Impact of COVID-19 on Schools in Ghana
Chapter One
Objectives of the study
The main objective of the study is to examine the impact of COVID-19 on schools in Ghana.
Given below are the stated specific objectives of the study:
- To establish the knowledge of Covid-19 among selected students in University of Ghana, Accra.
- To examine the impact of Covid-19 on the education and academic performance of the students in University of Ghana, Accra.
- To assess the preventive measures for Covid-19 among the students in University of Ghana, Accra.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Overview of Coronavirus
Coronavirus disease 2019 (abbreviated “COVID-19”) is an emerging respiratory disease that is caused by a novel coronavirus and was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, China 2021 (Abdallah and Lee, 2021). The disease is highly infectious, and its main clinical symptoms include fever, dry cough, fatigue, myalgia, and dyspnea. In China, 18.5% of the patients with COVID-19 develop to the severe stage, which is characterized by acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock, difficult-to-tackle metabolic acidosis, and bleeding and coagulation dysfunction (Utibe, 2019).
The first infected patient who had clinical manifestations such as fever, cough, and dyspnea was reported on 12 December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Since then, 2019-nCoV has spread rapidly to other countries via different ways such as airline traveling and now, COVID-19 is the world’s pandemic problem (Felix, 2020).
Coronaviruses (CoV) infections are emerging respiratory viruses and known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (Yin et al., 2019). CoV is zoonotic pathogens that can be transmitted via animal-to-human and human-to-human. Multiple epidemic outbreaks occurred during 2002 (SARS) with ~800 deaths and 2012 (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome: MERS-CoV) with 860 deaths (Lee, 2020). Approximately eight years after the MERS-CoV epidemic, the current outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China, has emerged as a global outbreak and significant public health issue. On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Astonishingly, in the first week of March, a devastating number of new cases have been reported globally, emerging as a pandemic. As of 9 March 2020, more than 110,000 confirmed cases across 105 countries and more than 3800 deaths have been reported (Philemon et al., 2020).
The COVID-19 is spread by human-to-human through droplets, feco-oral, and direct contact, with an incubation period of 2-14 days. So far, no antiviral treatment or vaccine has been recommended explicitly for COVID-19. Therefore, applying the preventive measure to control COVID-19 infection is the utmost critical intervention. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are the primary section in contact with patients and are an important source of exposure to the infected cases in the healthcare settings, thus, expected to be at a high risk of infections. By the end of January, the WHO and CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) have published recommendations for the prevention and control of COVID-19 for HCWs. Indeed, the WHO also initiated several online training sessions and materials on COVID-19 in various languages to strengthen the preventive strategies, including raising awareness, and training HCWs preparedness activities (Malik, 2020). In several instances, misunderstandings of HCWs delayed controlling efforts to provide necessary treatment, implicate rapid spread of infection in hospitals, and also may put the patients’ lives at risk. In this regard, the COVID-19 epidemic offers a unique opportunity to investigate the level of knowledge, and perceptions of HCWs during this global health crisis. Besides, we also explored the role of different information sources in shaping HCWs knowledge and perceptions on COVID-19 during this peak period.
It seems that the current widespread outbreak has been partly associated with a delay in diagnosis and poor infection control procedures. As transmission within hospitals and protection of healthcare workers are important steps in the epidemic, the understanding or having enough information regarding sources, clinical manifestations, transmission routes, and prevention ways among healthcare workers can play roles for this gal assessment (Malik, 2020). Since nurses are in close contact with infected people, they are the main part of the infection transmission chain and their knowledge of 2019-nCoV prevention and protection procedures can help prevent the transmission chain. Iran is one of the most epidemic countries for COVID-19 and there is no information regarding the awareness and attitude of Iranian nurses about this infectious disease 2021 (Abdallah and Lee, 2021).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
Research design is the strategy employed by a researcher for conducting academic research by addressing research objectives, research questions and hypotheses by collecting, interpreting and analyzing data (Gan et al. 2020). This study used a descriptive survey design method. The survey research design was used because the study relied on primary data collected from sampled respondents.
Population of the study
The population of a study is the represents the total number of individuals from whom the study data was gathered in the study area (Song et al., 2020). The population of this study consisted of students in University of Ghana, Accra. The total population of the study was 478 students, collected from the class attendance of students from the various departments.
Sampling of the study
In research, sampling is the systematic selection of respondents from a population. This study employed a simple random sampling method to select its sample. The researcher utilized the Taro Yamane formula to evaluate the sample size of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION
This chapter presents the results of the study on assessing the impact of covid 19 on schools in Ghana (A case study of University of Ghana, Accra) by analyzing the quantitative data collected from the compilation of the questionnaire, based on the research objectives and questions. Table 1 shows the return rate of the collected data from 218 distributed questionnaires.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
Knowledge of Covid-19 among selected students in University of Ghana, Accra
The findings of the study showed that the respondents had an excellent knowledge of Covid-19 among selected students in University of Ghana, Accra. The covid-19 pandemic outbreak was experienced by the whole world with a high death toll. Therefore, it drew attention from every facet of the world’s economy and populace.
Impact of Covid-19 on the education and academic performance of the students in University of Ghana, Accra.
The findings of the study also revealed that covid-19 adversely affected the education and academic performance of the students in University of Ghana, Accra. The students experienced a drop in CGPA as compared to their performance before the covid-19 pandemic, students also had to rely on online information and classes due to social distancing. Additionally, COVID-19 pandemic affected the calendar, structure and curriculum of University of Ghana, Accra.
Preventive measures for Covid-19 among the students in University of Ghana, Accra.
The study also provided ways to prevent the spread of covid-19 among the students in University of Ghana, Accra. The study revealed that regular cleaning of hands using soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand rub prevents the spread of covid-19. Also, maintaining a safe distance from anyone who is coughing or sneezing prevents the spread of covid-19. Also, Covering the nose and mouth with one’s bent elbow or a tissue when sneezing prevents the spread of covid-19.
Recommendations
The following recommendations were made based on the findings of the study;
Firstly, interventions comprising health literacy and information programmes, and organizing community wide awareness campaign should be targeted at students and community residents at all levels to ensure better perception towards adhering to the preventive measures of COVID-19.
Secondly, health authorities and school stakeholders should form and strengthen linkages in order to formulate strategies to address the barriers to the practice of COVID-19 preventive measures for optimum health promotion among the students in Ghana.
Lastly, regular monitoring and evaluation to define the scale of impact should be carried out by the health regulatory bodies and stakeholders. This will help determine the success rate achieved from the programmes and also tell on the health outcomes among students in Ghana.
Suggestion for Further Studies
Further research should be conducted to determine the adoption efficiency of health promoting behaviors and preventive measures in relation to COVID-19 in the community setting. Also, further research should also be carried out to assess the effectiveness of health channels in mitigating the knowledge gap of students and community residence towards COVID-19 preventive measures.
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