IMPACT OF CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC ON AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION STUDENTS AND LECTURERS IN UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH EAST NIGERIA

The study was on impact of coronavirus pandemic on students and lecturers of agricultural education in Universities in South-East Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study and was conducted in South East Nigeria. The population for the study was 473 consisted of 52 agricultural education lecturers and 421 agricultural education students in South East Nigeria. The total population was involved in the study since the population was manageable. Two questionnaires were used to collect data for the study. First one contained 10 items and collected data from the students on the impact of corona virus pandemic on students while the other contained 10 items focused on the impact of corona virus pandemic on lecturers. Cronbach alpha was used to determine internal consistency of the questionnaire which yielded a coefficient of 0.76 and 0.79 for the student and lecturer questionnaires respectively. Mean was used to answer the research questions. The findings revealed 10 impacts of coronavirus pandemic on agricultural education students in the area and 10 impacts of coronavirus pandemic on agricultural education lecturers in the area. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that; The government should provide the resources such as stable electricity and ICT facilities required for interactions between the lecturers and students through the digital space. This will help students keep up with their school programme while preventing the spread of the virus; and online conferences should be organized for lecturers so that they can network with their peers and this would bring some relief to them