Education sector should adapt to ICTs

THE Government has said the education curriculum should be biased towards information communication technologies (ICTs) as the world is shifting to conduct business online due to Covid-19.

Physical interactions at the workplace are continuously shrinking due to changes brought by the global pandemic.

The education sector has also been challenged to follow suit as it is influenced by what happens in broader communities.

Primary and Secondary Education permanent Secretary Mrs Tumisang Thabela said there was a need for the country to invest more in broadband and radio accessibility to enable children from disadvantaged communities to access educational information.

Mrs Thabela was speaking in view of Covid-19 interruptions to learning as pupils have missed out on normal schooling during the past five months due to the national lockdown.

She said in view of changes that have been brought by Covid-19, the education sector should adjust to the prevailing environment if it is to remain relevant.

“The definition of skill and competences will have to change. Even to us adults, the skills that are wanted are those that conform to digital platforms. Everything is going virtual and we are going to be more and more using the virtual space to do our education business. If it is laboratory experiment, we are going to use virtual simulation but wherever possible, we should take learners to some of the practical sites when we get back to school,” she said.

“The skills that are wanted now are to do with how to use ICTs. How to have adaptability for emotional intelligence, those are things that you do not need to be in a classroom to learn.”

Mrs Thabela said Government is already moving towards teaching pupils online or through radio lessons as it adapts to Covid-19.

She said to ensure that no child is left behind in accessing online or radio lessons, there is a need to invest in infrastructure to incorporate even disadvantaged communities.

Mrs Thabela said she was alive to the fact that while radio lessons programming has covered almost 70 percent of the second term calendar, it was unfortunate some communities do not have access to these radio lessons. — chronice.ozw