Impact of Covid-19 on Basic Education in Ghana - A Case Study of Selected Primary Schools in the Greater Accra Region

Abstract

The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to various destabilizations of the curriculum of various educational institutions around the world. It has been revealed that the pandemic impacted negatively on student’s learning, performances, grades, academic calendar and the delivery of teaching and learning materials. The severe impact of the pandemic was felt by all global economies and various sectors further worsening the plight of many developing countries who had to close their borders due to the spread of the virus. This led to the various government temporarily closing down educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research study employed a qualitative methodological approach utilizing a personal interview technique. Using a purposive sample of 8 primary basic schools within the Greater Accra Region of Ghana were selected. The findings from the study reveals that the various schools were largely unprepared when it came to the government’s decision to close down school. The findings largely reveal that there was a massive impact on academic calendar, student’s learning progress, teaching and learning, educational targets, lessons plans and class preparation which resulted in poor grades recorded, academic decline, loss of knowledge and skills acquired. The impact of the academic calendar revealed that the academic calendar of all schools were generally affected but the findings further reveals that private schools were more pragmatic in improvising a system that would work for them since the closure of schools disrupted the academic calendar. The nature of disruption of the academic calendar led to most public schools not able to continue and so had to start all over again whiles most private schools had a more effective plan which incorporated an intervention plan in order to recover any loss of knowledge, skill and lesson plans. Despite some moderate efforts made to have a virtual class, it was not as effective as the face-to-face interaction that would have taken place. The findings also reveal that children found it difficult to adapt to the new ways of doing things particularly those from low income homes and had to rely on their parents who were not always present at home. Also, teachers found it difficult to deliver teaching and learning effectively due to limited resources as books online were not particularly guided by the books in school. The study also found out that most private schools put in some intervention plan for the lost periods of study in order to meet designed educational targets and curriculum requirements. The study also found out that some category of students who were much affected included the very poor ones The study findings showed that most students were not able to socialize and as a result became isolated from their friends impacting on their social well-being, some students also were unstable emotionally as they could not know their fate in relation to academic targets and some students were scared of removing their nose masks due to the fear of contracting the virus. The objective sought to find out measures put in place to mitigate the impact of the closure of schools on student’s learning. Some challenges recorded included poor internet connectivity and accessibility, ineffective virtual classes, school dropouts, financial demands, inability to travel during this period, backlog of academic work, unpaid salaries and in some instance halved salaries. The findings of the study reveal the disruptive nature of the closure of schools due to the spread of the coronavirus