Perceptions of COVID-19 and the demand for integrated virtual educational system in Developing countries: Evidence from students in Senegal.

COVID-19 emerged in the late 2019 and has since being a global pandemic. One sector that is hardly hit is the educational sector, especially as schools must be closed and restrictions on movements of people introduced and enforced. To offset its impacts, several interventions including the virtual learning platforms in all stages of learning were introduced. This study analyzed the perceptions of tertiary students on COVID-19 and the demand for integrated virtual educational system in Senegal. This involved 297 students in second year or higher in the university. The results established mixed perception of students on COVID-19 which feed into the public perceptions on the pandemic in the country. Generally, there is a low interest of students on integrated virtual education, and this was influenced by factors such as low access to quality Wi-Fi services and access to scholarship education. It is recommended that the school authorities must ensure an improved internet services on campus while national policies designed to reduce the cost on internet services.


Sampling and data
A simple random sampling was used in selecting students of UCAD at year two or higher. The non-first year students were selected because such students have had some experience on academic work at the tertiary level and would be able to provide accurate expression on the impact of COVID-19 on tertiary education in the country. The data was collected through questionnaires. A total of 320 students were selected for the study. Because the students can read and write, each selected student was given a printed copy of the questionnaire and were required to return the filled questionnaire to a collection point. The questionnaire involved the perceptions of the students on COVID-19 as well as its impacts on academic performance. The data was collected in March 2021, after a reasonable period of the emergence of the COVID-19 virus in the country. At the end of March, the returned questionnaires were collected for analysis. Overall, only 297 questionnaires were returned and out of which 249 were completely and accurately completed. This represents a response rate of 77.8%. Hence the study proceeded with analyzing the data of the 249 students.

Data analysis
The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a probit regression. The perceptions of the students were analyzed using percentage distribution of a five-point Likert scale. A probit regression was estimated to understand the factors that influence the choice for an integrated virtual tertiary education in Senegal.
Two groups of students were identified by the study, those who agreed and those who disagreed for an integrated virtual tertiary education in Senegal. This gave a binary response, therefore, purpose of the probit Perceptions of COVID-19 and the demand for integrated virtual educational system in Developing countries: Evidence from students in Senegal.
International Journal for Innovation Education and Research, Vol. 10 No. 08 (2022), pg. 82 model is to estimate the probability that a student with a given characteristic would choose an integrated virtual tertiary education or not. The probit model is defined as: Stating the underlying response variable as * where is a vector of exogenous variables that influence , is a vector of parameters and is the noise term having constant variance and zero mean. In practice, * is not observed, instead a dummy variable that is defined as: From equations 2 and 3, Since the probit model assumes that is normally distributed [ (0, 2 )], then: Given a likelihood function and the distribution function, the marginal effects of is give as: Empirically, the factors influencing student's decision to opt for an integrated virtual tertiary education is given as:

Level of risk with COVID-19
Figure 1 shows the students perceptions on their level of risks to COVID-19, that is, how likely they are to contract COVID- 19. Overall, about one in every ten students indicated very high risk and no risk to COVID-19 while about one in every four students indicated low risk to COVID-19. The perception on risk is important for the decision making of individuals on adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols. In a related study, Ding et al. (2020) and Abdelhafiz et al. (2020)  of the students perceived being at risk for being a medical student. Generally, WHO (2020) indicated that although secondary and higher schools are at risk to COVID-19 more than in primary and elementary schools, transmission between student-to-student is rare. A study by Chesser et al. (2020) also indicated that one of the most notable belief students hold against COVID-19 is the fear that they and the associates could contract the disease.

Figure 1: Students perception on their risk levels to COVID-19
Source: Calculated by authors from selected data Table 2 revealed the level of agreement on a set of perception indicators on COVID-19. From the result, 77.6% of the students at least agreed that COVID-19 is real and not imaginary. This is against the myth especially at the beginning of its emergence that COVID-19 is not real. While 18.5% of the students are indifferent as to whether the pandemic is real or not, 4% of them clearly disagreed that it is real. About 57% of the student either agreed or strongly agreed that COVID-19 occurred as a punishment from God or Allah to mankind. Thus, about one in every two students expressed that mankind have engaged in lifestyles Perceptions of COVID-19 and the demand for integrated virtual educational system in Developing countries: Evidence from students in Senegal.

