Information and Communication Technology in time of the Covid-19 and their exclusive character

by Eusebio dos Santos Gervásio

Translated and Reviewed by Matheus Lucas Hebling

Introduction

This study brings an approach to information and communication technologies in times of the covid-19 pandemic and its exclusionary nature, showing how the use of these digital teaching tools at the current time, in the face of the covid-19 pandemic, increasingly excludes students without sufficient economic capital to respond to the remote teaching modality, thus leaving some students excluded from cultural capital. Thus, a descriptive approach is taken to better understand this social exclusion from the Bourdain perspective, and based on this, to understand the remote teaching model, used through the Sap-Unirovuma – Nampula digital platform, for the teaching-learning of students of this institution, at the moment the world lives and in uncertainty caused by the covid-19 pandemic. It is believed that this topic is of extreme importance insofar as it reflects the reality of higher education students, at the level of the city of Nampula- Mozambique, and mainly of Rovuma University. It is expected that, from the results obtained in this study, it will show the real scenario on the use of ICTs, on the Sap platform – UniRovuma for classes in the remote modality, and in this way, contribute to better planning of this higher education institution when there is a need to interrupt face-to-face classes.
The problem of the covid-19 pandemic is present in our lives, and it surprised everyone because no one was prepared for this world catastrophe. And at this moment, the biggest concern is to try to find a way to live with the new reality that the world is subject to, not only for the current moment but also for the coming years, because according to the various researches carried out by several countries, regarding the resolution of this covid-19 pandemic, it may still take some time. Thus, conclusive considerations presented here will serve as a basis for future research, as it is not a finished thing, but a starting point for other research, in search of possible alternative solutions to respond to this new reality that has come and with trends. to stay. For a better understanding of this theme, some concepts about diseases are presented, an explanation about teaching in the remote modality and its excluding character, and then the final considerations and finally the bibliographic references that served as support for the elaboration and support of this search.
Concepts of diseases presented by WHO (World Health Organization)
Based on the concept of disease and its classification levels, presented by the World Health Organization (WHO), it is important to present here some definitions of diseases, to better understand the topic under analysis.
By disease, it is understood as a set of specific signs and symptoms that affect a living being, altering its normal state of health. And in turn, the outbreak is understood as the increase sudden number of cases of a disease in a specific region. In turn, endemic is when the disease affects a specific geographic region, typical of a region, and can be seasonal, that is, it happens frequently in the same place. While an epidemic is a disease that suddenly increases the number of cases of the disease in a given population, therefore it constitutes an outbreak that occurs in several regions. And by a pandemic, is a disease that spreads rapidly in various parts of the globe, characterized by a very accelerated contagion. That is, the pandemic is worldwide, which means that the pandemic is a disease that affects a large number of countries in the world and its spread is very fast.

Remote teaching and its excluding character

According to the classification of diseases presented by the WHO, it is clear that the world is facing a major global catastrophe and remote teaching is the right answer at the moment. However, this teaching modality does not respond in the same way to disadvantaged classes, as it requires financial conditions, not only for the student or student but also for the teacher. Sayings that form confirmed by Davis; Klein (2020) when conveying that the focus of this disease is especially the disadvantaged and vulnerable, specifically the people of the black race and women, even in richer countries.
Looking at the field of this study, which is Mozambique, an African country, where 100% of the population is black, and allied to the low rate of economic development, it can be inferred that the pandemic has put the most disadvantaged strata of this country even more vulnerable.
For our research, the delimited field is a public institution, the university Rovuma – Mozambique, province of Nampula. Nampula is a province in the north of Mozambique, it is bordered to the north by the Lúrio river, in the province of Cabo-Delgado with the province of Niassa. To the southeast it is bordered by the Ligonha River with the province of Zambêzia and to the east it is bathed by the Indian Ocean. Its capital also takes the same name, which is the city of Nampula. It is located about 2150 km north of the city of Maputo, therefore the capital of the country. It has an area of 81,606 km² and a population of 6,102,867 inhabitants
Data from the III General Census of Population and Housing (INE, 2017).
in 2017. The province is divided into more districts (23), and has since 2013, 7 municipalities: Angoche, Ilha de Moçambique, Malema, Monapo, Nacala Porto, Nampula and Ribáuè ( Law nº 8/2003).

