Journal of Hotel and Business Management
Open Access

E-Learning Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic on the Declining Nigeria Educational System

Ojo Oluwatoyin Emmanuel^{* *}Correspondence: Ojo Oluwatoyin Emmanuel, Department of Business Management, Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria, Email:

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Introduction

COVID-19 pandemic is not like every other epidemic we have experienced over time. They are a group of viruses associated with the family of Coronaviridae, which infect both animals and human beings. In human, coronavirus can cause mild disease that is similar to a common cold while in some cases resort to more severe diseases inform of MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory System). It emergence can be traced to a town called Wuhan of China in December, 2019. According to World Health Organization, 239,437,517 are the confirmed cases of the deadly virus and confirmed death figures are 4, 879,235 all over the world and over 2 million have recovered from the virus. The deadly virus can be transmitted from an infected person to another through the mouth or nose in a very little liquid particles when they cough, sneeze, speak, breath or even while singing. These particles range from larger respiratory droplets to smaller aerosols. The virus have tenacity to spread quickly in a crowded settings or environments due to this, government of many countries took precautions in closing down schools, some business enterprises, markets places, place or worship, sport center or arena, airports for months to curb the expeditious spread of the virus. This new development resulted into a form of educational crisis, balancing educational calendar and the need for quick alternatives, most developed countries quickly came up with solution while developing nations and majorly the African countries were left behind, for about 18 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken away the education of over millions of students in primary and secondary school and higher institutions. School children worldwide have lost 1.8 trillion hours and counting of in-person learning due to COVID-19 lockdown [1,2].

Revisiting E-learning became a central theme and a must for most countries, E-learning or electronic learning is a system based on formalized teaching but with the help of electronic resources or methods. E-learning can also be termed as a network enabled transfer of skills and knowledge, and the delivery of education is made to a large number of recipients at the same or different times (The Economic Times, 2021). It became eminent that the educational crisis like balancing academic calendar that COVID-19 has caused must be solved through E-learning that was sometime criticized for lacking human elements required in learning process [3]. It was the only solution to curb crowded environment, with advancement in technology, it became easier. Not only schools adopted this, medium, both private and public organization adopted this electronic initiatives.

Materials and Methods

The overview of COVID-19 pandemic

It was first discovered in December 2019, there was a clustered of pneumonia cases in Wuhan of China, it was eminent in seafood and live animal market. On the 11^th of February, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) led Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, named the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 as “COVID-19”, and by 11^th March, 2020 the disease began to spread in China and the rest of the world, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 outside China was diagnosed on 13^th January 2020 in Bangkok the capital and largest city in Thailand, when the number of countries involved was 114, with more than 118,000 cases and over 4 000 deaths, the WHO declared the pandemic status a public health emergency of international concern [4-6]. The COVID-19 is a group of viruses associated with the family of Coronaviridae, which infect both animals and human beings. In human, coronavirus can cause mild disease that is similar to a common cold while in some cases resort to more severe diseases inform of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory System) that was first found in China in 2008, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) that was first found in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and SARS COV2 (Severe Acute Respiratory System). It is also like RNA virus with a typical crown-like appearance under an electron microscope due to the presence of glycoprotein spikes on its envelope or coronaviruses are large group of viruses that consist of core of genetic material surrounded by a lipid envelope with protein spikes (World Health Organization, 2020) [7,8].

According to series of researches, COVID-19 circulates from different range of animals and can be transmitted from animals to humans which is refers to as spillover due to different range of factors like mutations of the virus and contact between human and animals. For instance the SARS-COV is transmitted from the civet cat, the MERS-COV is transmitted from the camel but the SARS-COV2 origin is still unknown. On 30^th March 2020, the number of confirmed cases was on constant increases worldwide in Asia, America and European regions and the African countries.

COVID-19 and Nigeria

The first recorded case of COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed in Lagos on 27^th February, 2020 at the Infectious Disease Centre Yaba through an Italian man who has just arrived the country. Afterwards the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) started the contact tracing of Persons of interest which included all persons on the flight that brought the Italian to Nigeria, as well as people who had close contact with the Italian. This led to the widespread of the virus in the country. The federal government restricted the international commercial flights into the country effective from 23^rd of March, 2020. The first death casualty that was recorded was a male UK returnee who was in his 60s, he had an underlying medical issues that were been managed before his death. The death occurred in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja (Nigeria Centre for Disease and Control, 2020). The federal government took the measures and authorized the closure non-essential services, schools, place of worship, sport complex and even restricted movement with some state and eventually curfew in some states. Inter-state movement was also restricted; there was lockdown until 4^th of May, 2020.

