INTRODUCTION:

Globally, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has had a far-reaching effect on systems of different nations.¹ Aside the fact that it may result in illness in humans and the increasing number of mortalities², the burden placed on the health sector, to the impact and collapse of economies,³ the halt to political processes and most of all the disruption and breakdown of educational system⁴ in different countries and many more are the reasons why the Wuhan China discovered virus has received global attention today. This has resulted in a global effort in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.⁵

Prior to the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation⁶, countries like Nigeria already confirmed her index case in Lagos. In Nigeria, as of 17th September 2020, there are 479,712 tested samples, 56,604 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 47, 872 discharged persons, 7,641 active cases and 1,091 deaths with Lagos, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Oyo as the top three states with the most cases. In a bid to curtail the spread of the disease, lockdown was enforced in parts of the country and at different times.^{7, 8}

In the wake of the pandemic, prices of crude oil dropped drastically as countries closed their borders in a bid to limit the virus spread via physical contact. This has had devastating effect on Nigeria’s economy as crude oil makes up half the overall government revenue, 30% of Nigeria’s banking-sector credit and 80% of the country’s exports ⁹. The drop in price of crude oil affected the fiscal assumptions on which the 2020 Appropriation Act was centered upon. Also, capital expenditure is affected as more funds are channeled to the health sector to help combat the deadly corona virus,¹⁰. The impact of the pandemic did not also leave out job and income loss as total income decreased generally.11,12

As many households draw closer to poverty line for lack of food and money, it became necessary for a multi-intervention approach in managing the situation. Aside the support from civil society organisations and private individuals in alleviating the impact from the pandemic, the federal government also introduced various palliatives such as relief funds, cash transfers to vulnerable citizens, giveaways and moratoriums for those on loans.^{13,10,14,15,16} Of all the palliatives, there were controversies on the determination process for the selection of beneficiaries of the N20, 000 cash transfers to 2.6 million households of the 10.7 million classified as the country’s poorest group as majority felt neglected especially workers in the private sector.

Aside the impact of the pandemic on Nigeria’s economy, the educational system was faced with myriads of implications.¹⁷ State governments closed down schools and students were forced to stay at home beyond pleasurable limit¹⁸while teachers especially in the private sector were left in the hands of their managers to survive. This attracted resentments from the public on the surviving strategies of private school teachers as many still imagined the possibility for teachers in this category to survive without getting paid. In Nigeria, low-cost private primary and secondary schools make up about 60% of the secondary schools and the conditions for teachers’ survival in these schools are pitiable.¹⁸ Anecdotal evidences have revealed that private school teachers are living at the margin of life as a result of the pandemic. While perusing through an online complaint register on the support of schools in the country, a commenter (Adegoke Comfort Funmilayo) stated;

“Please support the teachers of the private schools that cannot afford salaries in Lagos State, as many teachers in my community are in distress now; especially those families where the couples are working in the ‘struggling’ private schools”.¹⁹

Also, from the BBC report on ‘The Crying Teacher-’ of which a private school teacher Akindele Oluwaseun noted in tears;

“Some private school teachers are already selling pure water…… I want to say this without mixing words that private school teachers are suffering”.²⁰

Although studies^21,22 have been able to highlight risk factors and the impact of the pandemic on students in schools, there is little attention on teachers particularly those in private schools. While public school teachers enjoyed an unhindered payment of wages without working, the living condition and surviving strategies for many private schools during the pandemic was unknown. We hypothesized that the conditions for living for private school teachers was likely to reduce during the COVID-19 lockdown than it was before the period. Hence, this study examined specific conditions of living without earning salaries for private school teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

Setting and Respondents:

This study adopts a cross-sectional survey using an anonymous questionnaire. The online instrument was sent to purposively selected respondents. The link to access the questionnaire was sent via online on social media. A non-probability snowball sampling was also adopted to employ more respondents within the regions (major cities) of the country by encouraging those that have received the link (https://forms.gle/cbxXyHjSp7ekRCHz7) to further send to others within their reach. According to the Federal Ministry of Education (2016) cited in Africa Check ²³ there are cumulatively 1,500,000 teachers in Nigeria. This study hinges on a sample size of 1,082 respondents at a 99% confidence level and 5% margin of error. The online survey ran during the easing periods of the lockdown (September 18^th to November 30^th 2020).

Procedure:

As observing the social distance rules instituted by the Nigeria Government on curfew, lockdown and physical gatherings, physical interaction was not possible for this survey, hence we opted for an online survey method. Respondents were encouraged to forward the web link to potential respondents. The questionnaire was filled on the Google form. This study received ethical clearance from the University of Ibadan, Faculty of Social Science Ethical Board. Informed consent was obtained from all respondents and participation was completely voluntary and anonymous.

