M A Y 2 0 2 0

COVID-19 Educational Disruption

and Response: Rethinking
e-Learning in Uganda
Josephine Tumwesige
 i
COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

Abstract
Public health emergencies affect the education and safety of children in several ways. Due to the
Ebola outbreak in West Africa, for instance, the education of 5 million children was interrupted.-
School closures across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2015 made it difficult
for the governments of these countries to find alternative ways to provide continued education,
resulting in many children dropping out of school. The current pandemic has forced most govern-
ments around the world to temporarily close educational institutions in an attempt to contain the
spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, impacting over 91% of the world’s student popu-
lation according to UNESCO. Uganda, amidst its economic challenges, the unforeseen situation of
the COVID-19 pandemic is another turn of the screw in the education situation of its school-going
age population. This research looks systematically at the opportunities and challenges of diffus-
ing e-learning in the context of Uganda, where the vast majority lack basic needs for livelihood
and access to the internet is a problem.
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COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

Table of Contents

COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in

Uganda

Introduction 1

Methodology 2

Overview of the Uganda Education System 2

Early Childhood Development 3

Primary Education 3

Secondary Education 4

Business Technical and Vocational Education and Training Level 4

Tertiary Education Level 5

Non-Formal Education 5

Impact of COVID-19 on Uganda’s Education System 5

Learning ‘using’ technologies in Uganda: Opportunities and Barriers 7

Uganda’s capacity for distance learning and the use of mass media 7

How can the current capacity be used for distance learning? 8

Barriers to accessing these types of delivery platforms 12

Conclusion 13

About the Author 14

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COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

Introduction
In the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, lockdowns are key to controlling the
virus’ spread. Although lockdowns are effective in enforcing social distancing measures and
tracing of COVID-19 patients, they are not good for education and the economy. Uganda
has recognised education as a powerful tool for social, economic development and trans-
formation since the early years of political independence. It is highlighted that education
had been considered critical for the achievement of national unity, democracy and social
justice for all citizens.1 Likewise, Uganda’s vision 2040 recognises education as a key endog-
enous driver of economic growth, providing human capital development needed to
strengthen and to accelerate the country’s transformation and harness the demographic
dividend.2

Yet, the evolution of Uganda’s education from primarily learning the patterns of accepted
economic, social, and political behaviour from parents and the community within the vari-
ous tribal groups to global education systems prevalent in the 21st century is still on-going
and the journey is mired with several challenges. The progress notwithstanding, the educa-
tion system has struggled to transition from missionary and colonial education since the
country’s independence in 1962.3

Notably, studies show that missionary schools like Namilyango High school opened in 1901
by the Mill Hill Fathers; Mengo High School (for boys), Gayaza High school (for girls) and
King’s College Budo opened in 1904, 1905 and 1906 respectively by the church missionary
society; became a prototype of many other schools.4 The curriculum, designed primarily to
educate potential leaders (children of chiefs and influential members of society), was mainly
academic, with a heavy emphasis on classic subjects of Mathematics, English Language and
Literature, Sciences, Latin (in some schools), History and Geography.5 And the mode of
transfer was classroom-based with authoritarian, teacher-dominated and lecture-driven
pedagogical practices. 6Several ambitious educational reform programmes to move away
from teacher-centred instruction to child-centred pedagogy, encompassing reforms in
teacher training, curriculum development, the supply of instructional materials, language
policy, Universal Primary and Secondary Education, have been undertaken since the
mid-1990s.7

1
Higgins, L. and Rwanyange, R. (2005) ‘Ownership in the education reform process in Uganda’, in. Taylor Compare& Francis
Group , pp. 7–26.
2
Uganda Vision 2040, Chapter 5: Social Transformation, subsection 5.3
3
Sidonia A., Ochieng and David C., Waiswa (2019) ‘Pastoral education: The missing in in Uganda education system’, in Educa-
tional Research and Reviews, Vol.14(7), pp.240-253
4
Scanlon, D. (1964) Education in Uganda
5
Ssekamwa, J. C. (1997) History and Development of Education in Uganda (Fountain Publishers, 1997, 245 p.): 12. Development
of Education 1962-1990, Fountain Publishers.
6
Khadidja, D. (2014) Western Education in Uganda (1878-1939).
7
Kosar Altinyelken, H. (2010) ‘Pedagogical renewal in sub‐Saharan Africa: the case of Uganda’, in Taylor& Francis Group, pp.
151-171.DOI: 10.1080/03050061003775454
 MAY 2020 2
COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

