PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS AND LEARNERS ON THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN ON RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOL FEMALE LEARNERS IN MATOBO DISTRICT, ZIMBABWE

Συγγραφείς

  • Lwazi Sibanda Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
  • Joyce Mathwasa School of General and Continuing Education (SGCE), University of Fort Hare, East London, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v6i3.1029

Λέξεις-κλειδιά:

COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, rural secondary schools, online learning, female learners

Περίληψη

The purpose of the study was to examine the perceptions of teachers and learners on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on rural secondary school female learners in Matobo District. The study was qualitative in nature, entrenched on interpretivist paradigm and adopted a case study design. Data was collected using open-ended questionnaire and online focus group discussions from six teachers and eighteen learners who formed three focus group discussions. The participants were purposively sampled from three schools. The study found that a few teachers were able to conduct online lessons using WhatsApp platform during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the selected schools though there was no consistence as teaching was not programmed and participation of female learners was low. The findings revealed that most of the parents could not afford to provide online learning resources for their children because of economic hardships. The study further established that rural female learners were at risk during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown as some of them were exposed to sexual abuse when they try to have access to smartphones and data bundles from some male adults. It was found that female learners have lost much of their learning time whilst on lockdown and many cases of pregnancy have emerged leading to dropping out of school. The study concluded that most of the rural secondary school female learners were excluded from education during lockdown due to poverty, unavailability of network or poor network coverage, lack of broadcast transmission services to enable them to access online lessons through the radio, lack of electricity, poor attendance due to lack of smartphones and data bundles, performance of all household chores including herding of cattle and lack of cooperation from some parents. The study recommended that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education should collaborate with stakeholders to provide necessary resources to enable all learners to access online learning despite geographical location.

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Βιογραφικά Συγγραφέων

  • Lwazi Sibanda, Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
    Lwazi Sibanda holds Doctor of Philosophy in Education from University of Fort Hare in South Africa, and is a senior lecturer in the Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, in the Faculty of Science and Technology Education at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe. She is currently the Executive Dean in the Faculty of Science and Technology Education. She specialised in Education Management and is involved in teacher education. She teaches education courses (modules) to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She supervises undergraduate research projects and postgraduate dissertations and theses at Master’s and Doctoral Levels. She has vast teaching experience extending from primary to higher education. She worked as a primary school teacher for fifteen years and moved to Secondary Teacher Education College as a Professional Studies lecturer for three years. She joined NUST ten years ago and is involved in conducting qualitative research in education management including science education. Her interest is on improving instructional delivery in all levels of education, that is, primary, secondary and higher education. She has published quite a number of journal articles and book chapters individually and collaboratively. She has reviewed various manuscripts from a number of journals. She is also involved in UNESCO programme for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) which emphasises on inclusion of ESD concepts in teacher education curriculum.
  • Joyce Mathwasa, School of General and Continuing Education (SGCE), University of Fort Hare, East London, South Africa
    Joyce Mathwasa began her career in education after obtaining a teaching certificate specialising in Infant classes. She taught in the Early Childhood for twenty years rising through the ranks to headship of primary schools for fifteen years. She furthered her education attaining a Bachelor’s degree in Educational Administration, Planning and Policy Studies (University of Zimbabwe); Master in Educational Administration, Planning and Policy Studies (Zimbabwe Open University) and PhD (University of Fort Hare, South Africa). Currently she is a Researcher in the Early Childhood Development School of Excellence in the University of Fort Hare. Dr Mathwasa is also an Adjunct lecturer with Lupane State University in Zimbabwe and supervisor in the UNISA Teaching Practice Unit for SDAC students (Zimbabwe). She has a teaching experience extending from early childhood to tertiary education. She has several journal articles in accredited journals and five book chapters.

Αναφορές

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UNHCR (2020). Supporting Continued Access to Education During COVID-19 Emerging Promising Practices. Retrieved from: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/supporting-continued-access-education-during-covid-19-emerging-promising-practices.

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Λήψεις

Δημοσιευμένα

2021-03-24

Τεύχος

Τόμ. 6 Αρ. 3 (2021)

Ενότητα

Articles