Rurality and the “New” Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Education Culture: Facilitating and Inhibiting Resilience Factors of Academic Performance among Learners from Low Socio-Economic Status Backgrounds in Rural Uganda

Abstract

While school closures may have been necessary to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in many contexts, the full impact of such closures varied among different demographics of learners. Those from the culture of rurality characterized by low socioeconomic-status family backgrounds endured more severe negative consequences than their counterparts from better socioeconomic family backgrounds. Despite these challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, many learners from the culture of rurality exhibited resilience and have been able to exhibit formidable academic performance after the lockdown was lifted. In this chapter, we discuss the resilience factors that facilitated and inhibited the academic performance and hence academic progress of the students. We argue that differences in religious background, parenting, orphanhood, societal setting and culture, age, and sex were responsible for the success or failure in resilience to perform academically beyond the pandemic. We offer explored strategies including extended orientation, use of educational technologies, and e-mentoring, among others, as avenues to foster further academic performance and continuity of education among the students.