Tirivashe Marinda

Location: Zimbabwe

Background information on ZIRRCON

ZIRRCON is a grassroots faith based climate action non-profit making organisation operating predominantly in the rural areas, motivating the impoverished communities through their spirituality to undertake sustainable environmental activities. By appealing to the spiritual beliefs and religious convictions of the people, ZIRRCON is trying to combat ecological degradation and climate change, which is a direct driver of biodiversity loss. This undertaking emerged out of a growing realisation by the people of the environmental crisis. Therefore, this programme is a genuine attempt by the grassroots communities to search for sustainable solutions to the numerous complex environmental and climatic calamities they are experiencing in their strategic efforts to earn a living.

Introduction

Since inception of formal education system in Zimbabwe, learners’ educational opportunities have been limited to resources found within the walls of a school. However, the effects of COVID 19 have caused government to cancel face-to-face on sight classes, putting the education of the Zimbabwe’s youth in question for immediate future. Behind closed doors teachers and students are meeting for private lessons violating the social distancing and risking spreading covid 19. A huge challenge is that COVID 19 is highly contagious, so teachers cannot meet with students, and parents are caring for kids at home. In times of crisis, those not paralyzed by fear hop into action and they do good by doing good. ZIRRCON appreciates and understands the effects of COVID 19 on education, especially for primary and; secondary learners. Corona virus has created an opportunity for online teaching platforms to serve the students who are home bound and ZIRRCON does not plan to profit on the plight.

Therefore, ZIRRCON is planning to establish a tuition free accredited online learning secondary, to provide online secondary education for all. It is imperative to note that, a sudden shift to online for primary and secondary students is a huge challenge.

Tertiary institutions in Zimbabwe have been reviewing and developing more online resources including pre-recorded lectures to help students who would otherwise miss out. With a shift to online teaching because of the effects of COVID 19, as all schools in Zimbabwe cancelled learning, there are fears that primary and secondary students may be missing out. A sudden shift to online learning is a huge challenge for both school and students. Technology and online learning have taken sudden importance for primary and secondary student learning than before. Looking beyond COVID 19, ZIRRCON plans to use the online school as a platform (which will also include radio as an education technology) where it will teach climate education, biodiversity conservation and UN Sustainable Development Goals. ZIRRCON believes by offering online tuition free secondary education it will increase UN SDGs know how amongst the country’s youth because online free education will work as a pull factor to attend climate conscious school. Thus, this project proposal addresses three areas of interest:- rapid response to the effects of COVID 19 on secondary education, making SDG4 attainable and raise climate awareness. Attaining tuition free secondary education will improve chances of women and men to proceed to tertiary education, which can only, accessed by students with secondary education passes.

Problem Identification

The rationale behind creation of the first online tuition free secondary school is intrigued by the closure of schools due to the of COVID 19 and the need to make sustainable development goal number four attainable and to infuse climate education in the existing secondary level curriculum. Thousands of Zimbabwean youth lack access to secondary education because it is too expensive or because cultural and geographical barriers prevent them from pursuing their secondary level education. ZIRRCON believes that education is a fundamental human right and that secondary education should be universally available for every young Zimbabwean, regardless of their personal or financial circumstance.

The above argument resonates well with the dictates of the Constitution of Zimbabwe in explicit terms as captured in the following sections:-

• Section 75 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe reads as follows” (1) every citizen and permanent resident of Zimbabwe has a right to-(a) a basic state funded education, including adult basic education”.

• Section 20(1)(a) reads as follows ” The state and all institutions and agencies of government at every level must take reasonable measures, including affirmative action programmes, to ensure that youths, that is to say people between the ages of fifteen and thirty five years-have access to appropriate education and training”.

• Section 27(1) (a) reads”The state must take all practical measures to promote free compulsory basic education for children”.

• Section 19(2)(d) reads ”The state must adopt reasonable policies and measures, within the limits of the resources available to it, to ensure that children have access to appropriate education and training”.

The proposed secondary school is going to be the first non-profit, tuition free online secondary school Zimbabwe. The following are the three main points to understand about ZSS:

1. It will seek to establish opportunity for free to individual to assist who seek secondary education, but currently are unable to attain it due to financial, geographical or societal restraints.

2. It will base on the conviction that secondary education is an essential catalyst for generating economic development and just as important for creating more awareness on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and climate education.

3. It will seek to serve as a model for schools and government to encourage an industry-wide, country drop in education prices as it models the delivery of secondary education at significantly less expense with its creative infrastructure.
   

