An Assessment Of The Impact Of High School Digital Divide To Students Performance At Tertiary Education In Botswana

Abstract Research on digital divideand its impact reveals that there are several areas affected which require theattention of planners and programme implementers. Many countries have responded to the digital divide by providing the necessary infrastructural development to curb the divide existing between rural areas and urban areas and also between private and public schools a situation that was well managed in Botswana. Some countries have been assisted by the World Bank to unroll ICTs to communities. However the effects of digital divide remain far reaching. There are limited researches that show that digital divide affect academic performance in tertiary education. This paper makesa further contribution towards justifying that indeed digital divide is still noticeable among tertiary students. Students performance variations at tertiary education level are attributable to the digital divide created at secondary school education.An analysis of first year results for Computer technology students at Botswana Accountancy College revealed that students who did their secondary education at private schools are overally 5.3 better performing in examinations than their counterparts from public schools. The probability that a student will pass the module is 0.76 and 0.51 for students from private and public schools respectively. In Botswana Private schools are known to be better in availing ICTs than public schools hence the divide created by where one did their secondary education1.