The coming of Corona Virus has seen many businesses and industry going down all over the world. The school system was not spared either. Musicians committing suicide due to hopelessness. Corona Virus was discovered in China towards the end of 2019. It then started spreading to many countries, Zimbabwe included, ricking havoc. To date many firms and factories have closed. Schools are not operating if not in total confusion.
Many schools in Zimbabwe, particularly in the rural areas, have not been able to deliver lessons at all due to lack of connectivity to internet. Many places have no network coverage to enhance online learning. In addition, the tariffs are exorbitant and not affordable to an ordinary rural person – poverty. This has jabbed the rural learner with a heavy blow without sparing even some urban learners too!
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That as it may, in the urban areas parents with children in private schools, where gallivanting from pillar to post trying to get their children stay railed with regards to their educational progress by trying to finding a good online tutor. However, it is not all that easy to get a good online tutor compatible with the needs of an online learner especially at Primary level. Hence some resorted to private online tutors like Clad Junior and managed to get their children keep up to date with education where as some stayed loyal to the schools where their children attend school regardless of them failing to acquire quality online education compared to some small online schools which have outclassed most big schools.
As for the public schools the situation was a bit different as some where almost feeling the same impact as those in the rural areas due to financial constrains resulting from Covid-19 lockdown. Thus, they can not afford data to get their children attend quality Zoom/Teams lessons offered by just but a few private tutors available.
Parents in the private schools where being charged full fees for the online lessons that were poor quality. In some Zoom/Teams lessons children would never see what the teacher was trying to deliver – NO LEARNING AT ALL! Most of the work was just PDFs being sent to parents who in turn had to teach their kids on top of paying through the nose – imagine emotions of the parent when the child fails to understand and the parent does not know it is his fault because they are using wrong approaches! As if it was not enough, how do you think such a parent will feel to receive the news that their children are going to repeat? What are they going to do with the age of the children they would have made to repeat? -rejuvenate? Does it mean these kids will always take two years per level if the Corona thing does nor go away? Daylight robbery!
It would be better for us Zimbabweans to work to find a good lasting solution to this dilemma that has befallen the nation. Registration of more online schools is inevitable as it is impossible to teach a crowd on Zoom or Teams. For interactivity to be achieved a very small class of 5 to a maximum of 10 kids is ideal. This means we need more than double the number of teachers who are currently employed. This means employment creation for teacher. This means a good life for (good) teachers too!