COVID-19 pandemic and the narrative of the digital divide gap in universities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACT This theoretical paper endorses that Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a severe acute respiratory syndrome that the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a world pandemic on the 8th of March 2020 has exposed a plethora of opportunities and inequalities in education. To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries of the world enforced some form of lockdown and restrictions, and that affected the culture of social institutions including the African university. The effects of lockdown and restrictions on human contact and movement resulted in the innovations in pedagogic and assessment practices that shifted from the traditional face-to-face approach to the digital online mode. While being guided by Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory, the study examines the narratives of the digital divide gap in African university education. The study also borrows from Lloyd Morrisett, an American experimental psychologist who contributed to the digital divide gap theory. The study acknowledges that learners, teachers, and administrators from poor universities and communities in Su-Saharan Africa (SSA) encountered challenges such as internet accessibility, infrastructure, power supply, technical knowledge, and training, and cost of data. The study certifies that there are a plethora of inequalities related to the digital divide gap that was ignored and still needs to be mitigated. The study recommends the need to upgrade the information and communication technologies (ICTs) and related infrastructure to the reach of many including the vulnerable and marginalized.