Instrument:

Respondents’ socio-demographic data was collated on variables such as age, gender, marital status, educational level, perceived financial status, religion, ethnicity and present location. Remuneration received by respondents was assessed in three areas; frequency of respondent that were paid salaries before the lockdown, frequency of respondents that received salaries during the lockdown and proportion of salaries received during the lockdown. Question on the sources of survival for respondents without any salary payment during the lockdown was evaluated using an open-ended format. Responses were later grouped into categories and frequencies. Respondents feeding pattern was measure based on number of meals in a day before the lockdown and during the lockdown. The instrument was also used to assess frequency of respondents that benefited from palliatives/support schemes distributed during the lockdown and the content of palliatives received.

Analysis:

Respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, respondents assess to salaries during the lockdown, palliatives, and feeding pattern of the respondents’ during the lockdown and sources of survival were analysed using descriptive statistics. A cross tabulation was done to check if gender had effect on access to palliatives. All analysis was done using SPSS IBM version 20.

RESULTS:

Background of Respondents:

We exceeded our target sample size. There were 1,196 responses received from 120 major cities in Nigeria before the expiration of the cutoff date. We filtered and collated responses from 1,144 respondents with completed responses on the online questionnaire (completion rate: 95.6%). Table 1 present the sample demographics of the respondents. The respondents were aged 18-60+ years (Mean 33.65, SD=8.76). The study had 632 female respondents (55.2%) and majority (97.9%) with above high school qualification. More than half the total respondents (70%) teach not less than 3 subjects in their schools as teachers. Majority (60.1%) of the respondents was Yoruba and 63.6% of the respondents were located in Southwest region of the country as at the time of the survey. The region happens to have the highest record of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria.⁸

Table 1- Respondents’ characteristics (n=1,144) Age (Mean 33.65, SD=8.76)

Variables n (%)

Gender

Female

Male

632(55.2)

512 (44.8)

Marital Status

Single/ dating

Single/ not dating

Married

Separated/divorced/widowed

216(18.9)

344(30.1)

544(47.6)

40(3.5)

Highest Level of education

High School

Diploma

Degree

Higher Degree

24(2.1)

208 (18.2)

776 (67.8)

136(11.9)

Perceived Financial Status

Do not meet basic needs

Meet needs with a little left

Just meet basic needs

Live comfortably

336 (29.4)

96(8.3)

664(58)

48(4.19)

Section of Teaching

Nursery School

Primary School

Junior School

Senior School

120(10.5)

192(16.8)

288 (25.2)

544 (47.6)

Number of Subjects assigned to teach in your school.

6≤

88(7.7)

256(22.4)

448(39.2)

56(4.9)

64(5.6)

232(20.3)

Mean

3.22

Religion

Christianity

Islam

Others*

844 (73.7)

290 (25.3)

10 (0.87)

Ethnic Grouping

Hausa-Fulani

Igbo

Ijaw

Yoruba

Others**

32 (2.8)

200 (17.5)

96 (8.4)

688 (60.1)

128 (11.2)

Location

SW (Southwest)

SS (South-south)

SE (Southeast)

NE (Northeast)

NC (North-central)

728 (63.6)

304 (26.5)

62 (3.4)

18 (0.6)

32 (2.7)

* African Traditional Religion, No Religion.

** Ibibio, Idoma, Kwale.

Regarding the remuneration received by the respondents before and during the lockdown, 57.4% were paid salaries one month before the lockdown while 63.6% were not paid salaries by their employers during the lockdown. For the respondents that received salaries during the lockdown (n= 376), 44.7% received less than a day payment in the space of 3-4 weeks for engaging in online teaching of students (Table 2).

Table 2: How Private School Teachers were paid by their employers before and during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Questions Frequency (%)

Did you receive salary (the month) before the lockdown?

Yes

No response

Total

456 (39.9)

656 (57.4)

32 (2.7)

1144 (100)

Did you receive salary during the lockdown?

Yes

No response

Total

728 (63.6)

376 (32.9)

40(3.5)

1144 (100)

The proportion of salary received during the lockdown (those that were paid n=376)

100% pay

50%-90% pay

<50% pay

< a day payment

40 (10.6)

48 (12.8)

120 (31.9)

168 (44.7)

We probed further into sources of survival from respondents without salaries during the lockdown (n=728). Majority (45.5%) relied on family support. 13.3% had personal businesses they fell back on while a total of 35.8% sought for assistance from friends and neighbours (fig 1).

Fig.1: Teachers’ coping sources the covid-19 lockdown (Respondents without salaries n=728)

Fig.2: Respondents’ daily feeding pattern amidst the covid-19.

There were drastic changes in the feeding pattern of the respondents. In fig 2, 66.9% of the respondents ate 3 meals daily before the lockdown, however only 4.5% were able to eat 3 meals daily during the COVID-19 lockdown. In same vein, 5.2% of the respondents ate 1 meal daily before the lockdown; however the number rose to 41.8% during the lockdown.

Many (74.1%) did not benefit from the palliatives distributed during the lockdown which was a measure to relief the burden of hunger in the country. A total of 75.6% of those that benefited from the palliative distributed (n=296), were gotten from non-governmental sources (Table 3). Food items received were majorly rice (46.9%) (Fig 3).

