CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of education systems in human history, affecting almost every learner especially those in secondary schools all over the world. Closures of schools, institutions and other learning spaces have impacted more than 94% of the world’s student population. This has brought far-reaching changes in all aspects of our lives. Social distancing and restrictive movement policies have significantly disturbed traditional educational practices. Reopening of schools after relaxation of restriction is another challenge with many new standard operating procedures put in place. Within a short span of the COVID-19 pandemic, many researchers have shared their works on teaching and learning in different ways. Several schools, colleges and universities have discontinued face-to-face teachings geared by the fear of losing 2020 academic year or even more in the coming future. The need of the hour is to innovate and implement alternative educational system and assessment strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided us with an opportunity to pave the way for introducing digital learning in order to bridge the gap in learning thus the birth of virtual learning.
Virtual learning is a type of learning that happens outside the classroom, with digital-based equipment and the learner’s autonomy guaranteed.Invariably the learner does not have face-face contact with either the teacher or peers.
Coronavirus (CoV) is a large family of viruses known to cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory tract infection. The severity of the infection may be visible as pneumonia, acute respiratory syndrome, and even death. Until the outbreak of SARS, this group of viruses was greatly overlooked. However, since the SARS and MERS outbreaks, these viruses have been studied in greater detail, propelling the vaccine research.
The World Health Organization (WHO), in December 2019, received reports on clusters of pneumonia cases of unknown causes in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. The Chinese authorities subsequently identified a novel strain of Coronavirus (SARS-COV 2) as the causative agent. Sequel to the advice of the International Health Regulation Emergency Committee, the Director-General of the WHO declared the COVID19 outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020 and characterized it as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The outbreak has been reported in all continents, with first case in Africa reported in Egypt in February 2020. Globally, over 2.6 million confirmed cases and over 186,000 deaths have been recorded. Nigeria is one of the 210 countries affected globally.
The first case of Corona Virus in Nigeria was confirmed in Lagos State on 27 February 2020. This index case was a 44-year old man, an Italian citizen who returned from Milan, Italy, on 24 February and presented at a health facility on 26 February 2020 (punchnewsonline.org) Following the confirmation of the index case, 216 people were identified as contacts to be followed up. Of these, 45 travelled out of Nigeria and one of the remaining 176 contacts was confirmed to be positive for COVID-19 on 9 March 2020. The country has continued to experience an increase in the number of cases, which has spread across several states. While majority of the initial cases were imported, most of the new cases have no travel history or contact with such people.