14. Impact of ‘COVID-19’ on Education and Service Sectors

Coronavirus disease is an infectious disease which is caused by a virus called coronavirus. The people who are infected with this disease will experience respiratory illness. This disease has been declared pandemic by ‘World Health Organization (WHO)’. There are many sectors that have been affected due to the lockdown practiced in the entire country, among agricultural sector, manufacturing sector, service sector, education sector, business sector, etc. In our research, we examined the impact of COVID-19 in India vis-a-vis different sectors. For the purposes of this research, we shortlisted two particular sectors, i.e. education and service sectors. These two sectors form the backbone of our country. While the impact on education sector has led to many young minds and vulnerable school kids being affected in an adverse way and has left them to cope with new practices such as online classes during the lockdown period, and on the other hand, in the service sector, employees are working from home which in some case has had an impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of their work. In this paper, we assessed the impact on these two sectors on Indian economy by analyzing the responses given by our respondents through the questionnaires (Google form), and we then combined the data points to study how students and employees are being affected during the present lockdown period, imposed due to COVID-19. This chapter will help the readers to get to know more about the thinking of the students and employees in lockdown, and how much they are affected by this pandemic. Towards the trailing part of our research, we have discussed about the possible steps that can be adopted in future, by the employers and educational institutions, in order to limit the damage to the sector and to make recovery in the future.