Located in the city of Nampula, Rovuma University was created in 2019 by Decree-Law No. 7/2019 of February 15, 2019. Currently, UniRovuma has 38 undergraduate and graduate courses in working, after-work regimes, and modalities and at a distance, spread in various locations in the province, such as the Ribaue Resource Center, the Angoche Resource Center, and the Higher School in Nacala-Porto.
Since its elevation to an autonomous university in this northern region of the country, the Rovuma university has the extension of Lichinga and Montepuez, therefore former delegations of the Pedagogical University. To carry out this research, students from undergraduate and teaching courses, working regimes, taught at this higher education institution, in the city of Nampula, Napipine campus, were interviewed.
The interview constituted input for the analysis of the aforementioned phenomenon, which is the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the digital platform in remote classes. The students were asked about their social origin, and the answers showed that most of the interviewees are children of civil servants, primary teachers, and some children of domestic workers or even peasants, all of whom are low-income students, in economic terms.
Given these answers, one can infer the difficulties that these students face to obtain a smart-phone or a computer. And some who have cell phones, but have difficulties in acquiring megabytes to access the internet and be present for synchronous classes or even asynchronous classes, since the remote class modality allows these two types of classes.
Given this pandemic situation, at Rovuma University, in addition to the modality of remote classes, the calendars of undergraduate courses taught at this educational institution were adjusted in alternating weeks of classes for each class and course, putting asynchronous classes into practice; but even so, the student without financial conditions cannot respond to this type of classes, which leaves him in the condition of being excluded within the educational context. Thus, Bourdieu and Champagne point out that:
The education system that is largely open to all and yet strictly reserved for some succeeds because of putting together democratic appearances while it is a dissimulation of the accentuated reproduction of social legitimation (BOURDIEU; CHAMPAGNE, 2015, p. 250).
And, subsequently, praised Bourdieu (2915, p. 65) that “with the appearance of formal equity, the school contributes to perpetuating inequalities and at the same time legitimizes them, that is, the school plays a mystifying role”.
Therefore, these sayings confirm that only those who have the economic capital can benefit from teaching the remote modality, as it implies monetary costs to finance the purchase or acquisition of smartphones, computers, or even the purchase of megabytes to access the internet, and in this way benefit from online classes. And the school sets the same requirements for all students from different social classes, without looking at their social origin or their financial condition, which favors some and disadvantages others.
This is why Bourdieu and Champagne (2015, p. 247) explain that “the logic of collective responsibility tends to go beyond the logic of individual responsibility, which leads to reprimanding the victim”. This is because, it seems that everything that happens to the student is entirely his responsibility, what reigns is the old-new saying ” every man for himself and God for all “, characteristic of the capitalist world. These sayings have been confirmed by Bourdieu (2015, p. 66) when he postulates that “the school system gives cultural inequalities a formal sanction in line with democratic ideals, and at the same time provides the best justification for these inequalities”.
And in this way, the student is excluded within an education system of which he is entitled and part and blamed for his failure. Thus, hold Bourdieu; Champagne (2015, p. 247) that “not only the logic of individual responsibility excludes students, but also poorly defined social factors, such as the insufficiency of the means used by the school. authors, it is a globally deficient system that needs to be reformed (BOURDIEU and CHAMPAGNE, 2015).
There is no doubt that remote teaching was the best way to respond to the new catastrophic situation of the covid-19 pandemic that took the whole world by surprise.
However, this teaching modality affects different social classes in different ways, because whoever has the economic capital is the one who is most able to respond adequately to this teaching modality, and consequently it is the same who benefits from the cultural capital. . On the contrary, the disadvantaged with various difficulties of an economic nature, is often without benefiting from this type of education efficiently, thus finding their destiny of disadvantaged that society has reserved for them. This explanation justifies the speech of Bourdieu (2015, p.45) when he emphasizes that “a direct or indirect selection throughout schooling weighs with unequal rigor on subjects from different social classes”. And the author adds that if we consider the socially conditioned inequalities about school and culture, it can be concluded that the formal equity that the school system obeys is, in fact, unjust, because while it proclaims democratic ideals, it protects privileges better than the open transmission of privileges ( BOURDIEU, 2015, p. 59).

