AN ASSESSMENT OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS' MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES AMIDST COVID-19 LOCKDOWN IN NIGERIA.

The sudden disruption of academic activities by Covid-19 in the year 2020, compelled government to introduce total lockdown in Nigeria. It is on this premise that this study examined private schools' management strategies amidst lockdown. Four questions were generated to guide the study. The research resign of descriptive and correlation type were used for the study. The study population comprises of proprietors of nursery, primary and secondary schools across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. An instrument tagged "Private School Management Strategies Questionnaire (PSMSQ)" was employed to collect comprehensive information from the respondents. Findings revealed different strategies employed for managing schools during the lockdown differs. While some perceived no significant difference on income and teaching strategies on the basis of gender, some perceived differences on the basis of population and communication. In the same vein, a significant difference exists on income generation and teaching strategies based on school type and geo-political zones. The study concluded that different strategies employed by proprietors for managing schools during lockdown helped to ensure seamless teaching and learning despite the lockdown. The study recommends that private schools should have uniform strategies that can be used to ensure continuous teaching if there is any pandemic in the future. Lastly, online teaching and learning should be integrated into the school curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]