Zimbabwe Moves To Improve E-Learning Access For Rural Learners

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

The closure of schools due to the pandemic protocols last year, brought to the fore 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.

As part of efforts to complement Government in ensuring that rural schools have access to learning aids, 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.

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

Parents have welcomed the gesture adding that their schools can now compete with other schools in the province.

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

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.