Effect Of Covid-19 On The Academic Performance Of Primary School Pupils

Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations
5.1 Introduction
This study undertakes to investigate the Effect of Covid-19 on the Academic Performance of Primary School Pupils in Makurdi Area of Benue State. The study aims at creating awareness on how the pandemic (Covid-19) has affected the Nigeria educational system.

This chapter summarises the findings, draws conclusions based on the findings and make some recommendations.

5.2 Summary of Findings

The following research questions were formulated to guide the study:

To what extent did COVID-19 schools shutdown had effects on the academic performance of primary school pupils in Makurdi area of Benue State?

What is the relevance of primary education to the overall development of the child?

Does COVID-19 pandemic have impact on education in Nigeria?

What are the efforts made by some schools to ensure continuation of classroom teaching and learning during coronavirus pandemic?

What are the challenges faced by some schools and pupils to ensure continuation of classroom teaching and learning during coronavirus pandemic?

It was revealing that 35.5 percent strongly agree that COVID-19 schools shutdown had effects on the academic performance of primary school pupils in Makurdi area of Benue State.

Secondly, 35.5 percent strongly agree that Primary education is a preparatory ground for the child to acquire basic life skills.

In addition, most of the respondents are of the opinion that Poor academic achievement, limit to social ties between teachers, learners and peers are the impact of Covid-19 on education in Nigeria.

Finally, one of the results from the test of hypothesis revealed that there is a significant impact of COVID-19 on education in Nigeria.

5.3 Conclusion

The main purpose of this study was to assess the Effect of Covid-19 on the Academic Performance of Primary School Pupils in Makurdi Area of Benue State. The population for this study consists of thirty (30) teachers from public and private primary school pupils in Makurdi area of Benue State. Five research questions guided the study with three research hypotheses.

In this study, a survey research design was adopted, the population comprises thirty (30) teachers from public and private primary school pupils in Makurdi area of Benue State, a simple random sampling technique was used to select 28 respondents from the population (28 teachers, representing seven (7) teachers from four (4) primary schools (2private and 2 public schools) namely: Foundation Academy Nursery/Primary school, Wisdom Nursery/Primary School, Gboko Primary School and Police Children School) were used as the sample size. and a questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. Relevant literatures were reviewed which guided the objectives and methodology of this study.

5.4 Recommendation

First, this study reveals that Primary education is a preparatory ground for the child to acquire basic life skills, therefore this study suggests that non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and government need to sponsor enlightenment programmes to educate the parents on the relevance of primary education to the child and societal development and explain the dangers of using the child as an economic tool as well as the need to provide the enabling environment that will enable the child acquire primary education.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the embarrassing loopholes in the Nigerian education sector as it did on the health sector. The education system in the decade has remained underfunded and is beset by myriads of problems such as inadequate and dilapidating infrastructure, inadequate teaching facilities, poor teachers’ welfare, poor research funding, poor quality of teachers, unconducive learning environment and the like. Without sufficient political will to overhaul and transform the educational sector for greater effectiveness, the standard of education in Nigeria will keep falling, and this spells doom for our national life, therefore, there should be a concerted effort by all stakeholders to redeem the Nigerian education from tilting beyond the precipice.

Finally, as the schools are gradually reopening, there is the need to re-think education in the areas of what, where, how and when learners should learn. In addition, 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.