Efforts to prevent the widespread of COVID-19

The World Health Organization has recommended some preventive measures to combat the spread of the virus like simple personal hygiene which can practice and can be sufficient for the prevention of spread and containment of the disease. When such is practice more frequently through washing of soiled hands or the use of sanitizer for unsoiled hands help reduce the transmission of the virus. The covering of mouth while sneezing and coughing is also important to stop the spread of the deadly virus, and disinfection of surfaces like tables, doors, stairs, switches among others that are frequently touched and 70% isopropyl alcohol or other disinfectants are broadly recommended to be used to kill the spread of the virus from transmitting. The wearing of mask is also recommended as a preventive measure; the individuals that are afflicted by the disease, as well as those caring for the infected must wear a mask to avoid transmission of the virus. Through fumigations of places, creating a quarantine room for infected persons to selfisolate them is also a preventive measure. Managing the virus is somewhat difficult at the early stage of the virus discovery and till date, there is no specific antiviral treatment recommended to cure COVID-19 permanently [9]. There have been major treatment interventions for patients with severe infection through the use of oxygen therapy. Mechanical ventilation may be necessary in cases of respiratory failure refractory to oxygen therapy, whereas hemodynamic support is essential for managing septic shock. Different strategies can be used depending on the severity of the patient and local epidemiology [10].

The essentials of E-learning

With the government preventive a measure to curb the widespread of COVID-19, the lockdown initiative was introduced, schools, offices, sport center, borders among others were closed. Electronic means of communicating became essential, some resort to online meetings and conferences. Some schools adopted E-learning to solve the educational crisis and balancing academic calendar. E-learning is the use of electronic technology to deliver education and training applications, monitor learner’s performance and report learner’s progress. It as an innovative approach for delivering electronically mediated, well-designed, learner-centered and interactive learning environments to anyone, anyplace, anytime by utilizing the internet and digital technologies in concern with instructional design principles. Electronic Learning is a modern based method that includes communicating through the use of computers and its network component using numerous audio and visual materials, search engines, electronic libraries and other websites to transmit knowledge to group of persons. It help promotes the utilization of electronic technologies to access educational curriculum outside of the traditional classrooms. The student does not need to enter the classroom in order to be taught, it is a modern wave in educational system even if it has been previously criticized. E-learning can also be termed as a network enabled transfer of skills and knowledge, and the delivery of education to a large number of recipients at the same or different times [6-8]. E-learning is a learning method and techniques for the presentation of academic curricula schools adopted to help solve the educational crisis that has kept millions of student away from school due to COVID-19 lockdown through the use of the internet and other forms of electronic media including series of multimedia, compact discs, satellites and other modern educational technologies. The student, in E-learning, will be able to access educational materials at any time and from any place across the country, thereby transforming knowledge and other concepts of the educational process and learning to go beyond the limits imposed by traditional classrooms into a wide range environment and by extent to reach large numbers of student.

Results

From the research conducted, it was evident that COVID-19 affected the worlds’ economy and other activities including education, due to the lockdown so many countries employed several means in solving educational crisis. The aim of this research is to justify the importance of E-learning amidst COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria educational system. The research work proves that there has been decline in Nigeria educational system, this means that, the educational system of the country has been lacking behind in terms of proper funding to promote standard and quality education. About 36.7% and 23.3% amounting to 60% respondents as agree that educational system in Nigeria has been declining. During the course of this research, the researcher discovered that COVID-19 pandemic does not really expose the defects in Nigeria educational system compare to other countries. About 40.0% and 26.7% amounting to 66.7% of the respondents disagree because they felt that Nigeria educational system has been lacking behind in times of quality services especially the public schools even before COVID-19 pandemic [4]. All respondents agree that COVID-19 pandemic affect the country's economy, education and other activities as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: COIVD-19 pandemic negatively affect the country’s economy, education and other activities.

Discussion

This research work also shows that the adoption of E-learning like online classes through likes of WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube was a major breakthrough for schools during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. About 53.3% and 26.7% amounting to 80% of the respondents as agrees that adopting Elearning help solve some educational crises during the pandemic lockdown period. 40% strongly agree and 23.3% agree and in total of 6.3% agree that E-learning was effective as a means of transmitting knowledge to student during the COVID-19 pandemic [6]. After the lockdown policies by different countries to curb crowded environments and to restrict movement, electronic learning was helpful in transmitting information and knowledge to various student while at home to balance up school academic calendar and make teaching easier for teachers when schools resume. On the issues of adopting electronic learning fully in Nigeria educational system, 50% of the respondents agree that electronic learning is a way forward in Nigeria educational system while 43.3% of the respondents disagree due to some disadvantages that electronic learning posed.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data collected in the course of this study, it is important to note that E-learning was instrumental during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown which about 80% of the respondents as agrees that the adoption of E-learning help solve some educational crises during the pandemic lockdown period and it was a useful tool in balancing up school academic curriculums and has the possibilities of making teaching easier for teachers when schools resume.

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