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Shepherd Chimururi-Youth Interactions Correspondent
If lack of technology was a disease like kwashiorkor then majority of rural students who have no access to educational technology would have been thin like river reeds.
The tech agony of the rural student is not a secret. It is not just about lack of internet but nor non availability of computers.
It goes well beyond scarcity of mobile network. In worst scenarios it is about absence of electricity, radio airwaves and even television signal.
Both home and school environments have malnutrition of technology.
Lack of basic educational gadgets like laptops, televisions, radios, are the order of the day. In some worst scenarios rural students do not possess even a watch. In fact, in most rural homes an android phone is still considered as a luxury.
It is an open secret that modern online education in the era of Covid19 is impossible without digital devices.
E-learning is not possible without electricity.
2020 Zimsec grade seven results that had a massive record breaking 80 rural primary schools with zero percent pass rate are a big alarm and a symptom of the tech agony the rural students are enduring.
On the contrary their urban counterparts excelled in spite of Covid19 lockdowns as they enjoyed various online learning initiatives that were introduced by their schools and supported by the education ministry in partnership with Unicef.
All the technological transformations that have happened since independence have continued to elude the rural learner. Floppy diskette, television set, VHS cassette player, projector, Cd player, radio cassette player, flash stick, dvd player, memory card, Bluetooth, Share it, Whatsapp, Google scholar, are some of the evolving data display, storage and transfer technologies they missed and continue to miss whilst they are still stuck on the stone age paper books and black board. If you consider that the legendary typewriter and P3 and computer were phased out before they knocked on the classroom door of the village student then you wonder at what stage will the disadvantaged student catch up with educational technology.
Facts of the matter are education is now more expensive and inaccessible for the rural learner than the urban learner.
The rural student has to put more effort to pass exams. No wonder why the highest number of school drop outs is in rural areas. Rural students cross a river to go and borrow text book yet their urban counterpart ask their classmates to just record an audio or take a picture of the page and send.
The rural student still carry a heavy satchel of textbooks instead of a tiny flash, still rely on black and white photocopied books instead of the colourful digital format. The rural student has to travel over 20 kilometres to look for a photocopier.
The rural student has to patiently wait for the lifting of the lockdown to attend lessons yet the urban student simply goes online on the
phone yet at the end of the day they write the same exam.
The current set up perpetuates inequalities as it does not take into account the realities of the rural student.
Lack of access to technology is causing the students to miss on many short and long term academic and economic opportunities. Short term lost opportunities include missing free educations resource material on internet like free sites like Google scholar, PDF books, video tutorials, radio and television programmes which affect their pass rate as well as information on national youth programmes like health, reproductive system, drug abuse, child rights, domestic violence etc.
Long term losses include failure to pursue careers in technology by students in rural areas due to the lack of knowledge about the courses, inspiration as they are cut off from ICT careers. Students aspire to be what they know. Their horizon are limited.
The world is constantly changing. Means of personal communication are evolving rapidly and the response time to events reduced to a mili second yet the rural student still wait weeks for the delivery of a physical letter through postal means.
Most universities and corporates are now using electronic means of communication for scholarship and vacancy application respectively. Exclusionary terms like ‘download the application form on our website’ and ‘get more information on our platforms’ are now the order of the day.
Students who triumph against these odds to pass exams still get the going tough when they find change of system at college where assignments are no longer submitted in hand written hard copies but via email. They have no choice but to end up parting with their pocket money to pay for typing to their digital literate peers. Do not underestimate the indignity of asking an urban peer to open an email for you.
This comes with a social price. A derogatory name calling being one of them.
Do not rule out sexual abuse for girls as well. All this tech agony on a student with a rural background.
Another thorn in the flesh of the rural students is the technological illiteracy of their teachers.
In unique scenarios where their schools get computerised and electrified by the Government or the donor community the computers remain unused years on and become white elephants owing to widespread digital illiteracy by their teachers.
The key question is how can we expect the teachers to teach the children when the teachers do not have the technological know how.
As a cure to this tech agony education ministry, donor, NGO and business communities are called to facilitate urgent access to urban technology programmes by all rural students especially the exam writing classes.
The programme has to equip to rural students with tech skills under the theme rural students technological exposure tours. Under this concept students from rural areas should be given chances to learn in a tech class complete with tablets and touch iboards, attend Zoom online lessons, research in e-libraries, get their assignments e-marked, experience life in a tech company, attend a mixed urban-rural students tech seminar, apply scholarships online, open social media accounts, etc, activities which are the daily fodder of the well to do urban student.
This exposure will help to broaden the horizons of the rural students and even their teachers too and to inspire and motivate them to dream big. It is certain that the day our education system will be wholly digitalised that is the day the rural pass rates will experience a boom.
Online Reporter