The primary reason that thousands of Zimbabwe students are unable to attain secondary education is that most families in Zimbabwe today cannot afford the cost of going to secondary school. The cost of going to school for an average family involves buying school uniform, stationery, transport, and school fees. Due the abovementioned costs, the cost of secondary education has been steadily on the rise over the last two decades, growing four times faster than the rate of inflation –causing many students to find that a secondary education is simply out of reach.

Beside the cost of secondary education, there is existing scarcity in relation to number secondary schools to accommodate the number of students who would want to attend. Government of Zimbabwe acknowledged the deficit of 3000 schools for both primary and secondary school. Neither the private sector nor government have the resources to build enough bricks and mortar secondary school need. Potential students may desire to study-and may even have the financial resources to attend a secondary schools but there simply aren’t enough secondary schools to admit them.

In response to the plethora of problems mentioned above ZIRRCON proposes establishment of a tuition free online secondary school. Reactionary thinking and critics maybe raised regarding cost of data ZIRRCON believes it can deliver audio content through low tech like radio and visual through tv. The main goal of ZSS is to enable individuals to obtain a tuition free secondary education from wherever they are in the country, with the hope that these students will reap personal and economic rewards.

The Creation and Vision of ZSS

Similar to most online education programs, ZSS uses the power of network technology (radio and television is also included) to substitute for a traditional on campus experience. And, just as other online education programs do, ZSS combines technology with relevant pedagogical e-learning methods to bring secondary level subjects to students around the country. A point of departure from existing online eLearning platforms out there, ZIRRICON will deliver some classes on radio. The idea is to utilise most the technological developments in the field of communication that can be adapted in the field of education as they are adapted in other fields of life. ZSS proposes to develop its own information architecture for business process, data management and use existing curriculum in order to reduce the cost of delivering its educational subjects to substantially less than that of a conventional secondary school. The proposed school’s business model will be designed to keep operating expenses at a minimum while ensuring that the systems are scalable and sustainable as the secondary school’s population grows.

The school will rely on peer to peer learning using existing curriculum, open educational resources materials, volunteers and government paid teachers. Above all our students will write zimsec exams. By leveraging access to the Internet with the availability of free materials on internet including resources from Zimsec like past exam papers. ZSS can provide quality secondary education for a fraction of price of a similar program at a traditional secondary school. Thus, will able to promote its mission of democratising secondary education and its vision that universal access to education promotes SDGS awareness and climate change education.

Proposed Academic Model To Be Used By ZSS

The proposed ZSS academic model will comprise of delivering online secondary subjects accredited under the Zimbabwean Secondary education curriculum by the Ministry of Education. Students at ZSS will reside in different locations all over Zimbabwe. Proposed students seeking admission at ZSS are required to have a grade seven certificate and minimum command of English language. Each accepted applicant is required to take two orientation classes, skills for online learning and English composition, to ensure that they are prepared to complete their secondary level education online. Secondary education courses such as history, science, maths, physics and others except vernacular languages will be taught in English only. Each secondary level subject has an unlimited enrolment. Library services will be available to students through ZSS library and online resource centres which offers access to the school’s collection of electronic database and online resources from staff librarians.

A few key characteristics of the ZSS educational experience distinguish ZSS from other online secondary educational programs. First, the courses offered by ZSS will rely solely on text-based materials. Offering text based course material for secondary level education and assignments may seem antiquated in the era when audio and video are routinely used to augment online learning. ZSS will deliberately choose a lower tech and simplified approach till its teacher and students are capable of using sophisticated tech. A radio station will be acquired to deliver audio classes freely to students. Students will participate in radio classes through text messages and phone calls. ZSS will want ensure that all its students, wherever they are in Zimbabwe and no matter what kind of computer technology or connectivity they have, will be able to access the materials required for their classes. This is especially important for students in the rural areas, where they only access they may have to the online world may be from a mobile data bundle which is relatively expensive and slow connection.

Secondly, each secondary level course will be managed and conducted asynchronously , ie, a student will accomplish his or her work for a particular course at any time and place during the week that is most convenient for that particular student. This arrangement provides students the flexibility to use the materials when and where they are able to within the framework of each week’s class. A third distinctive component of the ZSS program is that the school offers all secondary school courses through a virtual classroom. For typical ZSS students, the classroom experience might follow a scenario such as this: once they have successfully registered, students are given access credential for their particular course and its virtual classroom.

In addition to their peers, students will find lecture notes for all secondary level subjects, weekly reading and homework assignments, and discussion questions. A critical part of peer to peer learning model, the discussion questions are central to the academic work of each class. Each student reads the assignments and discussion question and downloads the material for that week’s class. Students read their assignments and assimilate the course material, they begin engaging in dialogue about week’s assignment discussion question. Students without internet connectivity will take their classes through a school radio station which will broadcast classes at real time allowing interaction between teacher and students.

