The Herculean efforts of hard working and dedicated teachers across South Africa to try and salvage the 2020 academic year has been nothing short of remarkable. They have been quick to grasp the benefits of online and distance learning to bring knowledge and virtual interactions into homes, despite the obvious challenges during the extended lockdown.
Of course, distance learning is never going to be a proper substitute for healthy physical interaction and engagement – as hard as it is to believe, most children have been pleading with their parents to get back to school, see their friends and hit the sports fields.
The reality, though, is that Covid-19 has opened many eyes to the complementary benefits and user-friendly innovations available at the click of a button. These innovations are likely to enrich and enhance curricula across South Africa, even after the crisis subsides and all children head back to the physical classroom, while improving accessibility in areas where this has been a persistent problem.
UNESCO has highlighted that some 1.2 billion students and youth across the planet are affected by school and university closures due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and as tragic as the current situation is, the lockdown has given everyone pause for thought.
It has in effect been an opportunity to put e-learning platforms, and the technology used to enable this, to the test on a larger scale than ever before. The lessons we have learnt from this “field test” are providing valuable insights to authorities, and stakeholders in the education sector, on how digital platforms can complement conventional methods of learning and teaching in the post-Covid-19 era.
One thing the pandemic has certainly highlighted is that digital learning won’t be achieved without seamless connectivity and targeted support. For instance, MTN’s 97% LTE connectivity is enabling e-learning and virtual classes in previously unreachable areas.
In the Eastern Cape, 72 000 SIM cards pre-loaded with mobile data were provided to the Eastern Cape education department, in addition to the zero-rating of educational websites, and provision of equipment for modern multimedia centres, across the country.
Another lesson is that more access to e-learning, as a complement to normal classroom interaction, can prepare more students for the digital age. The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently highlighted that there is a need for new education models in the Fourth Industrial Revolution – interactive methods that promote the critical and individual thinking needed in today’s innovation-driven economy. Enabling more children to work online is therefore playing into this need quite well.
There are many other obvious benefits too. Considering the impact of the pandemic on the ability of the fiscus to collect revenue, digitised content becomes an obvious solution, as ‘eBooks’ cost much less than printed books due to the fact that there are no printing, packaging and shipping costs. Additionally, by digitising curricula, the content of the eBooks becomes cloud-based, which allows for it to be updated at any time, at minimal cost. Thousands of books can be stored on a single device.
Working with the Siyavula Foundation, the MTN SA Foundation therefore invested R3 million into the Siyavula e-learning platform that offers textbooks, practice software and exam preparation content. This investment was about ensuring that SA’s grade 10 to 12 learners would have access to world-class Mathematics software and online textbooks for CAT and IT.
In the South African context, it now seems digitised curricula and e-learning platforms are beginning to come of age. They are demonstrating every day, during this crisis, their potential to facilitate access to education and democratise scarce resources, such as good teachers.
However, this should never detract from the fact that the ultimate solution is about teaching with technology, rather than just through technology. This is because technology must be seen as a modern, available and increasingly cost-effective tool to truly enrich the teaching experience. The simple addition of YouTube videos, or tailored and specialised software to conduct polls, or test other technical skills, are some of the ways this is happening.
Additionally, there is now an opportunity to provide an array of exciting new options to children who may be visually or hearing impaired, or who are autistic and just need the right tools and building platforms to develop their unique skills.
The pandemic has certainly compelled us all to think critically, problem-solve, be creative, communicate, collaborate, and be more agile. It is revealing that there is ‘another way’ of doing things. The question now is not whether education will default back to pre-Covid-19, but rather to what extent technology solutions, like digitised content, will play when we come out on the other side.
The genie cannot be put back into the bottle.
The problems facing education in South Africa are not new, and digital teaching alone will never be a silver bullet. Simply handing out access to data and computers will not solve some of the very real and entrenched problems, many of which have been exacerbated in marginalised communities by COVID-19. While the prospects for digitising more aspects of education look promising, the lockdown has also magnified the digital divide, and cast the spotlight on inequalities.
The problems in education range from existing challenges at home for the most marginalised and vulnerable where space and quiet time is simply not an option, to the lack of textbooks and potentially even an ability to charge devices for those who may have been given a tablet or laptop and access to data. There may not always be adults at home to supervise.
And educational experts are quite right to point out that non-contact online learning loses many of the critical acts and responses of the teacher as mediator of knowledge and understanding. However, they also concede that technology can and must enhance education.
We have seen many teachers and schools take up this challenge in the only way they know how – by putting the interests of children first. They have adapted to the lockdown period to coach their students, provide lesson plans and homework through smartphones, text messages, emails and WhatsApp. This is all extremely positive and opens the window on a new world of digital opportunity in the classroom of the future.
But it can’t be left to teachers alone.
Clearly, the private sector has a hugely important role to play to help improve access to education and help close some of the gaps. Studies by Statista show that although internet penetration is relatively high in South Africa compared with the rest of the continent, with 31.8 million active internet users, only 24% of the population has access to a laptop or desktop computer.
It was for this reason that the MTN SA Foundation spearheaded efforts to bridge the digital divide by providing hundreds of multimedia centres to schools from economically marginalised communities across the country over the past several years.
While access and costs do remain significant hurdles for many African countries, it is even more imperative that solutions are found by all stakeholders. The solutions will not be able to come from just the private sector or governments working in isolation.
What we’re seeing is that we have really only just begun to scratch the surface. Corporate South Africa needs to work together with government to find more and better solutions, that will improve access to digital education - especially for those who cannot afford it.
For our part, MTN will continue to look for ways to help South Africa to build on the initial strides that have been made, both independently and working together with like-minded partners.
At this point in time, though, it is our view that once the storm of the pandemic passes, schools and other institutions of learning will be revolutionised like never before. Some parts of the education sector may be somewhat reluctant to shed conventional methods - but our ‘new economy’ will demand it.
* Kusile Mtunzi-Hairwadzi is General Manager of the MTN SA Foundation.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL.