With all learning institutions pre-maturely closed on 20 March 2020 and all citizens advised to
self-isolate in a bid to control the spread of COVID-19, it was hypothesized that COVID-19 would
negatively impact on the performance of students in the 2020 Grade 12 national examinations
vis-à-vis mathematics, science and design and technology subjects. An observed steady increase
in the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and the low levels of technology use in secondary
schools in Zambia due to limited technology resources signifies a very difficult period in a young
country which has just rolled out a nation-wide implementation of STEM education, This study
collected data from three teachers at a public secondary school in Chipata District of Eastern
Province in the Republic of Zambia. The Head of Department for Mathematics, the Head of Natural
Sciences Department and one science teacher were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews via
mobile phone were used to collect views of what these specialists thought would be the COVID19 effects on the general performance of students in their subject areas. Results of this study
revealed that there is likely to be a drop in the pass percentage of secondary school students in
this year’s national examinations if the COVID-19 epidemic is not contained in the shortest
possible time considering that the school academic calendar was abruptly disturbed by the early
untimely closure of all schools in the country.
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