The effects of Covid-19 pandemic on the education system in Nigeria: The role of competency-based education

Abstract

Covid-19 revealed the strengths and weaknesses in the global education atmosphere in both developed and developing countries. To that effect, this current study explored the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic on Nigeria's education system and in the process provided a distinctive solution to the challenges facing the sustainability of education in the country. However, the closure of schools for over six months at the onset of the covid -19 pandemic, and the inability of schools to engage learners in educational activities while at home also revealed the poor state of the education system in the country, which led to the discovery of the unavailability of distance online education, web-based learning system and ICT infrastructure in the Nigerian education environment. Covid-19 incidence impacted the stability of the academic calendar, caused teachers attrition, increased the rate of students dropout, and lack of interest in digital education. These outcomes resulted in the exploration of students' and teachers’ perceptions, attitudes, literacy, competency, and willingness to engage in distance online education. A cross-sectional approach was applied through an online survey to obtain data from n = 82 learners across the three levels of institutions. And SPSS was used to analyze the demography data, while SMART PLS was used for structural equation modeling (SEM). The study outcome satisfied the objectives of the study that the lack of student-teacher digital competencies influences their perception and acceptability of web-based learning approach and use of smart learning and teaching devices.