Education of Nigerian children has been deeply affected since the COVID-19 pandemic reached Nigeria. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu in a report stated that the figure for out-of-school children stands at 16 million.
10 million children are out of primary school while 6 million are out of secondary school.
Moreover, it has not been an easy task for parents and teachers to cope with the impact of COVID-19. This include unpaid salaries, difficulty engaging the children in educational activities and uncertainty about when school will resume.
Following the directive by the Federal government that schools should be closed pending the time that the COVID-19 pandemic would be subdued, private school owners are finding it difficult to pay salaries to their teachers. Most parents are owing more than a term even before the outbreak, but the pandemic has made it worse and the time when schools would reopen is unknown. The major source of income of private schools’ teachers including the owners have been blocked.
The COVID-19 Reality for Private School Teachers and Owners
The Principal of Saint Francis Catholic College, Oyo, Rev. Fr. Wuraola Boniface said the standard practice is to pay salary of teachers on the 26th of every month. But since the lockdown in March 2020, the school has not been able to pay after April 2020. According to Boniface, “the school proprietor and the PTA gave all the staff palliative at the end of May when we could not pay salary”.
Folorunsho Adeola, a teacher at Goodnews College, Oyo disclosed his salary was slashed by half in May. He said “since the students are not paying school fees which are the source of staff salary, the school had to slash the salary” Folorunsho also said “My salary for last month was half of what I used to get. So it was not enough to cater for my needs for the past month but for the family, I was able to cater for some of my basic needs due to the help of family members who still collect full salaries.
Also, Tobi Oluwabiyi who teaches in Love and Grace College, Ibadan said if you do not have a means of survival apart from being a teacher, it is a trying time and it is not really easy. “It is tasking when you stay at home without work and you have to pay rent, feed and defray other expenses.”
The COVID-19 Reality for Parents
Though the Federal Government has commenced her televised classroom on various channels like on OGTV and DSTV, there are existential problems of access such as Radio and Television frequency coverage, internet network and data issues.
Ms. Shittu Yetunde, a parent in Abuja said before the lockdown, the textbooks were of big help. Also, the teachers are conducting online class activities and assignments which they also give corrections after submission.
“Covid-19 has really affected my child. Come to think of it for a child to be at home for more than two months without going to school and you know as a parent, I cannot perfectly do the work of a teacher. We are just trying our best for them so that they will not forget all that they’ve learned in school”.
However, on-air teaching does not cover every class and is not effective for all students. Mrs Yetunde said she does not use the on-air teaching mode for her child because a station like OGTV teaches Grade 4 and 5 only and it is not useful for her child.
Another parent, Mr Alonge Tobi from Ibadan said that everyday coping strategies of ensuring their safety particularly with the new norms that COVID-19, demand a lot”.
the kids being at home have added more to my daily to-do list. The stress of coping with their noise and those of the neighbours, the trouble with fighting for a space in the house through domineering and role-play is enormous and quite demnding.
Moreover, parents said another reality of COVID-19 is the increased spending trying to meet up with personal hygiene and the regulations provided by healthcare practitioners to survive the pandemic.
Electricity and other logistics make digital learning challenging
Parents are adapting to digital learning. However, Televised teaching is grossly inadequate for certain sections of parents due to social status.
A teacher from Saint Francis College said the school conducts online teaching using Google classroom platform. A parent, Mr Alonge speaking about digital learning since lockdown, said:
We do engage those platforms occasionally when we are able to switch to them. This includes TV Teachings on OGTV 7-8:30 pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. As well as Mindset of DSTV 3-5 weekday (Monday to Thursday) and NTA plus kids programs, but when we don’t have electricity or money to subscribe for the Cable, we don’t engage the platform.
When asked if he pays school fees for online teaching, he answered in the affirmative. He said “the proprietress made an impression of N10,000 for one month for online classes for the children, the practicality of which becomes a challenge. I am also aware that some schools charge more than that, but the extent to which it has worked cannot be ascertained.”
Plans are ongoing to normalize academic calendar – Government
In April, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) kicked against the plan for online resumption of the third term by private school owners in the territory and also urged parents and guardians to ignore the purported resumption by the private school owners.
While the FCTA kicked against the online resumption of academic activities, the acting Education Secretary for FCT, Umar Marafa said, when the schools reopen, the fact that the second term was inconclusive would be factored into the academic calendar which will dovetail into the third term calendar, accordingly. He said any action taken otherwise is likely to distort the academic calendar of the schools involved.