Abstract:
This research is on the impact of Novel COVID-19 on the West African Educational system. The Novel COVID-19 pandemic has affected the educational systems worldwide, which leads to near-total closures of schools, colleges, and universities worldwide. Governments across the world decided to close educational institutions temporary in an attempt to reduce the spread of the Virus. The educational system and schools in West Africa have changed over time and currently with the increasing cases of COVID-19 across the world. The introduction of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) which is made up of the English Speaking Countries in West Africa was a great one since its establishment in the 1980s but due to the Coronavirus in the year 2019/2020, the examination has to be written differently according to each countries arrangement in the year 2020. This is the first time in history since the establishment of this educational system that the exams were written separately. In this study, a qualitative interview was conducted with the teachers, students, and parents/guardian of the students in the secondary schools on their views and experiences during the COVID-19 Era. The researcher found out that, the COVID-19 has affected the performance of the students'. While some of the parents were saying their kids' performance is excellent, some said the student passed but the general performance is not encouraging. Others guardians also mentioned that their children failed woefully. According to some of the students we interviewed, that, though they passed the exams, they knew nothing. Some of the students also reveal that the exams papers were remarked because initially over 80 percent of them failed and after the remarking, the examination favoured some of them. The teachers also mentioned that the students were home and not studying. The books, assignments and pass questions given to them was not utilized and they concluded that the general performance of the 2020 WAEC student was poor. We recommend that governments of the various countries should work hard towards ending Coronavirus for schools to resume fully and students to learn effectively.
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