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Shepherd Chimururi-Youth Interactive Correspondent
The writing is on the wall. The brick and mortar classes are no longer enough for the education of learners who are stuck at home because of lockdowns. The education system that got us bragging rights of being the most educated country on the main Africa continent is on its knees.
The vicious Covid-19, third wave has laid bare the frightening truth that the physical lesson delivery platforms of our education system must be overhauled urgently to reflect the new normal and remain relevant during most stressful global pandemic of our time. In short, now is the time to urgently reinvest in the education system.The life span of the old education system expired under the weight of Covid-19.
The value of key pillars of traditional school infrastructure like benches and desks, assembly point, toilets, libraries,
science labs, blackboards, classrooms, chalks, dusters, has just depreciated. The old system must be intentionally dismantled and revamped to create a hybrid system of education.
The current education system has failed the innocent students.
Second year running, the learners continue to lose valuable educational time. Government, school authorities, parents and other key stakeholders must come together and lay new foundations for the sake of the children and generations to come. The record breaking failure by rural 80 schools in 2020 grade 7, Zimsec examinations should be a wake up call for everyone.
It does not need a rocket scientist to see that our tried and trusted brick and mortar based education system is fast losing relevance as Covid19 pandemic continues to wreck havoc.
In the business world every business enterprise goes through four phases of a life cycle – startup, growth, maturity and renewal or decline.
The same goes for education.
The system has entered a decline phase. Key stakeholders need to take action and look for ways to innovate and renew it. Now is the time for ocean deep soul searching as a nation. Let us take honest stock and ask ourselves hard questions. Where we are presently and where are we going? How many students have been disfranchised by lockdowns since last year?
The mitigating interventions being applied are benefiting how many students?What about those not catered what will be their future without education? How are they going to recover the lost years and when? When will the pandemic end?
What alternative education systems can we adopt first as stop gap measures and secondly as a lasting solutions for the benefit of all students – rural and urban?The common denominator in the above questions is e-learning.
It is high time the responsible authorities make it compulsory to move the education system over to the full fledged e-learning system that uses information and telecommunication technologies that can override physical barriers while ensuring health safety for both teachers and students.
It is not just the way to teach and learn that need to be changed.
Administration systems need to be aligned with online platforms.
Teacher training curriculum must be overhauled as well.
Investments in physical book libraries and computer science labs must be minimised in favour of offline digital libraries and virtual laboratories respectively. Teachers must be upskilled to produce retrievable and reusable digital content. Investment and talk within school administration corridors must be on most suitable hybrid education gear like microphones, headphones, webcams, ipads, chromebooks, iboards, cameras and other recording equipment.Schools are waiting for a robust government policy direction and signal to start reinvesting in studios.
Television and radio presentation training modules must be incorporated in teacher training curriculum by colleges.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter