How Covid-19 is affecting learners in rural communities

Mbarak fetches water for use at home

Mbarak Mwambire, 16, is a standard eight pupil at Majaoni Primary School in rural Kilifi county.  He last saw his teacher 3 weeks ago during parade as the headteacher announced the closure of the school due to Covid-19 following the President's directive that all social gatherings including schools cease, to avoid the spread of the pandemic.

Mbarak is among millions of learners in Kenya,  who have been affected by Covid-19. We're it not for the pandemic,  Mbarak, tells me that he would be busy revising for his final primary examinations in November. Now, he's not sure if he is to sit for the examinations this year as the Education ministry has not announced plans for school reopening. He is afraid that without his skilled teacher's assistance, his grades will go down.

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, has stated that he cannot give an exact date when schools will be reopened and is awaiting guidance from Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe concerning the pandemic.

"As at now, nobody has thought of postponing the exams. The children are getting online content. Government has not pronounced itself on whether the exams will he postponed,"  said Magoha.

The Education ministry through the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD)  has introduced digital curriculum content and teacher orientation learning through radio, TV and online lessons to promote home based learning during COVID-19 period.

A radio broadcast timetable from KICD
Image courtesy 

Why does the govt deploy an out of classroom online learning model that can be accessed by some, but not all, of learners?

How is this supposed to benefit learners such as Mbarak whose family doesn't own a television set or radio? How is it supposed to benefit him when he spends his entire day helping out his mother and siblings? How is it supposed to help him when he has no adult supervision? How is he expected to access the internet while his parents do not own a smart phone or a computer?

 "I'm stuck here in the village. I can't access a smartphone, a television set or even a radio.  There's no library close to my home.  I'm worried this will take me back many steps, " he says.

Mbarak wakes up at 6 am and spends  2 hours studying and uses past examinations papers for revision.  He does this atleast two days in a week  before embarking on helping his mother hawk traditional vegetables within the village. "I do not concentrate well at home because I'm distracted. I have to feed my siblings, draw water, help till the land and sell vegetables," he says. I ask him if he has heard about online learning. "I only saw a message in my friends phone with science subject questions. That was the only time I saw such a message," he says.

Mbarak belongs to a more disadvantaged group of learners who cannot access e-learning platforms and who stay logged out while his fellow learners in elite schools and those that have access to e-learning materials stay online. Yet they have to sit for similar examinations. His father is the only one in the family who owns a mobile phone and its not a smartphone.

President Uhuru Kenyatta a month ago announced the roll-out of high-speed internet through Google Loon balloons project aimed at helping learners in regions previously unreached by faster internet, to access faster internet and help learners access digital learning materials

“In that regard, and to foster communication and enable Kenyans to retain and enhance remote access to the offices and enterprises, my administration has granted approvals that will ensure universal 4G data coverage throughout Kenya. Going forward the Google Loon balloons will hover on Kenya’s airspace to provide faster internet," he said.


The Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey 2015/16, shows that the proportion of population in urban areas using internet in mobility at home was higher compared to that of their counterparts in rural areas
and that only 6.6 per cent proportion of the population in Kilifi county uses the internet at home. 68.2 per cent of the households in the same county do not have internet.

Only 24.8 per cent of the households own a television set and 5.0 per cent own a laptop/tablet/ computer.
The survey further says that, 29.6 per cent lack knowledge and skills on how to use the internet in Kilifi county.

When Mbarak fails to understand a question of his favorite subject,  science, he seeks help from a neighbor of his who has completed his studies.  I probe him whether he trusts the answers that the neighbor gives him are the correct ones.  "I trust him because he is way ahead of me in age and education. I'm not able to reach my teacher and he acts as my tutor for now, " he says.

A few metres away from Mbarak's homestead,  I meet Santa Kazungu, 13, and a standard five pupil at Mdzongoloni Primary School in Kilifi County.  Her story is not different from Mbarak's.  Her father is a fisherman and on this day he has managed to catch 2 octopus. He hands them to Santa to go sell them in the nearby homes.  One octopus goes for Ksh 100. Santa, has no clue about digital learning. She's shy and doesn't reveal much. They have no electricity in their home and they use paraffin tin lamps. She tells me she does not study at home because she thinks it's a holiday and she does not have enough time to study because she is busy helping her mother to baby-sit her siblings, clean the house and draw water during the day and sell fish later in the afternoon. " I have no-one to help me study because my parents don't comprehend the subjects and they are away working during the day to find food for us," says Santa.

