COVID-19 is an Amplifier of Social Inequalities Structural Violence against Students with Special Learning Needs and Low Socio-Economic Status

Yin Yung Chiu*

Yin Yung Chiu*

Volume5-Issue2
Dates: Received: 2023-04-05 | Accepted: 2024-02-06 | Published: 2024-02-08
Pages: 137-146

Abstract

In the year 2019, the curtain has risen, setting the stage for a pandemic which has since been infecting millions and millions of individuals around the world, thereby affecting, disrupting, and intensifying our reliance on technology in a techno-driven era. Schooling mode has coped with the situation and switched from a traditional, in-person one to an online, virtual one. While our reliance on technology did not begin from there, the pandemic has transformed the reliance on technology into a necessity even for students. Learning disparities amongst students from different socio-economic statuses resulted from resources and access disparities have never been more conspicuously amplified before. Not every family has the financial resources to support the hardware and the soft skills required for ‘online/homeschooling’; additionally, these drastic changes occurred so rapidly that online learning is still a new concept to many students in various educational contexts. Despite how emergency remote teaching has seemingly enabled the continuation of schooling and countered the disruption of teaching and learning, the inconvenient truth is that students’ learning, particularly those coming from multiple intersectionalities: special educational needs and from low-income families, has been seriously jeopardised. This paper uses Foucauldian theory of power and resistance as well as agency to explore how the pandemic has contextualised social exclusion faced by students with special educational needs who also belong in the group of lower socio-economic statuses. The significance of the study lies in how it applies the classic yet timely theory of Foucault’s power and resistance and aims to dissect the social inequalities that are hidden beneath emergency remote teaching. The second key finding is showing how the aids and assistance given by non-profit organisations are often an ostensible reinforcement of social injustice, as society is under the misguided zeal that certain social groups have received help, where in fact, the learning of students belonging in those hidden groups are not being taken care of and in some cases, are even jeopardised.

FullText HTML FullText PDF DOI: 10.37871/jbres1880

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How to cite this article

Chiu YY. COVID-19 is an Amplifi er of Social Inequalities Structural Violence against Students with Special Learning Needs and Low Socio-Economic Status. J Biomed Res Environ Sci. 2024 Feb 08; 5(2): 137-146. doi: 10.37871/jbres1880, Article ID: JBRES1880, Available at: https://www.jelsciences.com/articles/jbres1880.pdf

Subject area(s)

Educational Science

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