The COVID-19 pandemic will not leave any sector in the world in general and Rwanda in particular, untouched. And the consequences will be dire, both during and after, most especially for the poor, and developing countries. While most sectors are now struggling to survive, the education sector is more or equally likely to be hit hard. As the Government continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic, and the challenges it portends for the country, households and individual Rwandans, it has been decided that the earliest time schools may reopen is September, 2020. It’s understandable though, that a country such as Rwanda, like elsewhere, has no choice, but to stretch the school closures to contain the spread of the virus. This will definitely exacerbate the inequality, not only amongst urban and rural learning institutions and schools, but also between boys and girls. The gap between boys and girls will widen, and its girls that will be affected most by the continued school closure as most of these may experience sexual abuse and exploitation. The situation will also lay bare the digital divide between the urban and rural schools. As the former have better access to ICT infrastructure, and skilled personnel to facilitate that, unlike those in rural communities, and/or inaccessible communities. Generally, urban schools and communities are well positioned and experienced to guide their students- through this period compared to their counterparts in the country side. More so, you will find many urban households having a bit of education and therefore best placed to help their student children with school work unlike those in the countryside. In some parts, the rural schools experience limited access to TVs and radio sets both (fixed and mobile) as well access the internet to facilitate students’ learning. And overall, girls will be the most affected. Meanwhile, the situation is a wakeup call to many sectors, including the education sector to be at full tilt with their ICT operations. Although generally, most sectors lack full capacity and potential to fully deliver their interventions in digital formats or online. Whereas, a significant number of schools including higher learning institutions have been implementing a cocktail of learning methods (audio-visual and online), to equip their students with the right knowledge and required skills, as in the normalcy- the methodology may lock out some students, especially those from vulnerable households, unless otherwise. Save for the educated parents, although-they too, may experience hardship, as most of them, are busy working from home (WFH), to meet their work-related tasks; the uneducated parents may find it hard to live up to the methods due to lack of knowledge and means, such as (radio sets, and bundles) for their children to listen to, or download learning materials. For many parents, it’s also hard to even comprehend all subjects, if at all any. And the young and energetic students, without close follow up will exploit the opportunity to enjoy movies on TV and YouTube, for their parents are busy running errands of the day for survival. Yet, these (parents) were the only cushion for children to continue their learning uninterrupted, through the available technology. Worse still, some private schools (if not all) have resorted to charging full amounts of tuition, and some with insignificant subsidies for the 3rd term, without compromise, and consideration of the situation at hand. Yet, experience has shown that online learning is a fallacy, as students cannot be effective by merely posting teacher’s notes on the internet or having a video recording of the lessons. These should understand that, just as they are affected, so are the parents, so are the students, and thus should comprise by a 50/50 deal. Because the school teachers will be replaced by parents, and their classrooms by living rooms, etc. Experts suggest that the quality and effectiveness of learning through audio-visual or online learning requires a professional instructional designer, or that, the teacher or lecturer is pedagogically trained for delivering the subjects/courses in such a manner, and students too, are equally exposed to such style of learning. This is unfortunate though, that such private schools want to exploit parents in such hard times; a time that would otherwise require greater compromise. My advice, is that the education experts, start assessing the current learning methods, including possible consequences to parents, and vulnerable people. Otherwise, the effects might be high, and recovery may be expensive or too late, post COVID-19. For learning through audio-visual or online may help, but the impact may be uneven. The views expressed in this article are of the author.