Perceptions of COVID-19
International Journal for Innovation Education and Research, Vol. 10 No. 08 (2022), pg. 84 that contradicts God or Allah's purpose and as such, COVID-19 is a reward for such sinful acts. Relatedly, Habib et al. (2021) found that 60% of urban and peri-urban dwellers in northern Nigeria perceived COVID-19 as a punishment from God. Such findings raise concern over the importance of religion in disaster risk management. As high as one-third of the students were indifferent in attributing the emergence of COVID-19 to God or Allah but could not rule-out its possibility. Over half the interviewed students agreed that the government does not provide accurate information on the number of reported cases and recoveries.
Meanwhile, people who have confidence in the political leadership in their management of the COVID-19 pandemic perceives lower risk to the virus (Shao & Hao, 2020).
Most of the students disagreed that COVID-19 is an elite and 'rich' people's disease. This is tested against the backdrop by some citizens that COVID-19 is contracted mostly by people who are rich especially on the account that they often travel to other parts of the world where the pandemic is high. Although this maybe a myth, it is also true that the first reported cases were imported, hence, juxtaposing that most people feel that it is the rich who travel to the western countries, it justifies the expression of the respondents.
However, this can be described as myth because of the community spread of the disease, without a respect of person as poor or rich. Relatedly, most of the students were indifferent on whether the pandemic is a western world disease or not. They are indifferent because they although they are aware that COVID-19 emerged from China, they agreed it is certainly a global pandemic. For one in every two students respectively indicated that COVID-19 is deadly but also, there is an exaggeration on the impact of the COVID-19.

Perceptions on the effect of COVID-19 on education
COVID-19 has had effects on all aspects of life including education. Therefore, the students were asked specific effects of COVID-19 on tertiary education and the results presented in Table 3. About one in every two students agreed or strongly agreed that there is a decline in socialization among students. This is because of the general restriction on movement and social activities in the school. This is consistent with the high percentage of the students who indicated a decline in interaction among students and the relationship between students and lecturers. The result of Browning et al. (2021) also indicated that there is a change in behavior among students due to COVID-19 is a decline in socialization. The majority of the students also at least agreed that COVID-19 has created panic among the students, and this has affected learning among students. For many students, the emergence of the pandemic has affected them psychologically and for their minds are also with fear of contracting the disease, hence inability to learn.
About seven in every ten students expressed that there is an increase in education expenditure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was attributed to the adherence to the safety protocols such as buying of sanitizers and nose masks and virtual learning costs such as buying of internet. However, Browning et al. (2021) found that only 4.2% of students raised concerns over the potential or actual financial challenges due to COVID-19.
COVID-19 has been recognized as one the greatest pandemic over centuries. In fact, the most perceived risk factor for the next decade is infectious diseases (World Economic Forum, 2021). Consistently so, 67.5% of the students perceived that COVID-19 poses the greatest threat to them in life, and considering the effect of risks on students, it is expected that these perceptions have negative implications on the school attitude and academic performance of the students. Related to this study, Soltan et al. (2020) found that 83% of students have the feeling that COVID-19 is a life threatening disease while students in the study of Chesser et al. (2020) generally agreed that it is a major global health threat. Also, about 59% of the students did agreed that COVID-19 has led to a delay in academic calendar. Eight in every ten students and seven in every ten students noted a decline in happiness in school and a decline in overall academic performance, respectively.   (Table 2) also strongly agreed on the outlined indicators on the effect of COVID-19 on education, vice versa. A correlation analysis shows a coefficient of 0.36 and this was statistically significant. This generally revealed that students who are knowledgeable about the pandemic are also knowledgeable on its impacts. Dryhurst et al. (2020) indicated that risk perception correlated with the adoption of preventive health behaviors.

Figure 2: Relationship between perceptions of COVID-19 pandemic and perceptions on the effect of COVID-19 on academic work
Source: Calculated by authors from selected data Table 4 shows the various COVID-19 safety protocols that were adopted by the students. On wearing of nose masks, 95.4% of the students indicated wearing a nose mask anytime they step out of their rooms and about 3% of them indicated not always wearing nose masks. The high use of nose masks by the students is appropriate for curbing the spread of the virus among the students. The majority of the students indicated

COVID-19 perception index
Perceptions of COVID-19 and the demand for integrated virtual educational system in Developing countries: Evidence from students in Senegal.
International Journal for Innovation Education and Research, Vol. 10 No. 08 (2022), pg. 87 the use of hand sanitizers whenever they touch an item or shake hands while 38% of use anytime they remember to use. There are others (9.3%) who use sanitizers when it is mandatory, for instance, before entering banks. As high as 38% and 37.6% of the students respectively wash their hands only when they touch an item or shake hands and when they get to a place where there is a running water for hand washing.
As high as 16.8% only do wash their hands when they remember to do so. These results indicate relatively high compliance to COVID-19 safety protocols by the students. Nonetheless, the few students who either do not adhere to the safety protocols or comply only when it is mandatory or remembered could compromise the effort by the other students who comply effectively. This result also suggest that the safety protocols should be made mandatory and strictly implemented by the school's COVID-19 team.

