points cannot be generalized due to the convenient sampling
approach that was used.
Another important consideration was time; respondents
wanted to know that the survey would take no longer than 10
minutes, so the time taken to answer each respondent's
questions had to be reduced while still ensuring that all facets
of the conceptual structure were protected.
There were some respondents who gave incorrect responses,
making the analysis less reliable.
5.6. Suggestions
Regardless of the limitations, it was discovered during the
study that research can be broadened by considering the
factors that inspire student learning and effectiveness. The
research should be expanded to include tertiary education in
order to better understand how successful learning can be
enhanced.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would take this opportunity to show my utmost gratitude
towards my supervisor Dr.Roshini Wimalarathna as well as
Horizon Campus Malabe for giving me the required guidance
and support to complete me research successfully. Moreover,
I would appreciate the volunteer participation of all
respondents who took part in the research which was crucial
for the study. Finally, I would thank all those who supported
me directly and indirectly for making this research an
evocative one.
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International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
www.rsisinternational.org Page 675
Appendix -1
Student Questionnaire
Traditional learning Vs. Online Learning on Education in Sri Lanka - Student Questionnaire
We are carrying out an evaluation of traditional learning vs online learning education, to see the factors that impact learning of
children. Thank you for taking the time to fill in this questionnaire; it should only take 10 minutes. Please submit the filled
questionnaire via google forms. Your answers will be treated with complete confidentiality and will be treated as anonymous.
1. Age Group (Years)
A. 6-10
B. 11-14
C. 15-19
2. How do you feel overall about distance education?
A. Excellent
B. Very good
C. Good
D. Poor
3. Do you have access to online learning
A. Yes
B. No
C. Maybe
4. Do you have adequate resources for distance learning?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Maybe
5. How much time do you spend each day on an average on distance education?
A. 1-3 hours
B. 3-5 hours
C. 5-7 hours
D. 10+ hours
6. How effective has remote learning been for you?
A. Very effective
B. Somewhat effective
C. Very ineffective
7. How helpful your School has been in offering you the resources to learn from home?
A. Excellent
B. Good
C. Average
D. Poor

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
www.rsisinternational.org Page 676
8. How stressful is distance learning for you during the COVID-19 pandemic?
A. Excellent
B. Average
C. Good
D. Fair
E. Poor
9. What device do you use for online learning?
A. Laptop
B. Desktop
C. Tablet
D. Smartphone
10. Do you prefer online learning or in - class learning?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Maybe
Source:https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=nmO-
uuzpZEyDEfpp5TcDNZGvm5m8JNtDuZ24k5_hMhVUMjAyS01SN0g4SkNFUk5HREFZQUZTVkhCUS4u
Appendix – 2
Teacher Questionnaire
Traditional learning Vs Online Learning on Education in Sri Lanka - Teacher's Questionnair
We are carrying out an evaluation of traditional learning vs online learning education, to see the factors that impact learning of
children. Thank you for taking the time to fill in this questionnaire; it should only take 10 minutes. Please submit the filled
questionnaire via google forms. Your answers will be treated with complete confidentiality and will be treated as anonymous.
1.Teacher's Experience in the education industry
A. 1-3 years
B. 4-6 years
C. 7-9 years
D. 10-12 years
E. Above 13 years
2. How do you feel overall about distance education?
A. Excellent
B. Good
C. Average
D. Poor
3.Do you have adequate resources for distance learning?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Maybe

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
www.rsisinternational.org Page 677
4. Do you have access to a device for learning online?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Maybe
5. What device do you use for distance learning?
A. Laptop
B. Desktop
C. Tablet
D. Smartphone
6. How much time do you spend each day on an average on distance education?
A. 1-3 hours
B. 3-5 hours
C. 5-7 hours
D. 10+ hours
7. I would describe my students' participation in online learning as,
A. Highly dedicated
B. Somewhat decicated
C. Not dedicated
D. Unsure
8. The amount of work my student has been assigned to complete each week is,
A. Too much
B. Just right
C. Too little
D. Unsure
9. The support my students' are receiving from their teacher via online learning is,
A. Excellent
B. Good
C. Fair
D. Poor
10. How is stressful is distance learning for you during the Covid-19 Pandemic?
A. Excellent
B. Good
C. Fair
D. Poor
11. Do you think students' performance have improved or not?
Answer

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
www.rsisinternational.org Page 678
12. How effective has remote teaching been for you?
Answer
13. Do you prefer online teaching or in-class teaching?
Answer
14. What are the benefits of online teaching?
Answer
15. How has distance learning affected your routine?
Answer
Source:https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=nmO-
uuzpZEyDEfpp5TcDNZGvm5m8JNtDuZ24k5_hMhVUMUMzRFgxUkJKQjdRMTBZN1NDM1ZIRUc0My4u