Navigating Educational Disruptions: The Impact of COVID-19 on Daily Functioning of Private Secondary Schools.

Navigating Educational Disruptions: The Impact of COVID-19 on Daily Functioning of Private Secondary Schools.

Masagazi Joel Yawe, Nnabbanja Harriet

Department of Education, School of Education, Uganda Christian University, Plot 67-173, Bishop Tucker Road, Mukono, P.O. Box 4 Mukono

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.802164

Received: 12 February 2024; Accepted: 22 February 2024; Published: 24 March 2024

ABSTRACT

This cross-sectional study employed a mixed-methods approach to comprehensively investigate the impact of COVID-19 on private secondary schools. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were integrated, enhancing the depth of understanding. The sample consisted of 92 participants, including school directors, head-teachers, deputy head teachers, and classroom teachers, were purposively and randomly selected. The study revealed shifts in enrollment patterns and attendance trends due to remote and hybrid learning models. Academic performance variations underscored the challenges of adapting to new teaching methodologies. Financial implications arising from altered revenue streams and increased operational costs, Teacher roles evolved, necessitating tailored support. Infrastructure limitations hindered remote learning effectiveness. Student well-being emerged as a poignant concern, and parental involvement dynamics shifted. Findings offer actionable insights for schools and policymakers, contributing to the discourse on educational resilience during global crises. The blended methodology provides a holistic understanding of COVID-19’s intricate influence on private secondary schools. By furnishing evidence-based strategies, this research aids decision-making to navigate unprecedented disruptions.

Key Words: Impact, Covid 19, Daily Functioning, Secondary Schools, Buikwe District.

INTRODUCTION

The last quarter of 2019 saw a major outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, China, which was thought to be the most significant epidemic in almost a century (Kang et al., 2020; Lu et al., 2020). It was a remarkable spike-studded pleomorphic enveloped virus (Chan et al., 2020). The symptoms of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) included coughing, fever, and difficulties with breathing but wasn’t specific (Ilkhani et al., 2021, Gao et al., 2021). The viral illness was discovered to be largely spread through mucus discharges, droplets, and physical contact as the sickness developed (Habas et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020). The abrupt COVID-19 epidemic slowed down people’s daily routines. Individuals were forced to avoid social situations and confine themselves to their homes so as to prevent the COVID-19 from spreading. In order to retain the standard teaching methodology, people were forced to convert traditional education into online education via the Internet (Zhu et al., 2021, Mumtaz et al, 2021; Machado et al., 2020, Liang, M., et al 2023, p.80). Subsequently, numerous academic institutions and scholars took a look at the instructional losses brought on the COVID-19-related forced shutdowns of schools. These losses were approximately 35% less than what they were prior to COVID (Masonbrink & Hurley, 2020).

According to Kaffenberger (2021), academic losses are equivalent to missing a year of school for each of the three months that students were absent. Further analysis into losses, Azevedo (2020), argues that comprehension and reading abilities decreased by at least 10%. The most vulnerable students were those from low-income and vulnerable homes, as well as young wives and pregnant schoolgirls, particularly because these students did not have easy access to technology. (Mukhari & Sanders 2023, p.112). Additionally, After the very first shut down in March 2020, a sizable portion of students never went back. According to estimates by Ardington et al. (2020), about 29% of students left school and are no longer enrolled hence a decline in school achievement resulted. Gustafsson and Nuga (2020) argues that the prolonged absence of physical contact resulted in instructional losses that are significantly greater than the number of missed school days and were primarily felt by students who had an inadequate level of school-related literacy and found it difficult to read and comprehend even basic phrases (Mukhari & Sanders 2023, p.112).

Nearly half of the schools worldwide had been shut down entirely or in partial 18 months since the initial COVID-19 case was made public (UNESCO, 2021). Ugandan students had to deal with the difficulties of homeschooling while dependent on technology as well as distance education. Plenty of educational institutions as a result of this failed to operate at their best (Spaull & Van Der Berg, 2020).

