The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the loss of many lives and transformed the global educational system. This has resulted in a rapid transition from face-to-face classroom meetings to online education delivery. Online education provides another opportunity to engage students during crises, such as pandemics. However, during the transition to online education, both students and educators faced tremendous challenges, especially at rural locations. To shed light on these experiences, we conducted a survey to learn more about student learning and engagement in two similarly sized institutions in Dhule, India, and St. Cloud, USA. The data collected provides an insight into student engagement and their learning during the crisis. About 49% of participants from Dhule reported that internet issues were a major challenge they faced, while 19% of participants reported a financial burden as a major challenge met during the pandemic. In comparison, 63% of participants from St. Cloud reported that internet issues were a major challenge they faced, while 11% of participants reported financial burden as a major challenge they faced. However, only 22% and 9% of the students from Dhule and St. Cloud, respectively, rated the level of chemistry learned during the crisis as exceptional. Through analysis of these results, strategies to overcome some of the challenges and improve student learning outcomes are presented.