Only the fittest would survive in the race for continued existence, so the evolutionary theory according to Darwin had it. For a long time that has been part of received wisdom. Today we might put it slightly differently. The quickest to adapt in rapidly changing times, or adversity will survive. Covid-19 has brought that reality home. For a year and a half now, it has upset most of how we have been living. Economies have been devastated. Social systems have been disrupted. Even familial relations have not escaped its reach. It seems that in the race to combat Covid-19, bring it under control and recover from its effects or live with them, those best able to adapt faster and in a more creative way to the changed reality will be able to come out of the present situation with fewer scratches. Already, we have accepted some of the changes and the likelihood that we may not return to the situation as it was before. The most talked about change is work, particularly in the office. The norm now is to work from home. Consensus seems to be that it will remain so in one form or another in the years to come. The idea of office as a physical space in a building designed for that purpose has been severely disrupted. So too the idea of work being performed only in that space. Only in manufacturing, agriculture and construction and a few other areas will work remain on site. Is this a good or bad thing? It really does not matter. If you are married to tradition it may. But if you are open to new possibilities, it does not. It does raise some issues, though. First is the problem of supervision, motivation and ensuring productivity. Not to worry. The same technology that enables working from wherever one is can provide the means to ensure that work is done and well. Second is the fear of the disruption of the office as social space with a culture and associated social relationships and benefits. Again, there is nothing to worry about. In the first place this sort of fellowship has been on the decline anyway with growing use of ICT. People have increasingly become lonely even in shared space. Each seems to find more company and most answers in their various electronic devices. In any case replacements can always be found and new cultures and relationships developed. Then there is the question of what to do with all the office buildings and infrastructure. Well, they would not be the first buildings to be redundant. There is a precedent in Europe where many magnificent churches have fallen into disuse because there are no worshippers. They have been converted into other uses – as sites of tourists curiosity, museums, community centres and even bars and nightclubs. It is becoming clear that in the days ahead, whether Covid-19 is defeated or becomes part of the many diseases we have to live with, we are likely to adopt a hybrid work system, part home, part office. Education has equally been disrupted. The mode of teaching and learning has been affected as has the calendar. In Rwanda, for instance, the school year is ending at different times for different levels of basic education. Pre-primary and lower primary school pupils started their third term yesterday while the rest ended the school year more than two weeks ago. This was, of course, imposed on the ministry of education and I am sure they nor parents like it. But it solves a problem and might even point to a way of managing situations in future where pupils exceed available facilities. In that case, couldn’t we consider a staggered school year where learning takes place all year but with certain classes attending at different times? Just a thought. We have experimented with double shift and nobody seems to be happy with it. But it, and staggered learning and other options, could be examined together and improved for possible application in the event of inadequate facilities or disruptions like we are now experiencing. In almost all cases we have had to resort to various forms of technology to deliver lessons away from the classroom. Distance learning is not entirely new. It has evolved over time, from correspondence courses where learning materials were sent through the post, extra-mural departments of universities to online learning today. In most of these cases a hybrid mode combining distance (online) and in person learning is employed and, again, seems to be the way of the future. There have been misgivings about the online component in Rwanda, although not about its necessity or efficiency. The issue rather is with access and affordability for some students. It is a valid concern that must be addressed. But in another sense, students lose nothing. In fact, they benefit in terms of time and effort saved. In most Rwandan schools, there is almost a total dependence on teachers’ notes. Nearly all learning time is taken up by copying notes. Clearly, it does not require one to be in a classroom to copy notes. And so, perhaps in an unintended way, online learning has the potential to break this dependence, offer other alternatives and free intellectual curiosity and spur individual effort. When or whether the Covid-19 pandemic ends, online learning is here to stay and we had better adapt to it and quickly too. It is perhaps only now with the benefit of hindsight that we realise how privileged we are to have leaders who saw the necessity for investment in information and communications technology. We can all see the benefits today. The views expressed in this article are of the writer.
