Zimbabwean schools should follow the world

It is a fact that 90% of Zimbabwean schools do not have ICT presence. We are a country with a literacy rate of 97,6% as of 2014 https://www.thestandard.co.zw/2019/01/13/zimbabwe-higher-literacy-rate-sa/ and a mobile penetration rate of 83,3% https://www.ebusinessweekly.co.zw/zim-records-drop-in-mobile-phone-users-in-q1-2019-potraz/. Which therefore makes us a country that is capable of taking advantage of ICTs. It is an international norm that a school should have a local domain, websites and active social media as part of the ICT Policy to enhance the online presence. Therefore, there is a need for each of our schools in Zimbabwe to have a website, a domain, and active social media platforms. An online presence bridges the gap and provides a link between schools and their communities.

In Kenya and the United Kingdom, it is government policy that all schools should have a domain, a school email address, a website, and a social media presence. It should be a government directive that all Zimbabwean learning institutions should and must have an online presence. We edge the government of Zimbabwe to make it a government directive that Zimbabwean learning institution must have an online presence

It is good news that schools like Chirodzo Primary School chirodzo.ac.zw, Mubeena Ebrahim Primary School meps.ac.zw, Girls High School ghs.ac.zw, Uzumba High School uzumba.ac.zw has at least a domain registered. We also have Milton High School Milton highschoolbyo.com which is using a .com extension which is a domain extension for a commercial company. Schools in Zimbabwe should use the domain extension .ac.zw meaning that it is an academic institution.

We noticed that hillcrest college is using a domain extension hillcrestcollege.net the domain extension .net is for a network, email, or Internet service provider. We encourage hillcrest college to use a domain extension .ac.zw.

We encourage all schools in Zimbabwe to immediately register their school domain with an extension .ac.zw and furthermore to work on having a web presence immediately.