By JOHNSON KANAMUGIRE

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The government faces an uphill task in ensuring that children from disadvantaged families do not continue to miss out on remote learning due to limited access to Internet and gadgets.

Despite the government rolling out several e-learning portals during the pandemic, these remain inaccessible to learners from vulnerable homes.

For Faustin Nshimiyimana, a father of four in Rulindo District whose household does not own a television set or radio at home; none of his three primary school going children was able to attend a single lesson on the e-learning channels for the entire period of the schools’ shutdown.

“The elder among them who is in primary 5 was interested and once in a while relied on my mobile phone, but she hardly found the lesson for her level. Another time they kept referring to materials and books on the internet yet we don’t have a computer or means to get one for her,” he said, adding that they stopped following altogether.

“It wouldn’t work because I was rarely home for her to use my phone, and she takes care of her three siblings who are also not going to school.”

Mr. Nshimiyimana, a farmer, said that in addition to access challenges, uneducated parents were unprepared and unequipped to keep track of information on when and where lessons are transmitted, and assist their children in the process.

A mini survey in Kigali’s low-income and highly populated suburbs revealed that very few children were able to attend remote lessons. Particularly, households with children in different class levels found it impossible.

Parents say that much as it was possible to tune in to TV or radio lesson programmes, the environment simply wasn’t conducive for learning to take place.

“I struggled so much because all the other children around were playing and it was difficult for mine to understand why she has to concentrate. We were also discouraged by the fact that we did not have the recommended revision materials,” said Chantal Mukandayisenga whose child attends GS Gisozi II in Gasabo district.

According to the latest Economic update report by the World Bank released this week, the long closure of schools and lower household income are likely to reduce school enrollment, as many students seek employment.

An estimated 3.5 million students have been out of school and statistics indicate that the share of students in total employment increased from 3.4 percent in February 2020 to 8.8 percent in August 2020.

However, concern is rising over the digital divide as learners from disadvantaged families in the country are suffering exclusion from remote learning for more than 10 months, and longer for those in Kigali due to the pandemic.

Figures from the latest economic update report by the World Bank released on February 8 suggest that a big number of children could not access learning portals and channels created by the government to teach and dispatch information about learning arrangements during the pandemic.

This led to a huge disparity between children from poor and vulnerable households as well as those whose families are less able to support out of-school learning, and their peers.

The report also indicates that the disparity is likely to lead to further divergence in learning outcomes and exclusion of the affected children with many risking to repeat grades and lower educational attainment in the long run, including lower completion of degrees at higher education levels.

“Many Rwandan students face difficulties in accessing remote learning, particularly those from poor backgrounds or rural areas.

Lack of access to television, radio, the internet, educational programs or learning materials were important reasons for failure to participate in remote learning,” indicates the report whose figures point to a big digital divide.

Data from UNICEF Rwanda, for instance, suggests that while television and radio programmes reached 70 per cent of primary school students, only 11 per cent of secondary school students accessed the platforms.

Particularly, sizable learning losses were registered in more than 26 per cent of households without radios, and 90 per cent households without television across the country.

According to the findings, remote learning was further constrained because only 27 per cent of households have continuous electricity while only 3 percent of households own a computer, and only 17 per cent have internet access.