Natural disasters stalk education sector

Zimbabwe’s post-Independence success in universal education remains the envy of most nations around the world.  Basic education was declared an inalienable right in 1980, which made primary and secondary education free and compulsory.  This resulted in unprecedented provision and access to basic education.

The country now has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa.  But the fallout from the coronavirus and Cyclone Idai in March 2019 is presenting significant challenges to accessing basic education.  Zimbabwe, like many countries around the world, has closed schools to prevent the spread of the disease. 

Schools and tertiary institutions were closed prematurely on March 24 last year, before they were reopened in phases in September and November.  They were closed again in mid-December to make way for the festive season…

The path to post-pandemic smart cities

Market forecasts paint a rosy picture of smart city investment, but many municipalities are slashing budgets, laying off workers and cutting services as the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continues. To adapt to the budget shortfalls resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, smart city efforts must be more strategic, said Ruthbea Yesner, vice president of Government Insights and Smart Cities at IDC Government Insights.

“A lesson learned from 2020 is that cities must devote funds from brick-and-mortar infrastructure to digitization”

Sanjeet Pandit, Qualcomm Technologies’ global head of smart cities.

“We have to be really strategic with our plan and our investing because we just aren’t going to have any wiggle room in terms of money,” Yesner said. “Then the question becomes what are the foundational tools that you need to start to think about for resiliency — and let’s take away contingency planning, disaster recovery, backup plans, redundant data centers, having a readiness response, a risk management response. I think that’s all what everyone thinks of when they think of business continuity…