Despite efforts made to incorporate ICT into mainstream curriculum, Uganda’s education
system is still rooted on the traditional rote learning approach with very limited scope for
the application of concepts, and least of which is the problem of access to modern technolo-
gy platforms to keep pace with learning and teaching in the 21st century.Uganda’s educa-
tion system continues to confront three key challenges at all education levels: access to,
quality of, and relevance of education. And COVID-19 demands that we rethink the trajecto-
ries to diffuse e-learning or any other means to augment or replace our traditional class-
room-centric educational delivery systems.

Methodology
The approach to methodological enquiry for this study is based on secondary research
using electronic databases, grey literature, reference harvesting and discourse analysis,
with weighted critical balanced viewed on the most suitable way forward. In this vein, the
research is focused on the current state of the country’s education (using documentary
evidence) in comparison to recent updates in the world of electronic/virtual learning.The
scope of the study is to assess the state of evidence for three research questions:

1. What is the current state of Uganda’s Education systems?

2. What is the impact of COVID-19 on Uganda’s Education Systems?
3. What are the opportunities and barriers to diffusing e-learning in Uganda’s Education
System during the COVID-19 pandemic and the future?

Overview of the Uganda Education System

The system of education in Uganda has a structure of seven (7) years of primary education,
six (6) years of secondary education (divided into 4 years of lower secondary and 2 years of
upper secondary school), and three (3) to five (5) years of post-secondary education.
Students have a wide range of options between private and public education institutions
depending on their aptitude, ambitions and resources.
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COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

Early Childhood Development

Uganda launched the National Integrated Early Childhood Development (NIECD) Policy in
2016. The associated Action Plan is a comprehensive approach designed for children from
conception to eight years of age, their parent and caregivers purposely to help the child
grow and thrive physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, morally and socially.8 Most of
the Nursery and Daycare centres in the country provide pre-primary education for children
aged 3-5 years. The Vision of the NIECD Policy is that all children in Uganda from conception
to 8 years of age grow and develop to their full potential (UNICEF Uganda, 2016). It is hinged
on Sustainable Development Goals 4 (SDG4) specifically target 4.2 which states that ‘by
2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development,
care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education’. Provision of
pre-primary education is exclusively private sector-led, with the public sector only providing
an enabling environment (i.e. policy, legal and regulatory framework, inter-sectoral coordi-
nation mechanisms, finance, monitoring, inspection and support supervision).9

Primary Education

Primary education is the largest sub-sector of education in Uganda in terms of enrolment,

human resource requirements and the budget.9 It has a seven-year cycle, that is Primary
one (P.1) to Primary seven (P.7).

Universal Primary Education (UPE) was introduced in 1997 to expand access to basic educa-
tion, and to ensure all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary education
leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. The Education Act of 2008 spells out
the government commitment to provide learning and instructional materials, structural
development, meeting the welfare of the teachers, and curriculum development and con-
trol. In the same vein, parent’s role includes registering the child of school age at school, and
providing guidance and psychological welfare, food, clothing, shelter, medical care and
transport among others, to their children.10

8
NIECD Secretariat (2018) NIECD Newsletter:Issue 004. 004. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/uganda/media/1671/file/NI-
ECD newsletter (No.4).pdf
9
UBOS (2017) EDUCATION: A MEANS FOR POPULATION TRANSFORMATION.
10
Govt. of Uganda (2008) Education (Pre-Primary Primary and Post-Primary) Act 2008. Kampala, Uganda: Uganda Law Reform
Commission. Available at: https://www.ulrc.go.ug/content/education-pre-primary-primary-and-post-primary-act-2008
 MAY 2020 4
COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

Constitutionally, the provision of primary education is mostly public-led complemented by

the private sector (for-profit).11 Under the UPE programme, the Government of Uganda
abolished all tuition fees and Parents and Teachers Association charges for primary educa-
tion. Following its introduction, gross enrolment in primary school increased over the years.
However, access has not been matched with quality and learning outcomes are low, with
many pupils finishing the primary level without basic literacy and numeracy skills.12

