Online Education in Promoting Continued Education during Coronavirus Outbreak in Zimbabwe: ‘Challenges and Solutions’

Abstract

The education system has been affected by 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. In order to curb the widespread of coronavirus pandemic, people were recommended to exercise social-distancing and self-isolation. The idea of social-distancing and self-isolation has resulted in the closures of schools, universities and colleges as Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education try to control the spread of the contagious disease among learners in Zimbabwe. The effects and perceptions of Zimbabwean parents, teachers, learners and stakeholders on education and Covid19 are a cause for concern. The closure of educational institutions in response to the pandemic has risen to alarming levels. In this article, the issue of online learning has been seen as the impending solution to the challenges posed to the teaching and learning process during the coronavirus pandemic outbreak in Zimbabwe. What is very disturbing is that the mitigating measures proposed by stakeholders and government seem to favour the have and the have-not are severely impacted. At the end of the day, all the strides Zimbabwe has been making in terms of bringing education to the door step and improvement of standards of life is just going down the drain due to lack of ICT equipment and technical expertise. The study was carried out through qualitative method through a phenomenological approach. Snowballing, interviews, observations and document reviews were made use of in gathering the data for this article. Presentation is mainly descriptive since the type of data gathered depended much on the experiences and feelings of the people in the society about the impact of Covid19 on education. A number of recommendations were put forward that include the government putting in place laws that restrict mobile operators to hike their charges and all educational stakeholders should be heard when they air their concern.

Covid-19 and the entrenchment of a virtual Elite private school: Rethinking education policies in Zimbabwe

“…This paper reviewed a number of articles in an attempt to understand the challenges and response to the effects of COVID-19 on the education sector. Silumba and Chibango (2020), XinhuaNet (2020), Mandikiana (2020), Dube (2020) and Matimaire (2020), among others, agree that the COVID-19-induced problems in education had a similar pattern throughout the world (McCorkle, 2020;Novikov, 2020;Tarman, 2020).…”

“…The free basic education to all policy that the Zimbabwean government adopted after independence in 1980 was now a mere rhetoric. Dube (2020), Matimaire (2020) and Silumba and Chibango (2020) agree that access to online education demands financial resources. Silumba and Chibango (2020) explain that, in Zimbabwe, elite schools were the first to embrace online learning because they had financial resources.…”

“…Dube (2020), Matimaire (2020) and Silumba and Chibango (2020) agree that access to online education demands financial resources. Silumba and Chibango (2020) explain that, in Zimbabwe, elite schools were the first to embrace online learning because they had financial resources. These elite schools adopted online learning platforms, such as G-Suite and Zoom, as platforms for their E-learning programmes (Silumba and Chibango 2020).…”

“…Silumba and Chibango (2020) explain that, in Zimbabwe, elite schools were the first to embrace online learning because they had financial resources. These elite schools adopted online learning platforms, such as G-Suite and Zoom, as platforms for their E-learning programmes (Silumba and Chibango 2020). Underprivileged learners remained locked up by the lockdown while they waited for the government and wellwishers to act.…”

“…(p. 1) This report explains the online education situation in Zimbabwe, a closer analysis of which exposes that, in developing countries, underprivileged learners are the worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, because they cannot afford migration from physical to digital learning. Silumba and Chibango (2020) point out that the government of Zimbabwe and other education stakeholders embarked on online education in its various forms as a response to the COVID-19-induced closure of schools. However, this approach favoured the 'haves' whilst the 'have-nots' were severely impacted, and which created inequalities in the education sector that were reminiscent of colonial times.…”