Accordingly, the longest school closure during the pandemic took place in Uganda. In the 19 months, in between 16^th -02-2020 & 31^st – 10 – 2021, schools were closed. (Buchholz, K 2022) Besides, Antara (2020, p.14) noted that the COVID-19 pandemic creates considerable issues in budgeting. Although macroeconomic policy has additional components, this short concentrates on fiscal policy since it has the biggest & most significant impacts on how much money is spent on instruction of private secondary schools. In other-words, Loayza & Pennings (2020, p.17) noted that Since revenue generation is expected to decline as a result of this epidemic, revenue from governments are expected to decrease. There’s a risk that regulatory remedies for the crisis will either prove inadequate or aggravate the economic situation because budgetary space is already restricted in several nations; limiting the financial funding of private secondary schools.

Eleftheria & Theodore (2021, p.17) stated that the primary sources of funding for education include government, families, as well as development associates, additionally, Adhanom (2020, p.9) noted that budgetary effects that the COVID-19 epidemic is anticipated to have on learning in private schools is similar to that of the past crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic caught private schools especially in developing countries unaware and unable to fully finance their daily school activities; which explains why teachers have gone months without being paid their salaries and others, their contracts have been terminated. Besides, Anderson., Sonya & Bradley (2020, p.19) added that Public educational expenditures in countries within the sub-sahara declined dramatically between the years 2021 and 2020 as a result of the corona pandemic, respectively in actual terms as well as a percentage of the budget allocated to education, going from fifteen percent to twelve percent of total donor or government spending. Nevertheless, the global economic crisis’s inconsistent impact on education funding in 2021 including cutting teachers’ salaries

Furthermore, several nations across the Sub-Saharan Africa as well as other economically disadvantaged areas decreased the amount they spent on education finances as a result of the economic meltdown, although it was anticipated that it would curtail their anticipated expenditure increases. This was revealed by a quick evaluation of the crisis’ impact on those regions’ budgets. (Brackett, Mark & Scott 2020, p.9). Besides, Duffield & Dan (2020, p.32) noted that there is proof suggesting schools in a number of economies have already begun to reduce academic expenses to create room for the necessary investments in wellness and social security. In one instance, information in Nigeria illustrate that the funding allocated to the Universal Education Commission was reduced by roughly forty-five percent (US$130 million) resulting from the adjusted government estimates on income and expenditures. Similarly, In Kenya, authorities have pointed out reductions to basic education curriculum reform and development investment on tertiary education as being critical for sustaining the nation’s response to the pandemic. Back here in Uganda, education authorities in private secondary schools have cut their school spending plans, such as cutbacks in agreed-upon compensation rises, reductions in personnel, and hiring new employees.

Antara (2020, p.32) further argued that cuts in private schools’ Academic results may suffer as a result of excessive reduction in expenses.  There is insufficient information regarding how reductions in funding affect educational achievements, especially within underdeveloped nations like Uganda. Analysis from the United States reveals that budget limitations for privately run schools have little adverse effects enrolment patterns. Only two nations with low incomes were included in a recent study that looked at expenditure patterns and student achievement. However, in the island of Madagascar and Malawi, where individual educational expenditure was decreased, learning modified, time spent in school decreased resulting from the decrease in expenditure. (Eleftheria & Theodore 2021).

Loayza & Pennings (2020, p.36) noted that Numerous families experience a severe financial and physiological crisis as an outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following increased unemployment and underemployment, household income of a lot of families will likely decrease. The above argument eventually undermines their capability to afford their children school fees. Many families that depend on remittances are likely to witness their revenues decline as a result of the epidemic considering the worldwide character of the financial meltdown. (Rahman & Matin 2020, p.27).

