By Claire Nayebare.
Although not certain of it’s nature, the rapid spread of Covid-19 has demonstrated the effectiveness of establishing Resilience capacity to face various threats in our education sector.
Uganda being a developing country has faced a number of educational challenges yet still the pandemic has proved an opportunity to remind our selves and the dear students of creativity, problem solving and adaptability in this unpredictable world.
In Uganda, corona virus pandemic has changed how millions around the country recieve education.For instance even after schools having been closed for along time, we have seen graduations take place an indicator that additional efforts have been put in place to avoid waylaying education.
In an engagement with some of the leaders of institutions around Fortportal, Digital learning hasn’t really been highly effective as it would be which has in one way or the other waylaid the entire process. Dovnick Mirembe The principle St Joseph’s institute Fortportal notes that the pandemic had a lesson to teach them and preparations have been underway to equip teachers with digital teaching techniques which they will later on pass onto their students.
The hopeful Mirembe adds that should any thing happen again and schools close, no student of theirs will be left behind like the last days.
Just like Mirembe says, most affected areas could find stop-gap solutions to continue studying but all depends on the level and quality of digital access. In an interaction with Ivan Ndyagumanawe the guild president Uganda Pentecostal University Muchwa, he describes eLearning as new to students but also says a reasonable percentage of students were able to access and react to uploaded material on their respective platforms.He however says the biggest percentage did not access the material due to poor network, lack of digital gadgets and negative perception of eLearning being expensive since most of their students are not from well to do families. This he says has put the process on a stand still because all students must be on the same pace therefore they are going to use the chance of physical classes to encourage and equip their students with computer related skills.
The slow pace in academic institutions within Fortportal is lamentable with the old mode of teaching but Covid effects could become a catalyst for educational institutions to search for innovative solutions in their different respective capacities.
Some of the institutions claim that their students are not in position to handle eLearning both teachers and students but given the digital divide, new shifts in education approaches could widen equality gaps.
In an interaction with the Diocesan education secretariat Alosious Rujumba earlier this week, he emphasizes the need for all institutions in their different capacities to actually embrace both eLearning and physical learning.He says both are necessary because the world has gone digital and that new solutions of education could bring much needed innovation especially in this developing country Uganda.
