The Impact of COVID-19 on the Academic Performance of Students: A Psychosocial Study Using Association and Regression Model

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected every sector of human activities. The outbreak has not only resulted in the risk of death from infection but has greatly affected the education system globally. While universities around the world have adapted to academic changes because of this pandemic, some other universities such as in Nigeria seem to be far behind. Therefore, this study aims to understand the impact of COVID-19 on students in higher institutions in Nigeria. The study utilizes an interactive survey design to get responses from 1533 respondents who are students of tertiary institutions. Two sampling techniques, namely snow-balling and purposive, are used to administer the questionnaire. The participants are representative samples from across the 6 geo-political zones of Nigeria. The results from the descriptive analysis reveals that 11.6% of the respondents have been able to continue school online and 41.4% have a level of doubt about the ability of their school can adapt to the learning mode occurring globally. Inferential analysis was carried out to understand the association and regression between variables. Results from Chi-Square Test of association show that students from public universities are economically more affected than those from private universities (P-value