When is Santa allowed to login and study online and at the same time baby-sit her young ones?

Santa Kazungu displays an octopus for sale

Mary Kalume, 12, had just joined grade 3 and was looking forward to sitting her first examinations in that grade.  She is a pupil at Gebu Junior Academy in Kilifi County.  She doesn't remember the last time she studied at home. "When the schools closed, our books were left with the teacher," Mary says.

Mary is an orphan and lives with her aging grandmother. She is in school courtesy of a sponsor. The grandmother's homestead depicts a deprived home. There is no water forcing Mary to travel long distances to buy a jerican of water.

The house is not connected to electricity meaning Mary has no access to a television set or radio

That she lives with her aging grandmother,means that she has no adult supervision. She spends her day helping her grandmother to wash clothes, fetch water and cook. She has had no contact with her teacher since closing school.

Mary Kalume on her way to fetch water

Mary's friend and neighbor, Evelyn Riziki, is in the same grade as Mary but attends Majaoni Primary School, Kilifi County. Swahili,English and Religious Studies are her favorite subjects and she is lucky that she's been getting lessons from TV and radio. " I follow a subject roster offered on TV from Monday to Friday. It's helping me study now that we can't go to school," says Riziki.

Though Riziki has a technology advantage over Mary, she does not have any adult to supervise her learning and she has to study alone. She also lives with her aging grandmother and has to balance her time for study with house chores.

Evelyn Riziki fetching firewood 

Duncan Furaha,14,  was looking forward to joining high school next year. Not anymore as he is not sure whether he will sit for his final primary examinations this year. The pupil at Mtondia Trinity Academy, a church-run school,  goes to school 2 days in a week to collect assignments from his teachers. The assignment is in form of past test papers that he uses for his home-learning. After answering the questions, Duncan takes back his assignment to his class teacher on Fridays for marking.

Duncan Furaha revises using a past test paper

The class 8 pupil also participates in online learning after his class teacher formed a whatsapp roster for all parents with learners in class eight. Here,  the teacher sends assignment through the parent's mobile phone and the learner writes it down in a booklet. If unable to answer,  his parent  will send feedback to the teachers and the pupil gets explanation on a particular subject.

Duncan using a smart  phone to study at home

 Unlike Mbarak, Santa and Mary, Duncan gets enough time for his home learning as he is exempted from carrying out tasks that will thwart his concentration.

Like his fellow pupils above, Duncan does not have access to a tutor or adult to supervise his learning. He does it individually and is scared that it will affect his studies.

"I'm afraid this will affect my overall grade when I sit for my final primary exams. I hope things can go back to normal to enable us continue with out studies uninterrupted," he says.

With such discrepancies, how are learners from disadvantaged backgrounds expected to learn in a level ground with their friends from privileged backgrounds?  What is the government doing to bring on-board such learners to help them access equal education opportunities to avoid playing catch up with other learners who have resources. Questions have also arisen of whether learners with physical impairments have been properly integrated into the online system.

Education experts warn that many learners do worse online and that the most vulnerable students are the most negatively affected.

“There has been two sets of scenarios here, in private schools there has been learning, in public schools there has been no learning. Most public schools cannot access online. We have done the assessment of
 e-learning with respect even to artificial intelligence and it cannot work in a third  world country. What is been aired through media is not effective at all, it reaches about 10% of learners. It is mere wishful thinking and public relations avenue," points out Wilson Sossion, the Secretary General for the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT).

He adds that e-learning disadvantages over 90% of learners from marginalised communities who cannot access IT infrastructure.

Covid-19, has greatly affected the education sector and shall remain greatly affected even after.  Sossion, argues that this is a sector we must prepare for in all aspects to ensure quality education is delivered during and beyond the pandemic.