Mitigating the urban–rural educational gap in developing countries through mobile technology-supported learning

© 2018 British Educational Research Association One form of educational inequality is the disparity that exists between urban and rural settings. Equal distribution of quality education is a challenge for developing countries due to the unavailability of resources. Various approaches to equal distribution are distance learning, telecast learning and e-learning; however, these approaches cannot achieve the desired objectives due to their limitations. This research aimed to investigate the interesting question of whether mobile technology can bring urban and rural settings closer together. A mobile application for learning Urdu grammar was designed to measure the learning gains of fourth-grade students at two different schools from urban and rural settings. A quantitative technique, the quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test method, was used to measure the effectiveness of the mobile application. The comparison of the students’ performances at the urban and rural schools illustrated the role of mobile technology in mitigating the educational gap. The present study provides evidence that children from different social backgrounds may benefit equally from mobile technology

Romania -- Systematic Country Diagnostic: background note-agriculture (English)

Agriculture plays a significant socio-economic role in Romania and its transformation to a modern, vibrant, and market-oriented sector is central to fighting poverty, promoting social inclusion, and reducing the urban/rural development divide. Most of Romania\u27s poor live in rural areas and earn their living from agriculture or agriculture-related activities. In 2016, eight out of ten people who were at risk of poverty or social exclusion lived either in rural areas or in towns and suburbs that were predominately rural. Using microdata from the 2013 Household Budget Survey (HBS), this report finds that individuals living in rural areas are 16.5 percent more likely to be poor than those who live in urban areas. Also, those living in rural areas and working in agriculture are 27 percent more likely to be poor. There are large variations in poverty rates and in the risk of poverty or social exclusion across regions in Romania. The risk of poverty or social exclusion is significantly higher in the northeast, southeast, west Oltenia, south Mutenia, and the west regions compared to that in Bucharest-Ilfov, the northwest, and center regions

Production of Innovations within Farmer–Researcher Associations Applying Transdisciplinary Research Principles

Small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan West Africa depend heavily on local resources and local knowledge. Science-based knowledge is likely to aid decision-making in complex situations. In this presentation, we highlight a FiBL-coordinated research partnership between three national producer organisations and national agriculture research bodies in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Benin. The partnership seeks to compare conventional, GMObased, and organic cotton systems as regards food security and climate change

Subsidiarity and Proportionality in the Single Market: An EU fit for inclusive growth

This report offers a fresh perspective on the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality in the European Union based on a thorough-going economic analysis. Specifically, the report uses the EU Single Market as a case to discuss shortcomings and potential improvements in five key policy areas. It reviews how the principles of subsid- iarity and proportionality can help boost growth in the EU at the aggregate country level – while at the same time allowing EU regions to benefit from growth. The report focuses on the regional level as economic growth has been uneven across the EU’s regions over the last decade and, consequently, growing disparities between re- gions have emerged. This alone merits a review on how we can reconcile the twin objectives in the future

Overcoming the Odds: Online Learning Experiences from Open University of Tanzania’s Regional Centre Rural-based Students

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study that has explored rural students’ experiences with online learning in Tanzania. The study used purposive sampling to select twenty-five participants. It employed a phenomenological design, primarily using semi-structured interviews coupled with document review, to obtain data on students’ lived experiences. The data was then subjected to thematic analysis to generate study findings which show that rural students used the Moodle system to support their online learning. Moreover, they had Zoom meetings, discussion forums and WhatsApp as recourse to the Moodle system. According to the findings, the students faced challenges such as poor access to the Internet, prohibitive costs of learning infrastructure, and limited technical skills. Furthermore, these students faced inflexible schedules and limited access to assistive technologies. As a result, they complemented their study processes with downloaded materials, printed learning materials, regional centre physical visits and university graduates’ additional support. The study concludes that the complex nature of the rural environment marked by limited infrastructural and technological development makes studying through ODL doubly daunting for rural-based students. The paper, therefore, recommends instituting transformative strategies aimed to enhance the quality of rural students’ lived experiences of ODL online learning

Counting the costs: Exploring the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in rural schools in Lesotho

Pandemics, even long forgotten ones, are identified with leaving long-term consequences in their wake. The COVID-19 pandemic reached catastrophic levels in Africa, the same way that it has thrown the economic and social wheels of China, the United States, and part of Europe off the rails. The chaos in Africa is being felt more on education especially in rural Southern Africa. Schools in rural areas, already reeling from extreme poverty, economic vulnerability and crisis have to bear the most severe brunt from the epidemic. This study seeks to explore the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural education and uses data from online interviews with 10 rural-based teachers on the effects of the COVID-19 in rural schools in Lesotho. The study strives to address two questions: what are the effects of COVID-19 on education in rural schools and what steps have been taken to mitigate the effects of COVID-19-induced school closures? Findings from this study show that enforced school closures in an attempt to contain the spread of COVID-19, though temporary, are disrupting the lives of learners especially rural learners. Where school closures were meant to be short term, their impact on learners, families and educators, particularly for those in the most marginalized locations such as rural areas cannot be mitigated. Nonetheless, there has been some considerable innovation in an attempt to mitigate the effects of the pandemic through bridging the gap between the classroom and an entirely remote setting by the introduction of different forms of online and/or distance education which has led to the initiation of novel forms of learning which however still remain elusive for most rural learners. Key words: COVID-19; Coronavirus; pandemic; epidemic; school closures; rural schools; online educatio

The Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic on Education for Indigenous People In Uganda A Case Study of Karamojong Community

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak from 2019 has impacted education systems of many countries around the world. Efforts to contain COVID-19 have led to the closure of schools in more than 100 countries worldwide. This situation has also left over one billion learners out of school. For marginalized communities such as indigenous people, the situation has been worse. This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on Indigenous people’s education in Uganda, with focus on Uganda’s Karamojong people. The study is based on qualitative data gathered from newspapers. A total of 25 newspapers from five newspaper organizations in Uganda were used for this research. The gathered data were analyzed using the content analysis method. This study explores the challenges and impact of Covid-19 on the education process of the Karamojong peoples. I focused on the possible strategies that can be applied to limit the challenges they encounter in the education sector as a result of Covid-19. The findings of the study shows that the Covid-19 situation has created both positive and negative impacts on Karamojong education. Secondly, the study found that the Karamojong are contributing to solutions to the negative impacts of Covid-19 by resorting to a traditional way of learning that involves the making wooden “seat packs” for use by student and teachers in the learning teaching process. This indigenous solution aligned with social distancing protocols, while being affordable to low-income earners. The findings also show that COVID-19 has nevertheless had adverse effects on education for Karamojong in the form of learning disruptions, decreased access to education and research facilities, and high student debts. Attempts were made to use of technology as an alternative to the traditional teaching method. However, the online system of teaching was hindered challenges such as poor internet connection, unstable electricity supply, and poor digital skills. The study underscores the damaging effects of COVID-19 on the education sector in general, and highlights the need for all educational institutions, educators, and learners to adopt technology in order to improve their digital skills in line with the increasing role of technology in education

ESRC-DFID Power of Partnership: Research to Alleviate Poverty

This booklet provides an overview of poverty alleviation research encompassing 172 projects focused in 77 countries, and globally, which have been enabled by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Department for International Development (DFID) Strategic Partnership.ESRC-DFI