Reconfiguring Rural Education in the Aftermath of COVID 19: Imperatives for Rural Schools in Zimbabwe and Namibia

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact across all areas of human endeavor worldwide by disrupting educational and socio-economic activities. In light of this, this study set out to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural schools in both Namibia and Zimbabwe with the purpose of developing tools that may be used in post-COVID-19 reconstructions of rural schooling. Qualitative survey methodologies were used to collect data from twelve participants in Namibia and Zimbabwe. More specifically, open-ended questionnaires, telephone interviews and document analysis were the main tools used to collect the data to address the problem. The study used Hall and Hord (1987)’s Intervention Taxonomy as a theoretical and interpretive guide to the study. The results of the study reveal several schooling imperatives for rural schooling in the post-COVID-19 period. Firstly, there is need for governments to craft multi-sectorial policy frameworks that will harmonize health, education and economic activities in rural areas. Secondly, infrastructural development of rural areas focusing on the provision of remote learning technologies and internet access constitute a major imperative. Thirdly, reconfiguration of teacher education curriculum constitutes another key priority. Teachers urgently need new skills and knowledge to manage and produce distance/remote learning materials. Rural schools now exist in academic wastelands, whereby learning has ground to a halt. Rural teachers and pupils have virtually ground to a halt during the disruptive phase of the pandemic. Health and safety wise, no mitigatory measures or plans have been adopted to mitigate the spread of the pandemic among pupils and the rural populace particularly at household level. However, the study reveals that various measures have been mooted in preparation of the reopening of schools but these measures may be belated. In view of the above, several interventions emerge as imperatives not only for rural schooling but the survival of the rural populace. Firstly, the study reveals that it is imperative for multi-sectoral policy interventions to transform rural health and schooling. These interventions would entail the coordination of community development strategies, health and rural education policies and poverty alleviation strategies. Secondly, the results of the study point to the need for the development of affordable distance learning packages as the only realistic strategy and lever for enhancing and upgrading the quality of rural schooling. Thirdly, but most importantly, emergence measures to provide personal protective clothing for rural populations should be declared a national priority, otherwise protecting one sector of the society is not sustainable. In light of these findings, this study recommends that policy formulators in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MOPSE) should create a forum or mechanism where they formulate a common framework for engaging rural schools in a coherent and coordinated manner. Similarly, the ministry responsible for teacher education should reconfigure teacher training policies and practices to ensure that rural teachers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and competences to develop distance education learning materials and to manage composite classes. Such interventions and strategies would undoubtedly lead to the provision and transformation of rural schooling.