Table 3- How Private School Teachers benefited from the palliatives distributed during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Variable Frequency (%)

Did you receive any palliative/support scheme during the lockdown?

Yes

848 (74.1)

296 (25.9)

What was the source of the palliative/support scheme you received? (n=296)

Individual

Community

Religious Organ.

State Government

Federal Government

136 (45.9)

8 (2.7)

80 (27.0)

72 (24.3)

Table 4, show that gender had no impact on the abilities to access the palliatives distributed. The study shows that gender was not significant at p-0.080.

Table: 4 Distribution of respondents by Gender and Beneficiaries of Palliatives (n=296)

	Benefited from Palliative Distributed		Total (%)
	No	Yes	Total (%)
Female	107 (68.6)	49(31.4)	156 (100)
Male	112 (80)	28 (20)	140 (100)
Total	219 (73.9)	77 (26.0)	296.
X² =3.066 df= 1; p-value= 0.080 Remark= Not significant

Fig.3: Items from the palliative received by the respondents (=296)

Responses from an open-ended question were thematically analysed and categorized. Fig. 4, show the perception of respondents on the future impact of the pandemic lockdown on the teaching profession. The largest proportion (74.8%) of the respondents perceives that quality teachers will be less interested in seeking employment in private schools.

Fig.4: Respondents’ perception on the future impact of the covid-19 lockdown

DISCUSSION:

The findings from the demographics of the respondents are in line with the position of that there are more female to male teachers in private schools in Nigeria.²⁴ The study also show that many of the respondents could not access the various government palliatives which is an evidence to Osagie,²⁵ on the lamentation of the Nigeria Union of Teachers on the conditions of the private school teachers in Nigeria especially in Lagos where so many did not receive salary for a period of seven (7) months. In the course of the pandemic, the Federal and State government announced the dispatch of stimulus packages and relief materials to ordinary citizens to cushion the burden of the lockdown. However as found in this study and as earlier posited by Business Day,²⁶ many of the government palliatives were not accessible. According to Obiezu²⁷ palliatives that should have been distributed were initially stored in private warehouses across the nation but were later looted by hungry and angry citizens upon discovery. The inability to access palliatives was a general challenge and not gender specific.

This study found out that the pandemic greatly affected the feeding pattern of private school teachers, such that their feeding regimen changed from twice/thrice a day to once a day. Some studies have earlier mentioned that, most private school teachers had difficulties feeding themselves and their families due to non-payment of salaries during the lock down, and those that were paid received only a small fraction, which was not sufficient.^28,29 In similar perspectives, Odii, et al. and Nyashanu, Simbanegavi & Gibson^30,31 explains that many private school teachers are rationing food consumption due to financial inabilities to purchase food as needed as a result of the pandemic. The various coping strategies (borrowing from friends, family support etc.) employed by the respondents also conforms to the findings from other studies.^{28, 32, 20, 30}

Private school teachers rely basically on their monthly salaries as a major motivator for service delivery and any situation that compromises the receipt of payment for work done is usually frowned at.^33,34 Haven seen the impacts of the pandemic, many of the respondents perceived that, many qualified teachers would shy away from private school jobs in the future and only those with other sources of income would be confident to take up jobs in private schools where salaries are paid conditionally. Furthermore, teachers with sound academic qualification who may not shy away from private schools or teaching jobs will not be effective and efficient in delivering their duties due to job dissatisfaction.³⁵ This has been earlier forecasted by Nickell and Quintini³⁶ on the fate of private teachers without continuous income flow. Also, Nair,³⁷ recorded that job dissatisfaction resulting from poor salary is the reason for the gradual reduction of teachers in private schools. Edema²⁷ also recommended that, private school teachers should diversify to make additional income.

Limitations:

The conditions surrounding the period of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced our decision to adopt a non-probability sampling technique (snowball) and which likely hampers on the ability to generalize the findings from this study. Also, the study was affected by selection bias, as a result of oversampling of respondents form the Yoruba ethnic group and those located within the Southwest region. Nonetheless, this study gives an idea of the living conditions of private school teachers during the COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria.

CONCLUSIONS:

The plight of a few private school teachers been aired on social media as earlier discussion in the introductory paragraphs have been further examined in this study. This study was significant to bring to light the living conditions of the private school teachers, majority of whom were living without any source of income as compared to their counterparts in public schools. This study makes it further clearer, that the conditions for living for private school teachers was negatively affected during the pandemic that before, as many could not feed well nor had significant access to government relief materials in form of palliatives during the COVID-19 lockdown. While the study findings predict a decline in the proportion of graduate seeking employment as teachers in private schools, this study also recommend that current private school teachers should endeavor to diversify their sources of income to mitigate the future risk.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Our gratitude goes to all private school teachers who partook in this study, especially to those who in spite of their challenges responded to this survey.

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Received on 06.08.2021 Modified on 23.12.2021

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2022;13(2):79-84.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5828.2022.00013