Speed up E-learning for rural areas

With Zimbabwe grappling and grasping with e-learning, the major question is: Are rural schools receiving the much needed attention in that endeavour? Researcher has noted with grave concern that as ICTs are progressing, most less developed countries only begin to appreciate and make use of a new IT product at a later stage when the Developed Countries are viewing that product as dormant or when it is becoming of lesser use to them since a better product is deluging their market. 
For example, the Apple Inc. released the iPad in April 2010, but here in Zimbabwe, most people know it as a new product that has just emerged on the market. The year 2010 may seem very close, but not with ICTs. It’s estimated that there is a new IT product in every six minutes. Since the iPad came in 2010 and some people are still using old Pentium 2 computers that have spun for some decades now, how many years are we left behind? Food for thought! Not to speak of rural schools which are in most cases dumping grounds for old ICTs products?
The challenge is with the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology to see to it that we get the latest much needed information in relation to ICTs if we were to be in tandem with the global trends.
At least 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s population is in the rural areas and with that in mind more IT programmes, projects and policies must be made to benefit the people in the rural areas. The current set up makes the urban student benefit a lot from ICTs than the rural child because most institutions like IT schools, colleges and universities are in towns.
This digital divide has been there since time immemorial despite the global spread of ICTs. The ICT dichotomy between developed and less developed countries has been exacerbated by pre-existing disparities. With e-learning for schools and rural schools in particular, more work still needs to be done. Our teacher training institutions must make computer studies compulsory to any would-be teacher. For those teachers that have already been in the industry they need to be re-skilled with computer knowledge. E-learning is just the tip of the iceberg, in reality in the current education syllabi there are practical subjects like metal work, fashion and fabrics and the proposal is why not have practical computer studies also incorporated in our education system where there could be subjects not only for operating computers, but also for the hardware part. This will afford students an opportunity to learn how to assemble, install and repair computers at a tender age. With the speed of ICTs, the traditional means of production are being waived by these ICTs, which therefore means that ICTs are an important factor in the labour sector.
The ICT Sector Baseline Industry Survey document by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (2011) points out that ICTs are “… a powerful instrument for increasing national economic growth and development. By harnessing the potential of ICTs, developing and developed countries alike are now able to emerge with better solutions to vital and long standing issues such as poverty reduction, wealth creation, equity, as well as social justice. It is imperative that Zimbabwe exploits the potential of ICTs as an enabler of national development”
ICTs are a crucial link in developing poor countries and e-learning is a good step towards the right direction especially for our rural schools. The Cardinal Technology (Pvt) Limited which is an Information Technology provider in Zimbabwe and is focused on providing solutions to the education sector shows the benefits of e-learning as follows:
l It helps teachers to explain complex concepts with the aid of visual 2D/3D animations.
l The cost of running laboratories is drastically reduced as experiments can be repeated any number of times in virtual laboratory on the computer without using up physical apparatus or reagents.
l Improved understanding or conceptualisation of Science or Mathematics by students.
l High motivation and attention from students — the prerequisite for true improvement in learning.
l More systematic coverage and handling of lessons since digital content is systematic in its design.
l Teachers and students gain proficiency in using the computer.
We dream of a day where we will not only have e-learning but e-rural. E-rural will be rural projects, programmes, socio-cultural aspects and aspirations being integrated into ICTs. There has been e-commerce, e-banking, e-learning now there should be e-rural where rural areas will have a say in controlling ICTs that are relevant to them and depicting what they want in the slice of the global economy, culture and development. The first step in that direction would be by equipping the rural child.

Jonah Nyoni is a developmental journalist and motivational speaker. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.jonahnyoni.blogspot.com. Tel: 0772 581 918.