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Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education in Africa: The Transition to Online Teaching and Learning
As we are all well-aware, COVID-19 has changed our way of live and experts have labelled the pandemic as the most crucial global health calamity of the century and the greatest challenge that the humankind faced since the 2nd World War.
What started as a regional health crisis in late 2019 had, by March of 2020 grown into a global pandemic never seen for a century. As at June 20, 2020 there have been 8,766,035 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 462,691 deaths, reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the WHO data, within the same period, Africa has 287,385 cases reported, with 7,708 confirmed deaths and 132,959 recoveries.
Despite the relatively lower number of COVID-19 cases in Africa compared to Europe and other parts of the world, the virus has now spread to every country on the continent, and remains a major threat to the continent’s health systems. A new study by WHO predicts that if containment measures fail, even with a lower number of cases requiring hospitalization than elsewhere, the medical capacity in much of Africa would be overwhelmed.
Almost all African countries have responded by putting in place lockdowns and public health measures to promote physical distancing, wearing of mask, good hand hygiene, isolating cases and testing and tracing of contacts of people with COVID-19. Even though these measures have helped slowed down the spread of the pandemic in Africa, it has affected every aspect of life and changed the world as we know it.
It will be recorded as not only one of the most pressing issues of our time, but also as an occurrence which has most acutely highlighted the fault lines in our society.
Within academia, COVID-19 has exposed some of the weaknesses on our campuses. In response to the pandemic, almost all governments in African decided to shut down educational institutions to help minimize the spread of the disease.
To ensure academic continuity, most universities were mandated to make a transition from face-to-face teaching to the virtual environment. So, most universities went online on a scale never seen before. This decision was abrupt, hasty, and rapid without any contingency plans in place. This exposed a number of challenges for most of the institutions. Most institutions lacked the capacity to move to the virtual environment/ The technological infrastructure as well as Internet connectivity for most of the schools was a challenge. In addition, there was lack of adequate faculty preparedness, inadequate technical support, as well as students who lacked access to connecting devices as well as reliable Internet connectivity.
According to UNESCO, 9.8 million African students experienced disruption in their studies due to the closure of their institutions.
Fact is, we still cannot predict the long-term impact of COVID-19 on academia. But one thing we know for a fact is that a number of lessons have been learnt from the impact of COVID-19. We have learnt about the digital divide within universities on the continent as well as the digital divide between rural and urban schools. We’ve learnt about the logistical challenges confronting students in their attempt to transition to the online environment; and others.
Our educational leaders are now fully aware of the implications of COVID-19 and most of them, together with the support of government and donor agencies are putting in place long-term measures to mitigate the long-term impact of COVID-19.
This has led to innovation in ways universities go about their business, innovation in teaching, innovation in scholarly work, innovation in fundraising, and others.
Given the impact of the pandemic, one response that has become part of mainstream academia is digital transformation of the educational sector through online teaching and learning. This has now become the new reality and almost all academic institutions are racing to prepare for this new reality. This has now become the DNA of educational institutions not only in Africa but the world over.
For online teaching to be effective, institutions have to put in place a number of measures. First is an upgrade of the technological infrastructure to support the transition. This will require substantive capital investment that maybe the means of most institutions.
Second, is the provision of adequate Internet connectivity. Without this, no meaningful online activities could be undertaken.
Third, is to equip faculty with new set of skills than they’ve relied on in a traditional classroom setting. New skills in online presence, new skills in online facilitation, new skills in student engagement, new skills in the use of online tools such as the use of a learning management system, and others. This will not happen overnight but institutions have to put in place a road map for implementing a robust online faculty development plan.
Regulators will have to overhaul their processes and procedures to facilitate the regulation of online teaching and learning systems. The pandemic has proven that teaching and learning can occur outside the classroom, without brick or mortar. Current accrediting systems were not setup to regulate online teaching. This calls for the enactment of new standards and guidelines. The era of filling out numerous, time-consuming manual documents for accrediting agencies should be history. A great deal of time is lost that could have otherwise been directed to purposeful endeavors. Thus, there is the need to streamline accreditation processes.
We still cannot predict the impact of the pandemic on higher. But the university as we know it will never be the same. This creates an opportunity to rethink what the future of education would look like and put in place measures to adopt to the new normal.
Nana Prof. Osei Darkwa, President
African Virtual Campus
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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