Argyropoulou, Christina & Markos (2021, p.13) further revealed that Unexpected spikes in joblessness and underemployment have been witnessed brought on by the global epidemic. among the teaching staff in public secondary schools. After the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, private schools were in a financial crisis, which resulted into retrenchment of teaching staff. Globally, the WHO (2020, p.4) reports that restrictions have prevented 80 percent privately owned secondary school employees from working. It anticipates a 7% drop in time spent at work in Q2 of 2020-2021, which translates leading to a drop of no fewer than 195 million jobs globally. For instance, it has been stated that due to shutdowns of schools a million privately-run educational educators in Bangladesh were either laid off or temporarily restricted from accessing their workstations (Antara 2020, p.27). Private-sector unemployment in the United States was 12.4% percent, or 1.2 million persons, according to the middle of April 2020.

In addition, the epidemic is predicted to cause a considerable decline in earnings. Remittances are predicted to decrease by 20% in disadvantaged economies in 2020, or around US$142 billion (World Bank 2020b, p. 3). Payments can be a significant factor in helping families receiving assistance to make educational investments, according to research. According to an investigation carried out by five African nations, one of the most common four use of contributions sent from outside the African continent was for educational purposes (Loayza & Pennings 2020). In Kenya and Uganda, families used 15% of their overall domestic and global donations to pay for their relatives’ schooling.

Rahman & Matin (2020, p.34) feels that certain households will find it challenging to remit educational expenses due to reduced revenue and the necessity for higher healthcare costs. In economically disadvantaged nations, past economic downturns resulted in lower family expenditure on education, decreased salaries, and decreased rates of attendance at school (World Bank 2020b, p. 3). Studies of the effects of adverse weather conditions on attendance at schools in Malawi and Cote d’Ivoire revealed that these shocks had a significant detrimental effect on educational engagement. the covid period in Sierra Leone caused a huge economic downturn which resulted in a sharp decline for school attendance of girls.  (Adhanom 2020, p.8). The Asian Financial Crisis in 2020 noted that in several nations, family incomes significantly decreased resulting from the COVID outbreak. Brackett & Christina (2020, p.43) adds that Additional strain on public education resources may result from enrollment movements from privately owned to publicly funded schools as a result of decreased salaries. In developing countries, enrolment rates for privately owned high schools decreased following the economic downturn in the African continent, while the number of students enrolled in public schools marginally improved. If the COVID-19 situation leads to enrolment changes that are comparable, that will raise the need for financing for public educational institutions at a moment when money is constrained. Absence of proper support, movements of this nature will have an overall effect of reducing quality, for instance by growing the number of students. (Brackett, Mark & Scott 2020).

Accordingly, literature further demonstrates how pupils’ perception of safety has been seriously harmed by the outbreak (Adhanom 2020); making them more susceptible to Stress along with additional psychological issues. This situation has created more fear among learners to join private secondary schools with inadequate financial base or resources to cater for the recommended SOPs (Anderson, Sonya & Bradley 2020). According to this range of requirements, publicly funded educational institutions are necessary, private secondary schools inclusive became in accordance with the steps particular nations resorted to in order to control the epidemic, they were urgent (World Bank 2020b). Evidence from earlier catastrophic epidemics in poor nations, where stringent measures were put in place, shows how important it is for numerous learners to get back to secondary education, regardless of dissimilar situations. (Brackett & Christina 2020, p.7).

The prevalence of poverty has also increased the danger of being exploited, child neglect, mistreatment and abuse of children, and this transpired COVID-19 Healthcare threats (Duffield & Dan 2020, p.17). This situation has paved the way for another phase in the growth of the world. A year following the COVID-19 outbreak, notwithstanding all the optimism that there is a start of influenza vaccinations brought up. Globally, the number of deaths and newly reported cases world-over remains high; thus, they are not allowing for any room for carelessness. The abrupt strict isolation techniques implemented to stop COVID-19’s viral propagation and dissemination, has continued to violate key mental requirements for humans, including attachment, expertise, and independence. In terms of psychological wellness, the COVID-19 epidemic has had a very devastating effect. created fear and exacerbating pre-existing psychopathology (Argyropoulou, et al., 2021, p.9

