Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT’s drive to connect rural communities and schools with Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) is commendable as this will bridge the digital divide, ICT experts have said.
Recently, Government has been on a drive to set up ICT infrastructure through information centres and base stations across all districts in rural areas.
This dovetails with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), the country’s economic blueprint that emphasises the building of a digital economy as one of the 14 national priorities.
At the beginning of this month, villagers in Nopemano, Bulilima West constituency had a base station set up by telecommunications company NetOne, a development that brings online learning in the area.
Before the base station was set up, the area had no network and this development will enable online learning at seven schools.
The base station will see a population of 15 000 people being connected through enhanced ICT services. The base station connectivity radius is 29km radius covering more than 10 clinics and schools and an irrigation scheme. This project is one of many that are being undertaken by Government.
Computer Society of Zimbabwe Bulawayo Chapter President Mr Percy Sibanda hailed Government for its drive to set up infrastructure in rural areas.
“Connection to the internet connects one to the rest of the world immediately and removes the alienation of the place. Taking into account the infrastructure required to connect to the internet at the moment, this central approach is the way to go,” said Mr Sibanda.
He said wireless connectivity is key in rural areas and base stations can be used to bridge the rural urban technological divide.
“The advantage is that it allows people to come together and assist each other and/ or discuss their findings and or activities on the internet. Alternatively wireless connections with a wide coverage similar to cell phone coverage would be best for this setup. This allows access by users from their homes without the need to travel to a central area,” said Mr Sibanda..
Mrs Victoria Nxumalo, founder and Executive Director of Girls in STEM Trust said it is commendable that Government realised the need to bridge the rural-urban gap and that everyone needs to have access to information.
“This will support connectivity in these areas and also to support innovators who want to come in with solutions to connect rural areas,” said Mrs Nxumalo.
She urged the private sector to step in with innovations to enable more people in rural areas to be connected.
“We appeal to the private sector to come in and look at how important it is to work with stakeholders in rural areas to also assist in getting a robust connectivity infrastructure framework.
“This will make it easy for other players to come in and start to assist with the connectivity process,” said Mrs Nxumalo.
She said Covid-19 made people realise the importance of ICTs in all facets of their lives.
“People will have access to developmental information which is very critical in the times that we are living in. We are allowing the education function to continue going on especially during the lockdown period.
“It is really important to look at this rollout as a multi sector approach, and have as many players on board and make them understand that connecting rural communities is really for the benefit of our nation,” said Mrs Nxumalo.
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