Educational reflections on the coronavirus pandemic in three different countries

The coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2020 has affected the world and become a global pandemic. All systems in the world are in place to prevent the spread of the pandemic. The education system is one of those systems. Schools are closed to prevent the spread of the virus and to allow a mandatory transition to emergency distance education. The development, change, and difficulties that occurred in the education system in the Northern Cyprus (NC), the Republic of Turkey(TR), and the Russian Federation(RF) during the distance education process were brought together and compiled in the study. This study aims to investigate the reflections of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world, on the educational process in the Northern Cyprus, the Republic of Turkey, and the Russian Federation and to make suggestions for the development and improvement of distance education in these countries based on the information obtained. As a result, it was found that similar studies have been conducted for primary, secondary, and higher education. The implications of this study suggest that there were difficulties in all three countries in planning online courses and adapting students and teachers to this process. However, precautionary measures and the shift of face-to-face classes to a hybrid or fully online format showed success in combating the health problems caused by the pandemic, resulting in classes continuing without interruption. © 2022 by the authors; licensee Modestum. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).