Zimbabwe wishes to accelerate in implementing the National e-Learning Strategy by providing free internet to 400 schools with connectivity but having challenges in paying monthly bandwidth; Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa told journalists last week.
This comes at a time when only 40% of urban and 9% of rural students managed to access e-learning according to a World Bank report on Zimbabwe.
“The schools will be provided with data for nine months,” Mutsvangwa said.
“An additional 180 rural schools will have been connected by the end of 2021, and will benefit from the same initiative.”
The government will also be offering access to free internet to students and pupils through Community Information Centres and Community Village Information Centres.
Information Minister said the government will be meet all operation expenses, inclusive of staff remuneration on the information centers.
“Taking into cognizance the financial hardships brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak, Cabinet wishes to advise the citizenry that all students, pupils and the general public using these facilities will enjoy free access to internet services at Community Information Centres and Community Village Information Centres for a period of nine months,” she said.
“Government wishes to inform the nation that Community Information Centres in Cities, Towns and at major Growth Points will support students, pupils and youths with free internet in order to spur e-learning, e-commerce, and innovation.”
Infrastructure that enables e-learning has been a challenge in Zimbabwe with only approximately 31% of Zimbabwe’s primary and secondary schools having internet access according to statistics. Giga Connect says that 75% of the country’s 6,611 unconnected schools are primary schools.
Students and pupils have been facing challenges in accessing e-learning services due to data charges which have been going up since the beginning of the COVID-19 induced lockdown.
Zimbabwe’s e-learning program was also hampered by the loss of income which took place resulting in almost half of the population in extreme poverty opting on spending resources food for survival rather than on students and pupils’ education.
Civil Society Organisations have also raised an issue that guardians in rural Zimbabwe are too poor to own gadgets that access the internet including mobile phones and computers.
The government’s National e-Learning Programme’s latest e-learning programs will be implemented through the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).
UNICEF and International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) GIGA Schools Connectivity Project will also be complementing the National e-Learning Programme
GIGA Schools Connectivity Project’s pillars include raising funding for schools connectivity, mapping the connectivity status of every school and also connecting the unconnected and poorly connected schools to the internet; and
The other pillar is linking connected schools and young people to digital public goods that provide job skills and remote working opportunities.
