The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure
Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT’S thrust to integrate digital technologies in teaching and learning is empowering millions of learners in Manicaland, it has been established.
Information and Communications Technology (ICTs) are serving as a critical support structure for attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially basic services in education, health, energy and finance.
Moreover, Covid-19 has resulted in the traditional concept of schooling inside brick and mortar walls being superseded by the spectacle of schooling without walls.
It has become inevitable in this era for educators to integrate ICTs in their teaching, and gradually replace traditional tutorial methods with modern digital technology-inspired ones.
This is why the ICT ministry has embarked on a massive drive to turn-around the sector by donating state-of-the-art computers and internet connectivity to schools in rural parts of the Manicaland.
Over 200 schools in Manicaland — including St Therese Mission, Vengere High, John Cowie, Ndima Primary, Mutambara High, Lydia Chimonyo High and Nhedziwa High Schools, among others, have benefited under the Computer Lab per School Programme in conjunction with the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (POTRAZ).
The Computer Lab per School Programme seeks to bridge 90 percent of the current ICT deficit in schools across the country.
Government is targeting to connect 1 500 schools per year with the ICT labs fitted with 30 new laptops, cubicles, chairs, printers, projectors and free internet subscriptions for six months.
This has narrowed the digital divide between rural and urban schools.
The digital divide refers to disparities of digital media and internet access between those with and without the digital literacy and skills.
It creates and reinforces socio-economic inequalities of the poorest people, hence the need to intentionally bridge it and bring digital literacy to all students, not just those who are easiest to reach.
Potraz Director-General, Dr Gift Machengete said the technological revolution will make life difficult for those lacking basic appreciation of ICTs.
“Potraz noted that the main challenge faced by schools in marginalised communities in incorporating ICTs in their curriculum is unaffordability of the gadgets needed.
“As an intervention to this challenge, a position was adopted to resource these schools with 30 computers per school. The schools that have been resourced testified of a huge impact that the support brought to their students and subsequently the community. This project is globally aimed at resourcing all underprivileged schools in the country, however, there are annual targets that are set up.
“In this regard, the target for 2023 is equipping 180 laboratories. To date, the authority has set up 215 laboratories, including those in Manicaland,” he said last year.
This unprecedented diffusion of digital technologies in Manicaland schools has transformed education in a number of ways.
ICT has changed the way learners and teachers think, work, live, communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage educational information.
While teachers are sometimes seen as key players in using ICT, learners have equally proved to be relevant and important stakeholders as their needs spur teachers and institutional administrators to be innovative.
In most schools, ICT has become integral to the teaching-learning interaction, replacing chalkboards with interactive digital whiteboards and learners’ smartphones.
There is also the flipped classroom model where learners watch lectures at home on laptops and use classroom time for more interactive exercises.
Brick upon brick, Zimbabwe is developing
These ICTs present a plethora of possible delivery systems increasing, not only access to education in the province, but also the quality thereof — using online platforms for learning, expanding access to library resources and connecting to the latest educational content and research support.
ICT is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.
Although more still needs to be done in rural schools where adoption level is still low, Manicaland education is on the right track.
The national e-learning strategy emphasises on the provision of ICT infrastructure to schools, equipping and providing connectivity to more than 8 800 schools by 2025 to transform and revolutionise the sector, as enunciated in the National Development Strategy (NDS1).
The vision is to transform Zimbabwe into a knowledge-based society by 2025, while its mission is to accelerate the development and application of ICTs in support of economic growth and development.
The objectives are to promote the development of ICT infrastructure, provide education and training programmes to produce knowledge workers and qualified human resources, to establish relevant structures and institutional mechanisms to promote ICTs, and to encourage equitable access to ICTs across genders and to youth, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
It seeks to connect the unconnected and revolutionalise the education system in terms of access to quality learning and research.
Rural schools face manifold hindrances, ranging from low income to support the programme, limited power supply, lack of suitable buildings to house the computers and hardware and software, lack of ICT teachers, and lack of reliable and affordable internet connectivity, among many others.
Deputy Manicaland Provincial Education Director, Mr Charles Muganhu said Manicaland has 1 208 schools, of which 70 percent of them lack ICT infrastructure and hardware, thereby limiting learners to theoretical studies.
Government must be applauded for intervening to ensure that teaching and learning in poor rural schools does not remain rooted in traditional models of delivery that have long been outpaced and outstripped by new and dynamic trends.
ICT expert, Engineer Jacob Mutisi said bringing ICT into the learning environment creates opportunities for broader education initiatives that brings all learners into the information era.
Engineer Mutisi, however, admitted that the financial expenses required to provide these ICT facilities are enormous such that Government and schools need to enter into partnership with ICT providing organisations.
He applauded Government’s thrust to introduce digital internet libraries in schools.
“This is a great initiative because it is a group of computers connected to the internet, where individuals can access books, information and pictures from the internet.
The positives are that there are no physical limits, learners can access information 24 hours. Our challenge though is our digital libraries being dominated by Western, Asian and Arabic literature.
“There is need for a push to have an African story that goes beyond Roman Empire and portraying black Africans as a face of literature. Furthermore, we don’t have enough photos for our townships, villages, towns, etcetera. There is a need to encourage a culture of taking pictures and populating the digital library space,” he said.
