Zimpapers Logo

Chipo Mazarura: Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University (ZEGU)

Online lessons are meant to help students to move ahead with their studies during the current lockdown. However, this has seen only a few students benefiting from this initiative because of a number of reasons.

The major reason why only a small number of students is benefiting is the fact that data is extremely expensive, considering the situation that we are in.

Only a small number of students can afford data, hence the majority of the students are being left out. There has been a suggestion by the Government that data should be affordable for every student but nothing has been done.

In fact, just last week we witnessed an increase in the price of data, which is making the situation extremely difficult for most students.

Some of the families of these students cannot afford two meals a day hence it’s obvious that these students cannot attend online lectures no matter how hard they wish to.

There are also students located in remote areas of the country where network plays hide and seek games with them. Even if they have data these students hardly attend these online lectures.

Some complain that they have to walk long distances in order to find sites where there is constant network connectivity just for them to benefit from the lectures.

Others claim they have to locate the highest points in their geographical areas – such as mountains – which poses a threat to their safety and well-being since most of the lectures are being conducted during the evening.

Faced with such choices, the students opt to err on the side of safety by not attending the lectures. In some extreme cases, the students do not even have gadgets such as smart phones or laptops for them to be able to access the lectures.

Women and girls suffer the most in as far as attendance of online lectures is concerned. Most of them have to attend to household chores even during the time of lectures. This automatically means they run the risk of missing the lectures as they are required to attend to these chores first before anything else.

Additionally, some married women are not even allowed to be on WhatsApp or any other social media platforms when their spouses are available, therefore depriving them of the right to attend online lectures.

The issue of online lectures is even creating conflicts in families, for example, between parents who cannot afford to provide their children with either a phone or data to access these lectures, and their children who want to study and do not wish to fall behind in their studies.

Lecturers are doing their best in order to conduct online lectures although the majority of the students are not benefiting from the lectures.

Kudakwashe Trevor Muranda: Harare Institute of Technology (HIT)

At a time when student loan debt is rising, the coronavirus infectious disease-19 (Covid-19) has affected Zimbabwe.

This is happening against a background when fees for higher and tertiary education have risen from about $1 000 (ZWL) maximum last year to between $4 000 and $8 000 (ZWL) this year depending on the institution and the programme.

This scenario has led to student indebtedness as parents are facing acute economic uncertainties in financing the education of their children.

Covid-19 poses a greater threat to higher and tertiary education than the ever rising tuition fees.  It threatens lives and is disruptive to economic and social relations.

With the rise in internet data tariffs, online education is on the rise mostly among higher and tertiary students, aggrieved by the interruption to their formal studies resulting from the pandemic.

Online lectures — through such platforms as Google classroom — have been welcomed as a stop gap measure to mitigate the impacts of Covid-19 on the formal education system.

But online education is piling on financial woes on students because the pandemic has resulted in students funding being frozen while internet services at institutions of learning have been rendered inaccessible because of stay-at-home regulations and the restrictions on movement during the current lockdown.

Locked away at home, students are battling educational nourishment. Engineering and technical students are among those acutely affected since their programmes are more practical than theoretical and are therefore not best delivered through online lectures.

Students who live in areas away from the main urban centres face challenges of internet connectivity, slower internet speeds in addition to expensive data.

The expectation is that the Government will act in the interests of students, especially students who are nearing graduation.

Among the measures that the Government could adopt are exploring the possibility of internet coupons for higher and tertiary students and free but monitored movement and passage for Engineering and Technical students to enable them to undertake their practicals and projects.

Panashe Zowa: University of Zimbabwe (UZ)

Halls, lecture theatres and libraries that were once full of life now lie empty and desolate.

Their lifeblood is now forced to stay at home in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus infectious disease-19 (Covid-19). Like all things, the crisis brought about by the Covid 19 pandemic will come to pass.

Countries around the world are slowly returning back to “normal”. The return to normal includes a partial relaxation of lockdown regulations and in some countries such as Germany, the opening of schools.

In countries that have opened schools, authorities are placing emphasis on social distancing and other preventative measures such as the wearing of masks and increased sanitary measures.

Sports, field trips and other activities that give the mind reprieve from the drudgery of academic work in most cases are still restricted or prohibited.

The truth is, without a vaccine and cure we can never truly return to default settings academically. This therefore requires us to think deeply about the future of the delivery of lessons.

Until a vaccine or cure for Covid-19 is found, it is highly unlikely that we will revert back to the normal classroom setting. Truth be told people are currently afraid of their hands and I doubt that they would feel safe in a crowded lecture theatre.

In light of this, online learning has been suggested as a possible solution. Online learning greatly reduces contact between people and in most cases eliminates it. This is currently the most common medium of delivering lessons and it is bound to remain in use until a cure/vaccine is found.

Online learning through platforms such as Zoom, Skype or even WhatsApp allow students and teachers to simulate a classroom setup in real time virtually. But online learning has several limitations. One of its greatest limitation is that it does not accommodate everyone.

Internet access is a privilege in most Third World countries, Zimbabwe included. The majority of the students do not have stable internet connectivity that can allow them to use Zoom or Skype. A cheaper alternative is learning through WhatsApp. WhatsApp is cheaper to use and it allows students and teachers to send each other audio and video files for a better interactive learning experience.

Like Zoom and Skpye, the use of WhatsApp as a method for delivering lessons disadvantages the majority of the student body who do not have the means to use WhatsApp.

Currently online learning is not feasible unless there are efforts to reduce the price of data and efforts to ensure that students have devices that can allow them to connect to the Internet. In light of this fact, a number of people in Zimbabwe and around the world have suggested that schools should open with or without a cure or vaccine for Covid-19.

Proponents of this line of thinking argue that Covid-19 has ushered in the new normal. As such schools should be open and be allowed to operate in a manner that reduces potential for the spread of Covid-19.

The measures include enforcing social distancing, wearing masks and improving sanitation in schools and universities. The main problem with opening schools is that it will be hard to enforce social distancing. Most institutions of learning are crowded and overstretched and delivering lessons in such an environments in a way which reduces the spread of Covid-19 is nearly impossible. Just thinking about enforcing social distancing in the halls of residence at most Zimbabwean universities would be a headache.

Online learning remains the most viable method of delivering lessons. But it is the duty of the Government, stakeholders in the education sector and society at large to ensure that online learning is conducted in way which also caters for the vulnerable in society.