The ManicaPost
Freedom Mutanda Education Correspondent
With the President having extended the lockdown by two weeks, educators and learners have to be innovative as O and A-Level candidates prepare for their examinations.
In this era where physical distancing is the best way to stay healthy, virtual classrooms are the way to go. Covid-19 is no joke as it continues to wreak havoc in different parts of the world.
Against this background, learning has to go on in a safe way.
However, a social media message saying a teacher conducted lessons during this lockdown is distressing.
Everybody needs to think of safety first before anything else. No amount of money earned from conducting lessons during this period can buy a life.
Stay at home, period.
During the war, Zimbabwe experienced ‘lockdowns’. Eighteen-hour curfews meant that students would learn for only two hours, that is from 2pm to 4pm. That was the policy in 1979 when this writer was in Grade 2. Parents and students in the rural areas had to comply with this.
But that era passed and students have been going to school for hours.
Now, with Covid-19, they have to adjust again. Indeed, the only constant thing under the sun is change.
Teachers and their students need to adapt to virtual learning as soon as yesterday. Physical distancing is new to us, but it saves lives. If teachers and students observe that simple rule, the replication of the disease will be curtailed.
However, it is important to note that Covid-19 may change forever the way teachers go about their business.
Arthur Marara, a leading lawyer, writer and motivational speaker, once said education has gone high tech and teachers ought to evolve for them to deliver 21st century education to their learners. He said that as he was addressing History teachers at Troutbeck Inn in 2018.
He couldn’t have said it any better.
Now is the time for teachers to make use of information communication technology to deliver their lessons to students, wherever they are. Nonetheless, the ball is not on the teachers’ court only. Parents have to ensure that their children have the requisite gadgets and applications to allow them to attend the virtual lessons during the lockdown.
While billions of people use the WhatsApp platform for chats, teachers can deliver learning material on this convenient platform. They can even make use of the audio and video facilities as well.
However, considering the prices of data, most students might fail to access the material sent by their tutors. In that vein, mobile network companies might need to consider slashing their prices or introducing prices for the learners and their teachers.
Proper timetables can be drawn, with students logging on to their gadgets at agreed times. Participation in the discussions is crucial as that is how some lessons are delivered. If a student is an active participant, he or she will automatically self-isolate for the duration of all those learning hours.
Of late, churches have been reaching out to their congregants through the Zoom and Skype applications, as well as the Facebook platform. Church members have been having virtual interactions on the said applications.
Teachers can also embrace the said applications, with good results expected. In particular, and for those with the right device, Zoom Webinar is a great way of teaching students online as video conferencing brings the students and the teacher together.
Webinar, according to online sources, is an engaging application where a teacher delivers a presentation to a large audience which participates by submitting questions and feedback. A teacher can, therefore, plan an interactive lesson. He or she will receive written feedback from the students and respond to them.
While having engagements with eight teachers in a single day, students may have to spend a minimum of four hours learning. If he or she is given homework, they won’t even feel the supposed boredom of the lockdown. One teacher who is conducting two online classes said he has to be innovative so that he doesn’t endanger his own life and that of his students.
‘’Chinua Achebe’s quote says Eneke the bird said since men have learnt to shoot without missing, I have also learnt to fly without perching. Therefore, I am teaching my students through WhatsApp,’’ he said.
Indeed, learning cannot stop owing to the ongoing lockdown. Only innovative is required to find a way around this hurdle.