Theoretical Underpinnings

The transformative learning theory was used in understanding the difficulties presented by the pandemic’s impact. According to this hypothesis, this transformative education happens when learners and educators are faced with challenging situations like the COVID-19 pandemic (Ali & Tan, 2022, p.78; Fritz & Marchewka 2023) The development of mindfulness through adaptive behavior to a changing environment is known as transformative learning (Vipler, Green, McCall-Hosenfeld, Haidet & Tisdell 2023, p.289) COVID-19 caused fundamental changes and educational reforms. experts theorize that any perplexing situation results in modifications that have a significant impact on mental capacities and reforms to education (Joslyn & Hynes 2022, p.700; Vipler, et al 2023, p.288)). Synonymous with this hypothesis, difficult assignments during changes in paradigms not only require students to analyze information critically and logically, but also assist teachers with assessing the effectiveness of their most recent instruction (Hashemi et al., 2021). Teachers employ a variety of approaches to modify the method of instruction, adopt new standards, and introduce new advances and changes to the teaching and learning process in order to improve their student’s education amidst educational disturbances such as school shutdown (Mukhari & Sanders2023, p.113, Noori, 2021).

METHODS

Study Design

Using qualitative as well as quantitative techniques in a cross-sectional survey was employed in this study. This “entailed the methodical gathering of data from people applying defined techniques” (Stockemer, 2019, p. 23). Therefore, a field survey was part of the technique utilized in this study. A descriptive and interferential approach to analysis served as the foundation and used the study instrument to gather data (Al Soub, 2022, p. 1875). Using actual participant’s opinion and experience, the qualitative technique enabled investigators to delve more deeply into an interesting issue and acquire a thorough grasp of the phenomenon (Creswell, 2018). Sutton & Austin (2015, p. 230) maintain that qualitative research enables investigators to access the feelings and thoughts of study participants, which may facilitate the formation of a comprehension of what it means that individuals attribute to their own experiences.

Data Collection Procedure

Participants were purposively selected to participate in interviews who divulged extensive knowledge and professional expertise. The guide to interviews included a list of unstructured and open-ended inquiries that were based on guidelines in the writings of existing knowledge (Mekonen & Xu 2023, p. 93). A semi-structured interview guide was adopted and used which enabled further explanation and follow-up inquiries. (Adarkwah & Zeyuan, 2020), Additionally, inquiry-based queries for an in-depth comprehension were utilized. A questionnaire was also administered among the participants.

Ethical Considerations

The study was ethically cleared by Uganda Christian University Research Ethics Committee (UCUREC) followed by a written consent sought from the participants. The individual interview time frame ranged between 40 and an hour, audio recordings were made with permission from the participants (Mekonen & Xu 2023, p. 94)

Data Analysis

Quantitative data was analyzed and a simple regression analysis as well as a correlation were employed. Qualitative data in form of recorded audios was transcribed and reported verbatim. Broad emerging themes were then categorized using first-round categorization at the end of the played recordings confirm as well as rectify inaccuracies. As a result, the researchers were able to begin comprehending the participant’s viewpoint and acquiring acquainted with the data (Lester, Cho, & Lochmiller, 2020). Thematic analysis was then used to find and organize related sub-themes in a meaningful and logical manner. (Akbaba Altun & Bulut 2023, p.237) Thematic analysis is an overall phrase, describing often rather various techniques that focus on uncovering trends within quality data sets (Braun, Clarkem, & Hayfield 2019, p. 844). The identical transcript information was assigned codes by the researchers, and key distinctions and overlaps between the sets of coded data were addressed.

