RURAL schools are poorly resourced compared to those in urban areas, a gap often reflected in public examination results.
Shortage of information and communication technologies
(ICT) tools and the Covid-19- induced lockdown is extending this gap.
Following the outbreak of Covid-19, online lessons have
become the cornerstone of ensuring learners keep up with their education.
The traditional face-to-face/physical learning model has
been minimised to prevent the spread of the virus which thrives in crowds.
However, for rural schools, challenges of network
availability and resources have hindered students from learning.
Primary and Secondary Education Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee Chairperson Ms Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said pupils who wrote
Grade Seven public examinations last year had been disadvantaged.
She said pupils in urban areas had access to online
learning and extra lessons for those whose parents and guardians can afford.
Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga said education is now being
accessed by the rich who can afford extra lessons and online lesson resources.
Rural pupils are mostly drawn from low-income families and
their guardians or parents are often self-employed as smallholder farmers or
artisans.
Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga said as a committee they have
proposed that class of 2020 Grade Seven pupils who wish to rewrite their
examinations must be afforded the opportunity to do so in June.
“As a committee we have proposed to facilitate and allow
students who wish to re-write their exams in June as normally done by Zimsec
for O-level and A-level students who re-write in June. Zimsec should set a
different paper from the 2020 one to give those who want to re-write an
opportunity to do so,’’ she said.
Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) national secretary
general Mr Goodwill Taderera said many rural schools in Zimbabwe are falling
short on infrastructure and this includes classrooms and teacher accommodation.
He said Covid-19 has worsened the plight of rural schools. “The
rural to urban divide has always been there in terms of our schools
infrastructure, lack of books and other learning resources and the Covid-19
pandemic has worsened the rural education in that schools had to close and
rural students did not have much time to learn as we were coming from the
teachers’ incapacitation,” said Mr Taderera.
Lack of infrastructure is a worrying situation that has
made education, particularly in rural areas, fall short in producing pupils
with capacity to fight poverty and progress academically.
Most of the schools in the rural areas do not have
electricity, laboratories and facilities needed for teach subjects like
computer science, the re-packaged science subjects as well as the performing
and visual arts in the new curriculum.
Mr Taderera said rural pupils have challenges in
connectivity, lack of gadgets and also data in accessing online lessons.
Sometimes pupils walk more than 15km to and from school which compromises their
academic performance.
He pleaded with Government and other stakeholders to
improve infrastructure in rural schools and empower rural teachers so that
goals set in the new curriculum are met.
“We plead with the Government pay teachers sufficiently for
them to be attracted to rural schools so as to bridge the gap between urban and
rural areas in terms of education standards,” he said. Chronicle
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