eLearning in the School System

Education during a Health Emergency – Is eLearning a Solution?

Little girl in SOS Primary
School in Lusaka

The start of the first school term in Zambia this year began with a directive from the Ministry of Education that all schools in cholera-affected areas, scheduled to re-open on January 12th, should not open until the Cholera outbreak that had affected Southern Zambia was fully under control. As a result, many schools in the towns of Lusaka and Mazabuka remained closed and the government found itself unprepared to provide alternative means of education to school children. As this was not the first time Zambia had a cholera outbreak, Brenda Zulu asks whether eLearning could provide a solution to the large-scale closure of schools.

Kizito Basic School in Lusaka

Schools in Zambia
Zambia’s education structure begins with four years of pre-school education, which are optional. Primary schooling extends over seven years with an entrance age of seven, followed by five years of secondary education at an entrance age of 14. Currently, the Zambian government is placing emphasis on ensuring the provision of primary education. Zambia has about 7,000 basic schools with 2.8 million learners, and 463 high schools with more than 136,000 learners. Almost two-thirds of the children end their education at the primary level. Only one-third of the primary-school graduates have the opportunity to go on to a secondary education. Of those who enrol for primary education, less than 20 percent enter secondary school, and only 2 percent of the 20 to 24 age group enter a university or some other form of higher education.

The closure of schools has had a negative effect on some pupils sitting exams, who earlier had protested against the government directive to close schools in cholera-affected areas while students in other regions were allowed to keep going to school. The pupils argued that they were all going to write the same exam at the end of the year and that it was not fair for them to stay home while friends in areas unaffected by cholera continued going to school.

It is in this vein that the government should develop preparedness for times of health disasters by providing alternative eLearning lessons to children attending school. It is therefore high time that the Ministry of Education prepared for disasters such as floods and diseases that have been affecting Zambia since the arrival of the rainy season. It is important that the Zambian community is also prepared to step up to an eLearning environment, which will require more than producing large amounts of technological innovations and fancy graphics.

I have observed with dismay that, at the beginning of every rainy season, Zambians suffer an outbreak of cholera, which adversely effects the education sector. It is because of this that the government should work on measures that can deliver education to pupils during a health disaster by use of tools that are widely available, such as radios and TVs.

eLearning could help master the crisis

Asked what alternative Zambia needs for its education in times of health disaster such as a cholera outbreak, eLearning Zambia Chairperson Prof Thomson Sinkala said that in such a situation, technology-enhanced learning would come in handy.

Lusaka

ICT in Education
The penetration levels of ICTs in Zambia’s education institutions remain low, with those schools that are equipped mostly utilising second-hand and refurbished computers. The integration of ICTs in learning and teaching practice has been limited, although the introduction of computer studies as a school subject has begun to change this. The adoption of a national ICT policy in 2007, as well as the development of a draft ICT policy for education and an associated implementation framework, provides an enabling policy environment to promote far greater access and use of ICTs across all sectors of Zambia’s education system, including a system for enhancing education management, administration, and teaching and learning. While the goals and targets set in these policy documents seem realistic, realising them within the established time frames remains a challenge.

For more information, see the Zambia Country Report from the infoDev-supported Survey of ICT in Education in Africa (2007) at: www.infodev.org/en/Publication.436.html

"Pupils would not have to miss their lessons as they would access their teachers’ lessons through either an Internet cafe or from home or any convenient place arranged for that matter," said Prof Sinkala.

He added that the use of eLearning would also help to boost awareness of cholera. "Children together with parents would learn about cholera and how to prevent it," said Prof Sinkala. He added that at present he did not think that there was an ICT tool that was available to all Zambian students that could effectively be used by students during health emergencies, such as a cholera outbreak. He pointed out that this was where HealthNet or other initiatives could consider collaborating with mobile service providers to have POP access through cell phones, since they are reasonably widely distributed in the country, followed by radios and TVs.

Prof Sinkala said there was a need for the Zambian government to consider investing in eLearning initiatives. He was not aware of any alternative to eLearning during emergencies but said that, for now, the only possibility was that if a disaster happens while children are at school, teachers may give students homework for submission upon return.

Radio is ICT tool no. 1

In Zambia it should be noted that there is a radio programme for pupils of lower grades that needs to be widely developed – it is called Taonga Market and is broadcast every day for about two hours. This initiative is good but needs a wider appeal to cater to higher examination classes, such as grades 7, 9 and 12.

John Zulu, who is in grade 12 at the Kamwala secondary school, said it was necessary for educational material to go electronic as, most of the time, school children listen to music – from ipods, CDs, flash disks and mobile phones – and could download educational material to improve themselves in one area or another.

"Subjects such as English, science, history and geography could be put in electronic form, especially question and answer sessions to help students revise their work and to target their most-used electronic gadgets," said Zulu.

Brenda Zulu

On the affordability of gadgets, John observed that the prices were now coming down and that parents should be able to afford them for their children. However, he suggested that it would be easier for all students to access these eLearning programmes on the radio, which was an ICT product that was found in almost every home, including rural households.

Meanwhile, it should be noted also that apart from disease outbreaks, pupils are unable to attend school in Zambia when there are strikes, bad weather or political unrest as well.

By Brenda Zulu

March 10, 2009

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