CONTRIBUTORS
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Grace Gathoni
Research Assistant
Lydia Namatende-Sakwa
Associate Research Scientist
Natural calamities and economic, social, and political uncertainties continue to affect our education system in Kenya and globally. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO (2020) estimated that at least 1.5 billion students and youth were affected by school closures. In addition, other social effects faced by learners due to school closures included increased cases of school dropouts, early marriages, pregnancies, underage crime, and child labor. Following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which hadhd culminated in extensive school closures, the Ministry of Education (MoE) – Kenya, redesigned school calendars from 2021 to 2022 as an intervention which was to allow learners to catch up on instructional content, learning activities, and national assessments such as the Kenya Certificate of Primary School Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education (KCSE) as well as transitions to Junior Secondary School level (JSS) for grades 6 and 7. However, the measures taken to ensure catch-up, as well as recovery from learning loss, also served to compromise learner outcomes. A study conducted by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) on the long-term impact of COVID-19 on educational systems in Africa highlighted that learners were faced with syllabus overload along with extended stay in school due to delayed grade transition, learners and teachers experienced low morale and high attrition rates which were majorly experienced in private schools.
Similarly, calamities culminating from climate change, such as heavy rainfall and flooding experienced in Kenya just before the reopening of schools in May 2024, have frustrated learning continuity. The displacement of households led to schools being used as camps for displaced families in Mathare and Mukuru informal settlements, the destruction of school facilities and infrastructure, and loss of life experienced in the aisle and rural areas such as Garissa, Tana river, Makueni Counties among others where significant roads were destroyed by floods hindering movement and compromised safety led to the postponed the reopening of schools by Government. Moreover, other disruptions have included violent threats to the safety and security of learners, such as kidnappings, political unrest, terrorist attacks, extremism (Onyema et al., 2020), and migrations due to drought and climatic changes in Sub-Saharan countries continue to affect learning operations and children’s well-being.
Is online learning a possibility during emergencies to ensure continuity in learning?
Lessons and experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of school closures on learning and school calendar disruptions should shape and inform how education stakeholders prepare for future emergencies. In Kenya, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) developed approaches and strategies to deliver online learning content to learners, which were disseminated through online platforms and traditional media such as radio and television as well as the Elimika portal, which offered teachers free training on ICT integration and curriculum support materials. Additionally, the development of a remote learning manual by education stakeholders led by the Teacher Service Commission (TSC), as well as the Ministry of Education policy on the integration of ICT in education and training, were aimed to support teachers and learners in enhancing their skills and knowledge in online learning during the pandemic. The long-term impact of COVID-19 on educational systems in Africa highlighted that during the pandemic, the digitalization of the school curriculum and the critical role of ICT integration in teaching and learning became a reality as institutions moved to acquire digital devices and infrastructure for online teaching and learning.
Despite these gains, the study showed that learners from low-income households and those with special needs experienced challenges emanating from the inaccessibility of digital devices, the high costs of online connectivity, limited parental engagement, and empowerment regarding how they would support their children during online lessons. At the same time, learning institutions faced high costs of setting up digital infrastructure and acquiring digital devices to implement online learning.
Call to Action
Education stakeholders should co-develop interventions supporting online teaching and learning and promote parental engagement and empowerment during emergencies. In addition, through the Ministry of Education, the government should support in-service teachers through training and capacity enhancement in ICT, including sensitizing teachers to existing policies and frameworks for implementing online learning. Moreover, subsidizing ICT equipment and internet connectivity costs for learning institutions, as well as providing modern ICT equipment in schools and Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs), will equip teachers with hands-on skills, creating the possibility to bolster the implementation of digital learning in the classroom. In addition, enhancing digital learning in schools promises to provide opportunities for innovation in educational software applications, equipment, and interventions toward developing 21st-century skills.