Abstract: The main purpose of this study was to explore the eminent 2020 negative impact of COVID-19 on grades 7, 9 and 12 learners’ national examinations results following the pre-mature closure of all schools on 20th March 2020 by government of the Republic of Zambia. The study was exploratory incorporating a qualitative paradigm and involved semi-structured key informant interviews of 3 district, provincial and MoGE HQ education officials; 4 primary and secondary school head teachers; 4 members of the parents and teachers’ association, in Lusaka via telephone calls; 6 examination candidates; observation and monitoring of the Edu.tv lesson programme by MoGE, desk reviews and expert analysis. Random and purposive sampling were the criteria involved to ensure sample representativeness and therefore validity, reliability and generalizability of findings.