Policy Guidelins on Digitizing Teaching and Learning in Africa

COVID-19 is fundamentally a public-health crisis, but its social and economic impact on African Union member states are inestimable, particularly on the Education sector. UNESCO monitoring as of 1st May 2020, report that approximately 1,268,164,088 learners have been affected due to school closures in response to the pandemic, 177 countries have implemented nationwide closures and 5 have implemented local closures, impacting about 72.4% of the world’s student population (UNESCO, 2020). In Africa, schools are closed in at least 52 member states (UNICEF, 2020), teaching and learning halted and learners and teachers alike are forced to adapt to a new order of education delivery. Homeschooling and Open Distance and eLearning (ODeL) have been the default response mechanisms to mitigating the effect of the pandemic on National education systems.

 

These responses however create a brand new and untested paradigm to not just the learners but also to the teachers and policy makers alike. In some member states, teaching and learning are completely halted, assessments are stopped and the fate of the academic session is hanging in the balance. The digital divide that exists also means the response mechanisms being adopted automatically excludes a significant number of teachers and leaners, particularly in the rural and disadvantaged urban settings. The disruptions caused by this pandemic will not just be a short term concern, but are likely to have long term costs on the entire national education development ecosystem.