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Herald Reporter

Rural learners will soon have improved access to online learning platforms as the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is working with various ministries to address network and power challenges faced by rural schools.

Last year, the closure of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the challenges faced by rural learners who have no access to online learning, resulting in their poor performance in public examinations.

Rural schools are short-changed and poorly resourced compared to their urban counterparts, a gap often reflected in public examination results.

A local electrical engineering company, Power Giants, donated a transformer and pledged to buy office furniture and laptops for learners and teachers at Morris Primary and Secondary schools in Uzumba, as part of efforts to complement Government in ensuring that rural schools have access to learning aids.

Over the years, the schools failed to attract qualified teachers because of poor infrastructure.

Handing over the donation to the schools, Power Giants founder Mr Edzai Kachirekwa, said he sourced the donation because he wanted to uplift the standards of education for children in rural areas.

“We are trying to identify schools in rural areas which are facing challenges. We want to make sure that every school in Zimbabwe has power, so we are complementing Government’s effort to make sure that everyone has a role to play because these are our communities and that is where development starts,” said Mr Kachirekwa.

Parents have welcomed the gesture, with Mrs Martha Mandeya, saying their schools can now compete with other schools in the province.

“We are thankful for this generous donation of a transformer. I hope more corporate support will come to make the learning environment better,” she said.

Another parent, Mr Taurai Mandeya, said: “This is pleasing, we are thankful for this support. Our children will benefit more from this donation.”

The shortage of laboratories, sporting facilities, information communication technology (ICT) and expressive art infrastructure, extends this divide from core instruction to extra-curricular competency.

Government has started rolling out computer laboratories at schools so as to improve their learning, with schools in Epworth being the first beneficiaries.