As students gain familiarity with the process and with the material, they tend to coalesce as a group, and they discourse then build and develops naturally. At the end of each week , students take a quick test to demonstrate that they have successfully mastered the information covered in the week’s assignment. When the term periods concludes , students take an examination to demonstrate that they understand all context of that particular course. At the end of the term, they receive a grades.

The Proposed Financial Model To Be Used By ZSS

Although the school is tuition free, there are modest fees including one time processing fee for an application. These fees are for showing expression of interest. the school will rely on existing curriculum but will add life learning skills like website designing , privacy managing, data entry and climate change education as extra curriculum activities. The school will be a registered community owned school and will rely on volunteers and government salaried teachers so it will not stress on salaries for teachers. The project will hire a venue which ZSS O’and A’ level students will use as exam centres to write Zimsec Exams. The application fee is based on a sliding scale of US$5 depending on applicant’s place of residence (students from rural areas with lower income are charged less than students from more urban areas). Zimsec will do the examination processing upon full payment of examination fees by the student. The determination of the price of the fees will solely rest on Zimsec alone.

ZSS’s Future Expectations: Challenges and Opportunities

Although it shows promise as an alternative to the standard secondary education model, and although its first several terms have been successful. ZSS may face challenges as it strives to fulfil its mission of bringing quality and affordable secondary education to deserving students. The clearest challenges ZSS is likely to face concerns sustainability to prove that it can in fact break even with 10 000 students as it believes, and then to continue to remain financially viable as it expands further. A distinct second challenge is likely to be the scalability of relying on government salaried teachers, this dependence may need to be re-evaluated. The third challenge for ZSS possibly going to be whether it can effectively raise grant money to further progress in with its mission in providing tuition free secondary education, raising awareness on SDGs and including climate change lessons in secondary education.

After sustainability, the next major hurdles will simply be delivering online education and building up student recruitment. In addition to the basic challenge of delivering online secondary education, there is the matter of reaching students in parts of the country where there is simply lack of technology infrastructure. ZSS’s offerings do fuse text materials and audio or video capabilities, which makes the course material more accessible to students living in areas without ubiquitous internet access or broadband network capacity.

ZSS will work with local NGOs to better reach students with disabilitiess who otherwise would not know that a tuition free option exists for them.
One of the biggest challenges facing online education is establishing the model as equivalent to possibly even superior to traditional forms of education. Online education is gaining acceptance, but the continuing challenge perhaps, is in getting society educators, students, accrediting bodies understand that online education is not something less than a traditional education, nor is it just a low cost alternative to the real thing.

Goals and objectives

• To establish first non-profit, tuition free accredited online secondary school dedicated on opening the gate to make sustainable development goals attainable.

• To establish national presence for ZIRRCON non-profit, tuition free online secondary school with government accreditation.

• To be the leading school in providing quality education, climate change education and awareness on SDGs.

• To provide tuition free and scalable, open secondary education to every student in Zimbabwe.
  

Justification

Against the backdrop of COVID 19 outbreak, ZIRRCON has come up with a rapid response initiative to continue secondary level teaching activities as school across the country were closed to contain the virus. Secondary level going students are the immediate target for ZIRRCON. The COVID 19 outbreak which has cause a global lockdown, rapidly evolved into a national emergency into a national emergency in Zimbabwe. In response to the outbreak, the Zimbabwean government initiated a series of emergency management mechanisms, including social distancing-for example, the lockdown of cities and shutting down schools. However, no emergency policy initiatives were put in place to allow learning to continue despite shutting down of schools. ZIRRCON, realise the need to switch secondary level teaching activities into large-scale tuition free online teaching while schools are closed.

Before the outbreak of COVID 19 secondary level education in Zimbabwe has been obliterated by shortage of schools to accommodate the growing need students population in need of attending and increased cost of secondary education. Equitable education opportunities for children living with disability has not be addressed exhaustively and their situation regarding accessing quality and cheap secondary education can be addressed by a tuition free online school. ZIRRCON believes by giving tuition free quality secondary education it will be able to arrest the two ever-growing problems. As a faith based climate change organisation ZIRRCON observes education as a key component of efforts to promote more effective environmental governance including curbing biodiversity loss. In that regard every child must have the right to primary and secondary education that provides the skills, knowledge and confidence they will need to move forward in life. Education can help drive behavioural change needed to combat climate change. Education is critical for helping people adapt to the consequences of climate change, especially in countries of the same stature as Zimbabwe, where majority of the nation’s farmers rely on rain fed agriculture. Beyond climate change, education helps eradicate poverty. Tuition free online secondary education will bring opportunities to children from poverty stricken families who never in life dream of accessing education beyond primary level but the power of a phone and ZIRRCON eLearning platform can change that. People are vulnerable to poverty if they are below or at risk of falling below certain minimally acceptable threshold of critical choice across several dimensions, such as secondary education. In addition, online tuition free education will effectively tackle limited access to education of the disabled secondary level children through improved digital technology. Education has vital role in limiting the causes and effects of climate change a direct driver of biodiversity loss and extreme events like the current epidemic ravaging the earth.

