A Comparison of Students' Mean Achievements before and during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case Study

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic brought about the closure of schools throughout Nigeria. It was expected that the closure of schools would result in students’ poor performance in school. For this reason, this study aims at comparing students’ mean achievements before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. An expost facto survey design was used in the study. One hundred and forty-three students admitted for 2019/2020 session participated in the study. Students’ grade point average before and during Covid-19 pandemic were used in the study. The first GPA was obtained through face-to-face classroom interaction while the second resulted from an examination taken after online classes necessitated by the Covid-19 lockdown. The two GPAs were compared using correlated samples t-test. Students’ mean achievements before and during the Covid-10 pandemic were statistically significant across the three departments used in the study. Students achieved more from online classes, contrary to people’s expectations that school closure would result in students’ poor performances in school. The correlations between the two measures were also significant. It was concluded that school closures caused by the Covid-19 lockdown did not affect first-year undergraduate students’ academic achievements. The improvement in achievements was remarkable.