By Maryam Mohammed Bawa
The outbreak of Covid-19 in late December 2019 has wreaked havoc worldwide, especially in critical sectors like education. Students, schools, colleges, and universities have been deeply affected. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), over 800 million learners from around the world have been affected, 1 in 5 learners cannot attend school, 1 in 4 cannot attend higher education classes, and over 102 countries have ordered nationwide school closures while 11 have implemented localized school closure.
The sudden outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019, which originated in the city of Wuhan, China, has become a major public health challenge for China and countries worldwide. The pandemic has led to the total lockdown of most human activities in various parts of the world. Infection control measures were necessary to prevent the virus from spreading further and to help control the epidemic. One of the control measures is the total lockdown of schools at various levels worldwide on March 19, 2020. Through the Federal Ministry of Education, the Nigerian government ordered the closure of all schools at various levels.
There is no doubt that the interference of the coronavirus pandemic has caused so many challenges in the Nigerian education system. Covid-19 has had an enormous negative impact on education at every level worldwide. Education is among the sectors with the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, the Nigerian education system adopted a face-to-face approach to teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools.
Primary and secondary school learners were not allowed to own any digital gadgets such as phones or computers. With the emergence of the lockdown condition and school closure, teachers and learners were helpless about how to continue learning in the face of the pandemic following the pandemic. In many African countries, the pandemic experience has been traumatic but not perhaps as catastrophic as some observers and experts had predicted. Mistakes were made, but there were notable successes too. Some African governments and institutions took steps that showed the sort of foresight, imagination, and innovation that was often lacking in other parts of the world.
It is on record that education challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic include school closures. So as not to spread the virus, the students and everyone else were advised to stay at home and have classes online instead for those who are able. The lack of face-to-face interaction and poor facilities sometimes led to poor learning. There was also unequal access to education opportunities and poor skills. As I stated earlier, not every pupil had access to gadgets, so there would be unequal knowledge gain or inequality in education.
Furthermore, the pandemic negatively affects education, causing poor school enrollment and poor achievement because proper attention was not given to schools at that time. Poor school health and challenges in school assessment and transition. This was a challenge because some students were not a part of it, which led to chaos and confusion after the resumption. Also, schools weren’t going at the same pace because some were in their first term while others were already getting promoted. In this direction, Nigeria should put in place measures that will help to tackle such situations in the future, considering the negative impact of Covid-19 on education in Nigeria.
Maryam Mohammed Bawa wrote from the Department of Mass Communication, Skyline University, Nigeria. She sent this article via magicwriter009@gmail.com.
