Students’ engagement, school belonging and obsession with COVID-19 in Iranian and Pakistani students: a comparative study

Purpose In our study, conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown, we shifted the focus to students and compared their school belonging, academic engagement and obsession with COVID-19 using a representative sample of boys and girls from rural and urban areas in both countries. Design/methodology/approach We tested a total of 709 Iranian students (369 girls) and 603 Pakistani students (380 girls) aged between 11 and 16 years. Findings Our findings indicate that Pakistani students, compared to Iranian students, exhibit higher levels of academic engagement and school belonging, but only in terms of the inclusion dimension. There were no significant differences in school belonging in the exclusion dimension or in the level of obsession with COVID-19 among students from both countries. However, Iranian students scored higher than Pakistani students regarding overall school belonging. Originality/value Considering differences in students' situations in Iran and Pakistan, we were interested in whether there are differences in academic engagement, school belonging and anxiety related to COVID-19 in students from both countries. Until now, many studies have investigated the effects of the pandemic on the lives of societies, but few have been conducted among students. This study had the unique chance to compare Iranian and Pakistani students during lockdowns and Internet-based schools. Therefore, this study aimed to compare students' engagement, school belonging and obsession with COVID-19 in a vast and representative sample (gender and inhabitancy) of Iranian and Pakistani students.