Sustainability

Beyond providing tuition free online secondary education to students ZIRRCON, envisioned the sustainability of the school to continue from the organisation’s ability to raise an educational grant, SDGs awareness grant and climate change grants. The school radio station will be able to generate income from adverts and programs. The income generated will be directed to administrative costs and improving quality of education. On recruitment the school will target student with disabilities first those who never dreamt of accessing education opportunities and they will give them infrastructure to use like phones and laptops. In addition, the sustainability of the project will rely on the ability of the school’s eLearning platform to disrupt education from being a privilege to a basic human right that can be accessed for free. The teaching stuff will be on government salaries relieving ZIRRCON of the challenge to pay salaries to qualified teaching stuff.

Project implementation

The headmaster of the ZIRRCON academy will work with ZIRRCON , through the Research and Youth departments to implement the project. The ZIRRCON executive will provide advisory services to project implementation under the leadership of the ZIRRCON Director.

Project Monitoring and Evaluation

Internal Monitoring and Evaluation: Monitoring and evaluation will be a cyclical and continuous process that will focus on enhancing ICT competency for quality teaching and learning to handle online teaching on monthly basis. Project coordinator in conjunction with headmaster of the school will undertake the evaluation.

Project Inputs: The contribution from ZIRRCON will mainly be in form of human resources, valuable environmental conservation research accrued over 36 years of existence.

External inputs:

Teachers, The government would provide for qualified teachers like at normal brick and motor community schools. The project will maintain a core staff profile consisting of the Programme Co-ordinator only.

Equipment: ZIRRCON e-Learning App, Internet connectivity for teachers, laptops, solar panels to maintain uninterrupted power supply, flip boards and cameras.

Operating costs: Operating costs for office consumables would be provided by project. Government will provide salaries for teachers.

Support

Costs: At the moment, it's difficult to find the actual costs, we would want money to finance the following:

1. Online Learning platform.

2. Technical support (i.e. at least one person for IT to fix technical errors with the platform)

3. Course content creation and launch

4. Platform management (Daily management)
   

1. ONLINE PLATFORM: Pay a professional web developer to develop a Learning Management System (LMS) - ( cost of creating the platform not yet found )

Features of the learning platform:
a) Administrators are the teachers ( they get admin rights to their subject / courses through the IT department). These are the content creators.
b) students access to the platform and their registered subjects
c) Login system
d) Online assignments, quizzes and tests tab - with ability to submit pdf or word documents, which can be accessed by the subject coordinators or teachers for marking
e) Marking and grading system
f) Plagiarism checking system
g) discussion forum
h) Timetable display- customized for each student
i) Calender display- to include classes and events
j) announcement tab , with ability to sent these announcements to individual emails and/SMS simultaneously
k) Anouncements for each subject to be made by respective subject admins
l) Virtual classroom capabilities
m) Resourses tab - for uploading, accessing and downloading video, pdf, PowerPoint or word format course content
n) External app integration capabilities eg integrated with zoom for online live classes.
o) Feedback or Marks tab
p) robust - ability to host as many students as possible
q) ask the tutor platform , where students gave the ability to post a question to be answered by a variety of tutors , or get to a 1 on 1 with the tutor.
r) platform to allow tutors to register and have access to the questions posted to them by students
* reviews tab
*contact the course admins tab
* Initial registration including subjects registration.
* the platform has to be dynamic, with the ability for continuous updates

2. IT DEPARTMENT
- the IT department has to be available 24/7 to handle technical problems on the platform
- IT department gives admin rights to teachers upon registration
- IT department manages the overall running of the platform
- computers to be used at the IT department (at least two server computers) and fully employed IT technicians.

3. COURSE CONTENT CREATION
- the course content can be created by having to train volunteer teachers on a bootcamp about using the platform.
- these teachers will begin to create word, pdf and video content if the respective subjects.
- Each subject can have an overall subject manager for moderation of the content and overall management of such subject.
- the courses and the content will continue to be created and uploaded while the school is running.

4. Platform management
- to be run by the IT DEPARTMENT

Other needs: Volunteers, Space for online meetings

See more: https://zirrcontrust.co.zw

For more information contact covid19@unmgcy.org