Data Quality and Control

Dependability, transferability and Credibility benchmarks were adopted to ensure the trustworthiness of the qualitative data while the questionnaire reliability was measured with Cronbach alpha coefficient index.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The researchers wanted to establish the Effect of COVID-19 on the daily functioning of private secondary schools   the responses are presented in table 1

Source: Primary Data 2023

Table 1 represents the descriptive statistics on the effect of COVID-19 on the daily functioning of private secondary schools in Buikwe District. The results show that a significant response rate of 100% of the participants revealed that schools had accumulated money rent for the school premises (Mean=3.91 standard deviation 1.139). participants further with a response rate of 97.2% indicated that schools had been burdened by cumulated loans as a result of lockdowns caused by Covid-19 pandemic (Mean=3.67 and standard deviation 1.143). further analysis demonstrated that in private secondary schools, there were observable case of teenage pregnancy arising from the pandemic (Mean=4.36 and standard deviation .891), and lastly, there was a continued closure of schools which put a stop on income as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, and this was accepted by 87.5% of the respondents (Mean=4.33 and standard deviation .874).

Interview Responses regarding the Effect of COVID-19 on the daily functioning of private secondary schools. The researchers went ahead to interview Head teachers, deputy head teachers, and school directors and their responses are indicated below.

When asked how COVID-19 pandemic affected the day today activities of the school in Buikwe, a participant PH1C revealed that:

“… most of schools around have experienced cases of pregnancy among their girls at home and this has occurred as a result of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Parents are losing control of their daughters and its schools that used to do much of that control. Due to shut down during times of crisis, girls have spent more time with men and boys compared to what they would have done if they had been enrolled in school, which has raised their risk of engaging in hazardous sexual conduct as well as their vulnerability to sexual harassment and assault.”

The above revelation implies that most private secondary schools have experienced teen pregnancies during COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures. Limitations connected to COVID-19 have a significant impact on how maternity care is delivered and other support systems for new parents. Closing secondary schools that are private in an effort to reduce the quantity of cases and fatalities brought on by the COVID-19 epidemic could have had the opposite effect on susceptible adolescent girls’ sexual and reproductive wellness as well as their academic performance. According to Loayza & Pennings (2020, p.7), the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked unimaginable havoc on school-age children across the world, disrupted basic services, and put thousands of lives in danger.

Additionally, findings further indicated that the sources of income were crippled by the pandemic. In the words of Participant PHD2:

“.. the presidential directive to close all schools due to corona, school currently grapples with altered revenue streams and escalated operational costs much of this has been noted with accumulation of rent for the school premises as many… of us here operate in rented premises, and when COVID-19 pandemic broke out, schools were closed and the landlords kept demanding for their rent as lockdowns were not part of their negotiations for rent as its their source of income”

The argument above manifests how these schools have experienced heavy accumulated rents for the school premises. UNESCO revealed that Uganda had the longest lockdown of schools in the whole world which describe the extent of the financial pain Schools have been closed for almost two years, and this has eventually led to rent arrears accumulation to millions of monies. Most landlords reached an extent of refusing school owners to re-open schools in their premises without paying rent arrears. Such cases have forced some schools either to change the location or to permanently close as a result of failure to meet the rent demanded from them.

The above finding was strengthened by a similar case of Participant PD1E. Accordingly,

“… schools which had loans before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown has faced the worst financial challenge. Most schools have been and still are at the verge of being sold over unpaid loans and accumulated interest, even, teachers in have equally suffered financial blows of no payment and accumulated allier because all the school paid fees have been deducted by the banks, leaving the schools with no or less financial resources to pay staff and meet other educational requirements it is badd…”

The above submission indicate that private secondary schools have been burdened by heavy loans and this is courtesy of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. This closure of private secondary schools has led to financial setbacks of unpaid accumulated interest accrued from unpaid loans. Some schools have been forced to acquire loans to carryout renovation of the school premises when the schools were re-opened, all adding-up to school financial burden.

