COVID-19 Pandemic and Education: Nigerian Parents’ Approach and Perception of Children’s Education Based on Socioeconomic Indicators

Abstract

This paper, using 201 parents’ reports collected via a descriptive survey, explores (a) how children from different socioeconomic backgrounds (education and income) engage in learning in the absence of inclusive actions to keep learning ongoing in a Nigeria; and (b) the indirect impact of COVID-19 on children’s education (children’s access to learning materials, engagement in learning, and educational achievement). Findings showed that many Nigerian children engaged in learning and parents perceived educational achievement during pandemic school closure as worse. Socioeconomic backgrounds were associated with patterns of engagement. Children from highly educated and high-income backgrounds had significantly higher access to learning resources, which were also associated with their greater engagement in learning, than those children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Children from low-income backgrounds were more engaged in face-to-face outside the home learning. This could have been due to the low access to online resources and low compliance to COVID-19 rules (driven by mistrust in government) of low-income and less educated families. Implications of findings for informing educational intervention programs, including post-COVID pedagogies, are discussed.