Abstract:

Students studying at a distance in rural schools face a myriad of challenges especially in emerging economies such as South Africa where inequality is rampant and some rural areas lag quite far behind the developments in their urban counterparts. Students located in such areas study via distance education which has the internet and other human support which are a pre-requisite for student success yet there is inadequate support for access to this/these valuable resources. The paper reflects on a study on experiences of support for rural based students studying at the North West University studying for a diploma in Grade R teaching at a distance. The study employed some ethnographic methodology for the case study of the students from 2016 to 2019 who were a cohort sourced from a government programme by a Non-governmental organisation for enrolment. The findings suggest that support is needed more by these students than other students as they have more vulnerabilities emanating from rurality and their presence in the government programme. The recommendations include the need to package the study material reflecting the realities of absence of computers but presence of cellular phones as a learning tool. The grade R teaching module ought to also be having online presence than its current form where it is paper based yet crucial material is obtained online. Learning support centre managers ought to be appraised of the latest information technology if they are to adequately support the distance learning students. Students ought to get accommodation (learning spaces) at the learning support centres during other times than just the times on the timetable in the information booklets.

Keywords:

Student support, rurality, internet, learning support centres.