However, this exclusion not only affects the student as the main victim but also affects the teacher, on the hand, he has little mastery in the use of ICTs, as well as the waste a lot of time in preparing the tasks so that they can motivate the student to remain in the classroom. virtual room, and neither get discouraged nor get tired. Not only that, the teacher’s house becomes the classroom, taking away the privacy of your home.
Therefore, in line with Bourdieu’s (2015) idea, the educational system should provide itself with the means to carry out a systematic and generalized enterprise of acculturation, which it can do without when it addresses the more favored classes. For the students concerned in this study, most are from the low social class, and their difficulties become a determining factor for the continuity of classes in the remote modality, the so-called online classes.

Final considerations

Conclusively, it can be said that the covid 19 pandemic was a surprise and that no one was prepared for this situation. And in the field of education, the covid 19 pandemic brought many changes, as there was a need to readjust classes that were in-person to the remote modality. And this scenario affected all levels of education. And in the case of this study, students in the first year of the degree course taught at UniRovuma were forced to engage in remote classes in the face of all their difficulties, such as lack of access and poor mastery of digital tools, allied to the economic issue. Looking at this reality, in the case of a first-year student, without much experience in the use of ICTs and especially in the use of digital platforms, online classes can harm the student as he will not be able to respond promptly to the requirements. placed by the teacher, this due to the lack of knowledge of digital tools and platforms. And then because of the few financial resources that can make it difficult for the student to access the internet in real-time that the class takes place via the digital platform, as it requires the student to have enough megabytes to use the internet and follow the class in its entirety. Therefore, these technologies are used by a minority of students, thus excluding the majority. It is necessary to recognize that the world is experiencing uncertainty due to the pandemic and that teaching in person would not be the best solution at this time. Thus, remote teaching is the possible and viable solution in this time of the covid 19 pandemic, so that the student has contact with the teaching content. However, it is necessary, on the part of the leaders, to redefine the strategies in the implementation of this model of remote teaching, so that all students from different social strata have access to the efficient use of this platform in use in this institution of higher education since the use of technologies of information and communication is one of the great discoveries of the century and is extremely important as it encourages the student to discover by himself through research, thus making his learning more meaningful, as the student makes “discovery” and brings the problem solving by yourself through investigation or individual research.
It is not a matter of bringing a solution as a recipe to follow for this problem, but rather taking everyone involved in the educational system, starting from teachers, readers, makers of public education policies in Mozambique, not only in this country in reference but also in other countries. , to study this problem together, in the search for solutions to minimize this situation of social exclusion on the part of disadvantaged students, as the covid-19 pandemic is a reality and remote classes will continue for a long time, while the pandemic prevail.

References

BOURDIEU, Pierre. The conservative school: inequalities in relation to school and culture. In: NOGUEIRA, Maria Alice; CATANI, Afrânio (org). Education Writings . 16ed. Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes, 2015, p. 43 – 72.

BOURDIEU, Pierre; CHAMPAGNE, Patrick. The excluded from the inside. In: NOGUEIRA, Maria Alice; CATANI, Afrânio (org). Education Writings . 16ed. Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes, 2015, p. 243 – 255.

DAVIS, Angela and KLEIN, Naomi. Building movements : a conversation in times of a pandemic. Boitempo Editorial, 2020.

REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE/Assembly of the Republic. Law on Local State Bodies . Law No. 8/2003. Maputo. Available at: http://www.mined.gov.mz/POEMA/Biblioteca/MA-S2-Lei_8-2003-LOLE.pdf . Accessed on: 10 Feb. 2021.

 

Mariamo Albino Amade, master’s student in training work and Human Resources. Bachelor’s Degree in Adult Education
Public servant at the University Rovuma administrative area-Academic Registration. E-mail: mariamoa.amade@gmil.com

Eusebio dos Santos Gervasio, Master’s in Public and Municipal Management,  Degree in Planning Administration and Management. Public servant at Rovuma University administrative area-Faculty of Law. E-mail: eusebiokwatcha@gmail.com