Another interviewed participant PH4B had this to say:

“…with this situation, schools here have experienced a serious challenge of decline on students’ enrolment because of the shift in learning approach. In addition to other students who have now abandoned studying. Parents are running to schools that can engage their student’s online lockdown, many private secondary schools were not prepared to handle their students’ online teaching. They did not have the required gargets and platforms to spearhead the e-learning, as a result, students decided to join government schools so as to benefit from the available e-learning programs…”

Additionally, Participant PD4A noted that

“Just like students in government schools, individuals are probably going to suffer serious academic deficits. When schools are closed, private schools have had a difficult time offering remote learning help. At this point, a sizable portion of parents at private schools lacked the resources to support at-home learning. Consequently, private secondary schools experienced extensive learning loss amongst returning students, and most of them left for public schools to benefit from e-learning but all in all there is nothing taking place there too we are all tied …”

This implies that the reduction on students’ enrolment has been observed in private secondary schools after COVID-19 pandemic. The drop-out rates among students have been reported to be high, thus losing the number of students at the school campus.

Participant PD3E further had this to say:

 “Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, most schools were unprepared for the situation/time after the lockdown. Most of those schools purely depend on the school fees for the proper management of school activities and payment of school bills like water, electricity, payment of salaries for teaching and non-teaching staff. Eventually, this became a hustle for such schools when the government put a lockdown and private schools could not have any other financial source…”

The revelation above points to the fact that private secondary schools have experienced a financial crisis as a result of outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the school financial sources being school fees, and the other donors were all affected during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Private schools’ financial sources were limited and they could not manage catering for the required school operation, and daily management of the school curriculum activities as ascertained by Brackett & Christina (2020, p.7).

Another participant PDH1C revealed that:

‘The rate of teachers’ leaving the school has gradually increased. Most private secondary school teachers left their profession to search for a living. Some of them have resorted to agriculture, others are involved in driving boda-boda and others have ventured into brick laying and all these gave them money much more than what we used to pay them here so they see no logic in returning to our shattered school…’

The reflection above indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has escalated teachers’ turnover in private secondary schools. The salaries and general wellbeing of teachers in private education institutions have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. Private schools employ a sizable share of the teaching labor in some situations. This concurs with Kafero (2020, p.17) who stated that some of the teachers in private secondary schools have been allowed to secure leave without pay upon closure of schools where as their counterparts in private schools have not been paid at all for all that period of lockdown.

Last but not least, Deputy Head-teacher from School A also replied;

“Private secondary schools have experienced a challenge of lack of financial resources to buy and procure the necessary and recommended Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)aspects such as the Temperature Gun, Hand washing facility as recommended, purchasing enough sanitizer, Fancing the school among others catering. For schools to re-open, they have to adhere to all proposed SOPs guidelines inclusive of wearing masks, social distancing in classes etc.’

This means that private secondary schools have experienced failure to afford the expenses SOPs as required and recommended by the Government of Republic of Uganda in conjunction with the World Health Organization. Many private secondary schools have limited spaces, they are always congested, and thus, it became difficult for them to adhere to social distancing so as to reduce on the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

Lastly, one of the interviewed head teachers from School PHT4D had this to say:

“There is continued closure of schools as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has hit low-cost private secondary schools especially hard. Private secondary institutions are currently dealing with severe financial strain as a result of the pandemic’s economic blow. Teachers said they were fired, had their pay reduced, or weren’t paid at all. Numerous private secondary schools have already closed, and more are about to do so.…’

the above arguments reveal that private secondary Schools found it difficult to facilitate learners’ remote learning, and it was predicted that returning students would likely experience significant learning losses. To state it differently, given the financial pressures upon them, private secondary schools will also have challenges in offering remedial learning support to reverse the decline of studying, according to Bettini (2020, p.22).

Correlation Analysis

To test whether there was a clear connection between COVID-19 and the daily functioning of private secondary schools. Using the Pearson’s correlation coefficient and significant statistics, a correlation analysis was done between the schools. The results are shown in table 2 below.

