Exploring Heads of Departments' Management of the Mathematics Curriculum During COVID-19

Background

Since the emergence of previous epidemics such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (2003), the N1H1flu (2009), the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (2012), and the Ebola virus (2014), research on epidemics has been minimally focused on the immediate loss of human life (Lappalainen, 2020). Such an approach is explained in the characterisation of outbreaks. They are mostly confined to regions of the world such as parts of East Asia, Africa, America, and the Middle East. Thus, their political, socio-economic, and health impact globally have been minimal (Delivorias & Scholz, 2020). However, in December 2019, a severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV-2), COVID-19, broke out in the city of Wuhan in China. The outbreak and uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 was one of the defining aspects of the unpreparedness of governments and societies across the globe, leading to national lockdowns in countries around the world. The effects of lockdowns worldwide have motivated scholars to study the impacts of global pandemics in economic, social, and academic terms (Mursyidah, Hermoyo, & Suwaibah, 2021; Chitiga-Mabungu, Henseler, Mabungu, & Masionnave, 2020).