Impact of COVID-19 on the Nigerian Educational System: Strengths and Challenges of Online/Virtual Education

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which originated in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, was declared as a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) on 11th of March, 2020 after it has spread to many countries of the world. It has also caused more than 171 countries of the world to close their educational institutions for several months in the year 2020. The impact of COVID-19 on education is bizarre and unprecedented in history because more than 1.5 billion students from across the globe have been affected by school closure. Most Nigerian students and other African or underdeveloped countries were more disadvantaged because most educational institutions in Nigeria still follow the traditional set-up of face-to-face lectures in the normal classroom settings.  This opinion article highlights the importance of online education in a time of global pandemic and natural disaster. It also examines the strengths and challenges of online education.