Table 2: Correlation Matrix

The Pearson’s correlation coefficient is shown in the table above. r = 0.315^** between COVID-19 and the daily functioning of private secondary schools; indicating that the two variables were of statistical significance at 0.000 and had a weak positive connection. There was a suggestion that the daily functioning of private secondary schools depended on how the COVID-19 pandemic was handled in a school or controlled there. This meant that further actions are taken to advance development as well. the maintainable daily functioning of private secondary schools other than only those identified by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In order to determine the combined predictive of requirement definition, the simple regression analysis was effect of COVID-19 on the daily functioning of private secondary schools in Buikwe District; and also, to determine if the link was causative and, if so, which factor was the most important predictor of the variance in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Table 3: Summary of a simple regression results

The table 3 above shows adjusted R² of 0.098 suggesting the dimensions of the effect of COVID-19 on the daily functioning of private secondary schools and all predict 9.2% of the variance in the daily functioning of private secondary schools; and they were the most significant predictors. Other variables, other than COVID-19 pandemic predict the remaining variance of 90.8%. The standardized coefficient results for the COVID-19 pandemic Beta-β1= 0.315, t= 3.705, Sig. = 0.000 suggest that COVID-19 pandemic is a significant predictor of the daily functioning of private secondary schools in Buikwe District since a unit increase in those COVID-19 pandemic results in 0.315 improvement of daily functioning of private secondary schools in Buikwe District which is significant (t= 3.705, sig = 0.000 which < 0.01).  The analysis above suggests that both requirement definition and the COVID-19 pandemic have a combined predictive effect on the daily functioning of private secondary schools. Among the variables considered, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be a significant predictor of changes in the daily functioning of private secondary schools in Buikwe District.

The positive Beta value of 0.315 indicates that as the COVID-19 pandemic variable increases, there is a corresponding improvement in the daily functioning of these schools.

To explain the variance, the adjusted R-squared value of 0.091 suggests that the model’s predictors (requirement definition and COVID-19) explain a small portion of the variance in the daily functioning of private secondary schools. The majority of the variance (about 90.8%) is not explained by these predictors.

In summary, the analysis indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic had a statistically significant impact on the daily functioning of private secondary schools in Buikwe District. While the combination of requirement definition and the pandemic explains a small portion of the variance, the majority of the variance remains unexplained by the model. The results suggest that addressing the challenges posed by the pandemic could lead to improvements in the functioning of these schools.

CONCLUSION

In recapitulation, this study offers a complete examination of the multifaceted effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on private secondary schools in the Buikwe District. Through the integration of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, we have gained a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics that have shaped the daily functioning of these institutions. The findings highlight the resilience and adaptability of private secondary schools in the face of unprecedented challenges. The shift to remote and hybrid learning models led to varying enrollment patterns and attendance trends, reflecting the schools’ efforts to ensure continuity in education. Academic performance exhibited diverse trajectories, emphasizing the need for innovative pedagogical approaches and targeted support for students.

However, the study also reveals disparities and obstacles. Infrastructure limitations hindered the efficacy of remote learning, exacerbating the digital divide among students. The emotional well-being of students emerged as an important consideration, underscoring the need for comprehensive support systems. Parental involvement evolved, presenting opportunities for enhanced collaboration between schools and families. This study contributes to the broader discourse on educational resilience during times of crisis. The evidence-based insights generated by this study offer actionable recommendations for private secondary schools and policymakers alike. These include targeted interventions to bridge the digital divide, strategies to promote student well-being, and policies to ensure financial stability and continuity of education. As we look to the future, the lessons learned from this study can guide the development of holistic approaches that prioritize flexibility, equity, and innovation in education. By fostering a culture of adaptability and proactive planning, private secondary schools can navigate challenges more effectively and continue to provide quality education, even in the face of uncertainty.

ORCID

Masagazi Joel Yawe  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4926-9348

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