The closure of schools has had a negative effect on some pupils sitting exams, who earlier had protested against the government directive to close schools in cholera-affected areas while students in other regions were allowed to keep going to school. The pupils argued that they were all going to write the same exam at the end of the year, and that it was not fair for them to be barred from attending classes while friends in areas unaffected by the disease continued going to school.

They also complained that time had come for the Ministry of Education to start being prepared for recurring disasters such as floods and diseases that have been affecting Zambia since the arrival of the rainy season.

eLearning could help master the crisis


Asked what alternative Zambia needed for its education in times of health disasters, eLearning Zambia Chairperson Prof Thomson Sinkala argues for the use of technology-enhanced learning: "Pupils should not have to miss their lessons and should be able to access their teachers' lessons from an Internet cafe, or from home, or any convenient place for that matter."

He adds that the use of eLearning can also help to boost awareness of cholera. "Children and their parents need to learn about cholera and how to prevent it-, he says, adding that he is presently unaware of an ICT tool available to all Zambian students that they can use effectively during health emergencies. He points out that HealthNet and other initiatives should consider collaborating with mobile-service providers to have POP access through cell phones, since they are reasonably widely distributed in the country, followed by radios and TVs.

Radio is ICT tool no. 1


At present, a Zambian radio programme for pupils of lower grades called Taonga Market is broadcast every day for about two hours. This initiative needs wider appeal to cater to higher examination classes, such as grades 7, 9 and 12.

John Zulu, who is in grade 12 at the Kamwala Secondary School, says it is necessary for educational material to go electronic as, most of the time, school children listen to music - from ipods, CDs, flash disks and mobile phones - and could easily also download educational material. "Subjects such as English, science, history, and geography could be put in electronic form, especially question-and-answer sessions to help students revise their work and to target their most-used electronic gadgets," says Zulu.

On the affordability of gadgets, John observes that the prices were now coming down and that parents should be able to afford them for their children. However, he suggests that it would be easier for all students to access these eLearning programmes on the radio, which is an ICT product found in almost every home, including rural households.

General remarks on ICT in Zambian Education


The penetration levels of ICTs in Zambia's education institutions remain low, with those schools that are equipped mostly utilising second-hand and refurbished computers. The integration of ICTs in learning and teaching practice has been limited, although the introduction of computer studies as a school subject has begun to change this.


The adoption of a national ICT policy in 2007, as well as the development of a draft ICT policy for education and an associated implementation framework, provides an enabling policy environment to promote far greater access and use of ICTs across all sectors of Zambia's education system, including a system for enhancing education management, administration, and teaching and learning. While the goals and targets set in these policy documents seem realistic, realising them within the established time frames remains a challenge.

Observers feel that it is important that the education Zambian community be prepared to step up to a serious eLearning environment, which will require more than producing large amounts of technological innovations and fancy graphics presented at conferences.