The Vindication of Decoloniality and the Reality of COVID-19 as an Emergency of Unknown in Rural Universities

Abstract

Coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, was adjudged as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2020. This deadly, contagious, and easy-to-spread virus has plunged the world into a tentative cul-de-sac, inclusive of the university education system. By implication, the abrupt national lockdown in South Africa cut universities unaware as an insurgence against its operationalisation, teaching, and learning process. In my argument, it further confirms the need to decolonise rural universities, to be able to respond to every unforeseen emergency, as an underside of coloniality, which is currently experienced in the system. Evidence indicates that the rural universities in South Africa are battling with enabling pedestal of alternatives to teaching and learning. This study is lensed through Transformative Paradigm (TP), Participatory Research (PR) was used as a research design. The participants consisted of 15 people, 5 management staff such as the deans, head of schools, head of teaching and learning and ICT members, 5 lecturers and 5 students in a selected rural university in South Africa. The participants were selected using the snowballing selection technique with the use of calls, email and other social media platforms as a medium of participants’ recruitment. Online and phone interviews were used to collect data from the participants because the participants are under national lockdown, and the data was analysed using thematic analysis. Low technology and innovative space in rural universities and students, lecturers and university’s disadvantage background were found as the major challenges vindicating the quest for decoloniality in rural universities. Also, the compulsory used of technological innovation within the university and contingency plan for/by the stakeholders are concluded to be achievable with the use of Assets-Based Approach.

Assessment of the Oyo State Teaching Service Commission Interactive Learning Platforms during COVID-19 Lockdown in Nigeria

“…These are meant to aid the delivery of education to the students during the present pandemic, and this kind of education is referred to as education in emergencies. Examples of such learning platforms include but not limited to Skype teachings, chat rooms, zoom, WhatsApp, telegram, video conferences and webinars (Omodan, 2020b). USAID (2005) highlighted three approaches to education in emergencies; the development approach, the humanitarian approach and the human right.…”

The Forgotten Ones: How Rural Teachers in Mexico are Facing the COVID19 Pandemic

“…Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, rural communities across the world faced distinct challenges in terms of education. These difficulties are often rooted in poverty, which translates into a lack of resources and an inadequate infrastructure (Çiftçi & Cin, 2018;Dube, 2020;Kapasia et al, 2020;Omodan, 2020). Rural teachers are likely to have limited engagement in on-the-job learning (Hallinger & Liu, 2016).…”

“…However, COVID-19 has impeded access to them. Even if people were allowed to visit these facilities, it is likely that they would soon be over capacity due to the increased demand (Dube, 2020;Omodan, 2020).…”

Sustaining Learning during COVID-19 Seismic Shift: The Need to Develop Flexible Pedagogy

“…There are studies on COVID-19: virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic (Almarzooq, Lopes & Kochar, 2020Mugizi, Rwothumio, & Amwin, 2021; rural online learning in the context of COVID-19 (Dube, 2020;Omodan, 2020b); guidance on active learning at home during educational disruption: promoting student's self-regulation skills during COVID-19 outbreak (Huang et al, 2020); and pivoting to leveraging lessons from the COVID-19 crisis for learners with disabilities (Inclusive Education Initiative, 2020). However, the main objectives of this present study focused on the children's learning during COVID-19 pandemic; how learning was sustained during the pandemic; if the learning channels employed catered for children's learning styles and; mitigation strategies as contingency plans for continued learning during and after COVID-19 pandemic.…”