Kavango looks at teachers' capacity for e-learning

RUNDU - The director of education in the Kavango East region, Daniel Kapapero, said to ensure education of the Namibian child continues during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is first looking into the capacity of teachers to implement e-learning.

In a telephonic interview with Nampa yesterday, Kapapero said the directorate is currently busy with a survey in the region to determine how many teachers have the capacity for e-learning.

In a media statement issued recently the executive director in the ministry of education, arts and culture, Sanet Steenkamp, said all schools should design and implement their Covid-19 preparedness and response plans and that it is imperative the communication flows between the school management, staff and parents is enhanced through cell phone interactions or WhatsApp groups.

Secondly, he said the directorate is also looking at whether learners have access to internet as well as technology devices.

“These are the things we first want to determine as a directorate before we can do any other things,” Kapapero said.

The survey with the teachers, he explained, will take a week before the directorate takes a firm decision on the way forward.

Challenges

He said as of Monday teachers are required to look at their scheme of work and prepare relevant learning material content from their homes or duty stations.

He said teachers must also determine the whereabouts of their learners to see if they can have telephone or cell phone numbers of the parents for effective communication.

A teacher from Maria Mwengere Secondary School, Anna Poroto, said she does not think teachers will be challenged to implement this method of teaching but that her concern is with the learners rather.

Poroto said not all learners will equally receive the learning material as some come from areas that do not have network or possess technology devices to begin with.

Another teacher from Shimpanda Primary School, Moses Shikerete, said he understands government cares, however the challenge and key areas in making sure learning becomes a reality cannot be overlooked.

He said for teachers to work from home may prove to be a difficult route to take due to a number of things that may become a hindrance.

“Teachers may have challenges such as smartphones, internet, network, laptops or electricity for those in areas without electricity,” Shikerete said. - Nampa