It's projects Xtra .com!

ABSTRACT

Proper education of the child is a basictool for effective child upbringing and overallsocietal development. In recognition of this fact,most nations of the world place much premium onthe care and education of the child. The advent of the deadly virus disease, Covid-19 has contributed to one of the draw-backs on the education system of Nigeria.  Against this background, this paper therefore examines the Effect of Covid-19 on the Academic Performance of Primary School Pupils in Makurdi Area of Benue State, with a view to proffering solutions to the level of damages caused due to schools’ close down. The primary and secondary method of data collection was used in collection data for the study. Primary data were obtained through the use of questionnaires and interview while the secondary data were obtained through review of relevant literature. The population of the study comprises thirty (30) teachers from public and private primary school pupils in Makurdi area of Benue State, out of which a sample of Twenty-Eight (28) teachers, representing seven (7) teachers from four (4) primary schools (2private and 2 public schools) were used. The sample size was calculated using the Taro Yamane scientific formula. Simple percentage method was used in analyzing the data collected. In testing the hypotheses, both correlation and chi – square were used. The study revealed that Poor academic achievement, limit to social ties between teachers, learners and peers are the impacts of Covid-19 on education in Nigeria. With respect to the findings arrived at, recommendations were made including that the COVID-19    pandemic    revealed    the    embarrassing loopholes in the Nigerian education  sector  as  it  did  on the  health  sector, therefore, there should  be  a  concerted  effort  by  all  stakeholders to  redeem  the  Nigerian  education  from  tilting  beyond the precipice. Also, information and communication technology is gradually revolutionalizing learning and teaching at all levels. Therefore, students in primary and secondary schools should be introduced to IT-enhanced learning approaches such as blended learning, computer-assisted learning, and technologies.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background to the Study

As indicated by the World Health Organization (WHO), COVID-19 is a family of viruses that results to illnesses ranging from the regular cold to more serious illnesses like acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). These viruses were initially transmitted from animals to humans. SARS, for example, was transmitted from civet cats to humans while MERS moved to humans from a sort of camel. A few known COVID-19 are spreading in animals that are yet infected humans. The name Coronavirus evolves from the Latin word corona, which means crown or halo. Under an electron microscope, it appears as though it is surrounded by a solar corona. The pandemic Coronavirus, recognized by Chinese authorities on January 7 and since named SARS-CoV-2, is another strain that had not been recently identified in people. Little is known about it, albeit human-to-human transmission has been affirmed (Ajazeera, 2020).

According to the WHO, symptoms of infection are fever, cough, and inability to breath very well, and shortness of breath. In more extreme cases, it can prompt pneumonia, numerous organ failure, and even death. Current evaluations of the incubation period - the time between infection and the beginning of symptoms - going from one to 14 days. Most infected individuals show indications within five to six days. Nonetheless, infected patients can likewise be asymptomatic, which means they do not show any indications in spite of having the virus in their body systems (Ajazeera, 2020).

Many governmental measures were taken to curtail the danger of the virus spreading. Some of these measures include travel bans or restrictions, compulsory isolation for travellers, social distancing, bans on public gatherings, schools closures, business closures, self-isolation, work from home method was employed by many corporate business organisations, curfews, and lockdown (Bedford et al., 2020; Gostin and Wiley, 2020).Authorities in several nations worldwide announced either lockdown or curfew as an action to break the quick spread of virus infection (Paital et al., 2020). These actions undoubtedly had a significant negative impact on business, education, health, and the hospitality industry (Pragholapati, 2020).

Coronavirus pandemic had a great impact on all levels of the education system (Nicola et al, 2020). Educational institutions all throughout the globe (in 192 nations) were either briefly shut or implemented localized closures influencing about 1.7 billion population of students around the world (UNESCO 2020). Many primary schools around the world either postponed or canceled all school activities to minimize gatherings and as well decrease the transmission of the virus. Consequently, these measures lead to higher economical, medical, and social implications on students (Nicola et al, 2020; Esposito and Principi, 2020).

As a result of the suspension of classroom teaching in many schools, a switch to online teaching for students from the primary education to tertiary education became effective [reviewed in (Sahu, 2020; Yamin, 2020). This type of learning gives an alternative method to limit either the contact between students themselves or between the students and teachers or lecturers as the case may be (Pragholapati, 2020). However, UNESCO (2020) revealed that many students have no access to online teaching due to a lack of either the means or the instruments due to the economical and digital divide.

Makurdi is the capital of Benue State which also serves as the headquarters of Makurdi Local Government Area, with the following districts of Makurdi (Rural) containing the villages of Adaka, Adeke, Ajam, Agbadu, Agbeshir, Agenada, Akaan, Aki, Akigwe, Akpehe, Akume, Alla and Anter. The area is host to many educational institutions. Among the educational institutions are public senior primary schools and private primary schools. Sometimes around March 2020 many of the public and private schools were shut down in compliance with the federal government directives that all educational institutions should be shut down to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study therefore aims to investigate the effect of COVID-19 on the academic performance of primary school pupils in Makurdi area of Benue State, Nigeria.

1.2   Statement of the Problem

In detail account of UNESCO, about 35.9 million primary and secondary school learners were out-of-school as a result of the school closures in 2020. For primary schools, this number totals approximately 25.6 million students, of which about 87 percent (23.5 million) were students enrolled in public schools. The numbers were just as stark for secondary school learners. Of the roughly 10.3 million secondary school students who were out-of-school as a result of the closures, approximately 81 percent (8.4 million) of them were public school students. There was no assurance that all the learners who left the school would be back in school after the pandemic lockdown; some might have changed their lives’ view seeing going to school as a waste of time, some might have died as a result of the pandemic or reasons unknown, some would have changed school, some might have joined bad groups shifting their attention away from school. Etc. this is where the work of parents and guidance comes in to ensure the proper welfare of learners even while they stayed back home. Unfortunately learning within the homes were as well limited looking at the literacy level of some parents in Nigeria; not every parent could handle well the pedagogy aspect of parenthood and besides other commitments of parents are to be considered. The effect of this were not easily noticed now; the future of a child in this category is naturally exposed to a serious academic crash or underperformance if there are no proper interventions, because even now that the ban on movement is lifted and schools are reopened, majority of students will are not learning and they have become nuisance to the societies.

Objectives of the Study

The main objectives of this study is to investigate the effect of COVID-19 on the academic performance of primary school pupils in Makurdi area of Benue State. However, the study sought to examine the following specific objectives:

1. To investigate if COVID-19 schools shutdown had effects on the academic performance of primary school pupils in Makurdi area of Benue State
2. To understand the relevance of primaryeducationtotheoveralldevelopmentofthechild
3. To examine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on education in Nigeria
4. To find out the efforts made by some schools to ensure continuation of classroom teaching and learning duringcoronaviruspandemic
5. To assess out the challenges faced by some schools and pupils to ensure continuation of classroom teaching and learning duringcoronaviruspandemic

1.4   Research Questions