COVID – 19 AND ITS EFFECTS ON ARTS BASED GRADUATES’ EMPLOYABILITY – A SRI LANKAN PERSPECTIVE

Authors: Prof. J. Kennedy & Ms. Anna Kathleen Kennedy

ABSTRACT

The spread of COVID – 19 pandemics has created many complications in the lives of people globally.  One of the main impacts of this pandemic is increasing unemployment. In Sri Lanka, the main sufferers of unemployability are the graduates, and most specifically the Arts based graduate.  There are many reasons for such problems. This article studies what are the main root causes contributing to this unemployment issue to the Arts based graduates, such as virtual teaching and learning, government policies, administrative procedures in the state university system, and personal issues of the students and the teachers. The virtual teaching and learning process makes the entire system havoc right from the schools to the universities that the main intention becomes to complete the syllabus, forgetting sharing and disseminating of knowledge.  Further, this becomes a big hurdle to the students at various levels such as acquiring proper gadgets, internet connectivity, timings, etc. Government policies and university administrative procedures also play a major role in the unemployment issues of Arts-Based graduates.  Also, this article reveals the problems faced by visually challenged students under these new normal circumstances. They face different kinds of problems apart from the usual undergraduate such as using gadgets, getting materials from teachers and peers, and writing examinations and assignments.

Keywords: Covid – 19 Pandemics, Effects, and Arts Based Graduate, Unemployability, and Knowledge.

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