Virtual education
The emergence of COVID-19 has led to a wider use of virtual education practices. This has brought some lessons on the practically and relevance of virtual education in delivery quality education across the globe.
The result (Table 5) shows that 59% of the students have had a virtual class due to the pandemic. These classes were organized as a strategy of covering outstanding topics. Nonetheless, as high as about 62% of Perceptions of COVID-19 and the demand for integrated virtual educational system in Developing countries: Evidence from students in Senegal.
these students indicated that the virtual classes were not helpful to their academic progress. Again, about 56% of students who had virtual education indicated that the virtual education should not be integrated into tertiary education system of the country. When specifically asked for their preference, about 89% indicated preference for physical classes while about 7% of the students indicated that it does not matter to them whether classes are organized virtual or physical. The World Economic Forum (2021)

Senegal.
In estimating the preference for integrated virtual education, students who preferred integrated virtual education were defined as 1 while those who were indifferent or do not prefer were defined as 0 as the indifferent group of students are few. Table 6 shows the estimate on the factors that influence student's preference for integrating virtual education into tertiary education of Senegal. This shows that age, having scholarship, quality of internet Wi-Fi, area of specialization and the index on the perception of COVID-19 effects on education had significant effects on the preference of the students. More specifically, an increase in age of students leads to an increase in the student's choice for integrating virtual education into tertiary education of the country. This is because with an increase in the age among the students, the tendency to be more familiar with online processes is high. For instance, the slightly older students might have used smart phones for longer time than the relatively younger students and this might have influenced their choice.
Perceptions of COVID-19 and the demand for integrated virtual educational system in Developing countries: Evidence from students in Senegal. Students who are on scholarship preferred that virtual education should be integrated into tertiary education of the country. This is because these students may have access to stable funds that they can expend on virtual technology. For instance, students under scholarship can often afford laptops. Therefore, access to virtual equipment including the ability to buy internet data is high. OECD (2020) indicated while students of financially capable parents can continue to learn even when schools shut down, those from disadvantaged homes cannot. This highlighted the relevance of financial support under virtual learning.
The result also established that students who are offering specialized programs such as medicine had higher probabilities of preferring an integrated virtual education. This is because such programs are more tailored and the students are focused on specific subjects, unlike general courses such as agriculture. The report of IAU (Marinoni et al., 2020) indicated that one of the challenge to the shift from face-to-face teaching and learning to virtual system is the difference in the needs among different fields of study. The estimated marginal effect is highest for access to scholarship. The result also suggests that students who perceived high impact of COVID-19 on education had higher probability of preferring an integrated virtual tertiary education in Senegal. This is because such students may not want any future pandemic or shock to interrupt tertiary education of the country. Dryhurst et al. (2020) estimated that risk perception correlates significantly with the adoption of preventive health behaviors.

Conclusions and policy implications
COVID-19 has become a major global threat since the later part of 2019. Its impact on education has been very significant, especially considering that the future of the next generation has been affected by the pandemic. The emergence has also brought about innovation, especially virtual technology, in all aspects Perceptions of COVID-19 and the demand for integrated virtual educational system in Developing countries: Evidence from students in Senegal. of life. The questions that this study included were what the perceptions of tertiary students are on COVID-19 and its impacts on education, and whether virtual education should become an integral part of tertiary education in the country. The empirical evidence led to the following conclusions. First, there is a generally mixed perception of students on COVID-19 and these feed into the public perceptions on the pandemic in the country. For instance, although most of the students agreed that the pandemic is real, they also expressed misgivings on government communications on the pandemic. Divine expressions were also asserted by the students. This suggest that addressing pandemics and other shocks require that traditional and religious authorities should be involved in their management. This is crucial considering the mistrust for government information.
Secondly, the students clearly expressed several impacts of COVID-19 on education including academic performance, reduced socialization and happiness among students. This provide an understanding on the specific components of education that are affected the most by the pandemic. Nonetheless, actual data is required to examine the academic performance of students graduating from the school prior to the pandemic and those who graduated post 2019. There is an established correlation between the perceptions of the students on the pandemic and the perception of the pandemic on education. The implication is that students who have clear understanding of COVID-19 perceived that it has high impact on education. Third, there is a low interest of students on virtual education as most do not prefer an integrated virtual tertiary education.
This low interest was influenced by a number of factors including access to quality Wi-Fi services and access to scholarship education. The perception of the students on the impact of COVID-19 on education also fed into their interest for an integrated virtual education in the country. However, considering the innovative importance of virtual education, these influencing factors must be addressed. For instance, there must be an improved internet services on campus while national policies designed to reduce the cost on internet services and improve the internet service of the telecoms. Overall, this study provided a basic information to trigger discussion on integrated virtual tertiary education in the country.