By Staff Writer
Neville Mavu, the Zimbabwe Child President, recently visited the UNICEF Representative Dr Tajudeen Oyewale to have a heart-to-heart discussion on young people and adolescents.
Mavu delved quickly into the issues: “What strategies are you employing to include children in development matters of our country as leaders of tomorrow?”
There was respect for the question as Dr. Oyewale settled into his chair. He acknowledges the importance of the inquiry and thanks the President for finding time to dialogue on the pertinent material of Adolescents.
“Maybe I should ask you first: how you think UNICEF can do better in its work for the children of Zimbabwe,” Dr Oyewale said.
Mavu paused and responded: “We thank UNICEF for the support you continue showing us in many areas, including the junior parliament and in Education and Health as well as Children Protection, Nutrition, and others. The support you give the Government is highly commendable. However, we want UNICEF to do more in giving young people, especially adolescents, a voice.”
“First, we work with MOPSE to have a digital laboratory or studio to provide learning digital content. The second one is that Learning Passport a full-time, real-time online platform. What that means is that without the internet, you cannot access the content.”
“But, as UNICEF Zimbabwe and our partners, we are developing an offline version of the platform. This means that even if your school has no internet connection, you can access the learning and teaching material.”
Originally designed to provide education for displaced and refugee children through a digital remote learning platform, the Learning Passport – a collaboration between UNICEF and Microsoft, is expanding to more countries and offers a country-level curriculum for children and youth.
Its launch in Zimbabwe came at a crucial time when over 4.6 million learners in Zimbabwe had been out of school for extended periods due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The then Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Minister Cain Mathema, said on its launch in April 2021. “The Learning Passport has arrived when the Government has launched its National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which focuses on initiatives around inclusive education as well as innovative technologies that support alternative learning approaches from Early Childhood Development upward.”
The Representative emphasised that digital must be understood in the context of other formats, like using USBs to collect audio files that can be used on other devices. He also spoke of radio lessons.
“In rural areas, we have solar-powered radios where you can plug in a USB and listen to audio files that carry vital education-related information. The process is gradual, but we will get there.”
Mavu urged the Representative to regularly meet with him to discuss progressive ideas around youth participation, a point that was taken on board.
