Impacts of the Technological Divide in Facilitating Remote Teaching and Learning in the Advent of Covid-19: Case of University Students from the Pastoral Communities in Marsabit County, Kenya

Abstract

This study assessed the impacts of the technological divide in facilitating remote teaching and learning in the advent of COVID-19 among university students from the pastoral communities in Marsabit County, Kenya. Effectiveness of remote teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic with special bias among the pastoral communities in Kenya. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was felt across the globe, and its impact radically augmented peoples’ vulnerabilities in all sectors: healthcare, social and economic. Nevertheless, it is the educational systems and sector that witnessed severe vulnerabilities due to prolonged closures occasioned by lockdowns and staying-at-home measures meant to control the spread of the contagious pandemic. As a remedy for discontinued face-to-face teachings, there was an introduction and integration of ICT learning globally. However, despite the celebrated contribution of ICT in the education sector, serious limitations of the strategy still exist among developing countries due to the diverse technological divide. This study was guided by three objectives: a) Determine the experiences of the university students living among the pastoral communities in accessing remote learning in Marsabit County during the school closure, b) Establish the challenges facing the university students from the pastoral communities in accessing remote learning in Marsabit County during the school closure? c) Investigate how much learning took place through remote teaching and learning among the university students living among the pastoral communities in Marsabit County during the school closure. The study found that: a) more female students attending university among the nomadic pastoral communities 61% while their male counterparts were only 31%. For the women, education was the only way of escaping their socioeconomic miseries since they did not have any inheritance like the men. During the school closure, the students from the nomadic pastoral communities in Marsabit could not access any remote or distance learning; they were totally isolated from the others. To collect data the study collected qualitative data using an interview guide from three Focus Discussion Discussions. The raw data was organised, cleaned, and presented using quotes from the participants. The quotes were labelled to hide the identity of the respondents. The study concluded that policy interventions were critical to address the lack of accessibility and availability of education technologies as enhancers to remote or online education among the nomadic and pastoral communities; that is the only way of ensuring no student will be left behind in the delivery of “education for all”