MENTAL STRESS IN ONLINE LEARNING DURING THE PANDEMIC: AN ASSESSMENT OF LEARNERS’ PERCEPTION

The world is probably facing the biggest health crisis in the history of the 21st century. The corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has placed every nation on its knees shutting down various sectors and industries including the education system. Teachers, learners, and other education constituents are currently in turmoil as to what will going to happen to the education sector given the mandate of most governments worldwide regarding social distancing as part of the ‘new normal’. It is in this sense, that educational institutions are developing an online program as a viable platform to facilitate learning and to ensure that learners continue their academic pursuits invarious social restrictions. However, online learning in itself is not without gray areas. UNESCO would say that students find a hard time to cope with the demands of online learning. As a result, they often end up in deep anxiety just to meet their online academic requirements. This study, therefore, focused on gathering data on the stress that the pandemic stimulated among learners as they continue to embark on their academic responsibilities using online learning as a tool in pursuing their academic endeavors given the social restrictions of the new normal.