Secondary Education
Options for primary school completers include either proceeding with secondary education,
three-year crafts course in a technical school or joining the labour market. Therefore,
Secondary Education is the 2nd largest sub-sector of education in the country.9
Secondary education is provided through a network of schools that are either Govern-
ment-owned, private sector-owned or community-owned. Government schools comprised
a mix of schools established by the government and grant-aided schools that were once
community-owned but have been taken over by the government. Private secondary schools
are funded and owned by private individuals, community, religious bodies or NGOs. 9
Secondary school is divided into - Lower/ Ordinary level (“O” level) and the Advanced level
(“A” level). At the end of the 4 years of “Level, students take the Uganda Certificate of Educa-
tion (UCE) national examination.

In response to the surge in enrolment occasioned by the introduction of UPE, Uganda

implemented the Universal Secondary Education (USE) and Universal Post ‘Level Education
and Training (UPOLET) respectively. And in 2007, Uganda became the first country in
sub-Saharan Africa to introduce universal secondary education. Under the secondary
scheme, students who get specific grades in each of the fourprimary school-leaving exams
study free in public schools and the USE participating private schools.

Business Technical and Vocational Education and Training Level

Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) is an integral part of Post
Primary Education and Training (PPET). It constitutes both the second and third levels of the
education system.

11
Govt. of Uganda (1995) Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995. Uganda Legal Information Institute. Available at:
https://ulii.org/ug/legislation/consolidated-act/0
12
Ahimbisibwe, P. (2013) ‘90% UPE pupils can’t read - report’, Daily Monitor, December Available at: https://www.monitor.-
co.ug/News/National/90--UPE-pupils-can-t-read---report/688334-2109860-taxsf5/index.html; Mafabi, D. and Mbabaali, D.
(2017) ‘Uganda second in world with pupils who can’t count - study’, Daily Monitor. Available at: https://www.monitor.-
co.ug/News/National/Uganda-second-world-pupils-who-can-t-count--study--/688334-4120526-1btrjb/index.html
 MAY 2020 5
COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

The BTVET second level education system is comprised of those technical and farm schools
that are at the secondary school level, that is, those that admit P.7 completers, while the
third level BTVET education system is comprised of those institutions which admit “O” level
as well as “A” level secondary education completers. The BTVET sub-sector is exceedingly
diverse with education and training institutions spanning from business, health, and agri-
culture, technical, vocational to paraprofessional fields. 9

Tertiary Education Level

The tertiary education level in Uganda is comprised of two categories: - namely
degree-awarding universities and ‘other tertiary institutions’ - the technical sub‐sector
which offer diplomas and certificates. Both Universities and “other tertiary Institutions’ are
further categorized into public and private. While public universities/ institutions are estab-
lished by an Act of Parliament, private universities/Institutions are chartered, licensed or
unlicensed. The duration of tertiary education ranges from two to five years depending on
the duration of the course enrolled for.9

Non-Formal Education
Non-Formal Education (NFE) aims to fulfill the educational needs of people who are not in the
regular education system by using tailor-made approaches to cover literacy, life skills, con-
tinuing education, equity education, and income generation. The major activities implement-
ed under the NFE programme are a basic literacy campaign, continuing education, communi-
ty learning centres, equivalency programmes, and non-formal primary education.9

Impact of COVID-19 on Uganda’s Education System

As the COVID-19 pandemic snowballs, the day-to-day reality has created a nightmarish situ-
ation in developed and developing economies. Although to date Uganda has less than 100
confirmed cases with zero deaths, the numbers of those acquiring the virus and associated
death globally is alarming. The impact of the pandemic is already taking a toll on communi-
ties already vulnerable or marginalized – the poor, the rural, the illiterate, women and girls.
And similarly, to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, education has been one of the first
causalities.
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COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

His Excellency the President of the Republic of Uganda on Wednesday 18th March 2020
addressed the nation on coronavirus.13 In his address, he noted that zero registered cases
in Uganda at the time notwithstanding, the volatility of the virus demanded that we take
preventive measures to avoid acquiring and spreading it. To this effect, all Primary and
Secondary Schools, as well as all Universities and Tertiary Institutions, were to close by
mid-day 20th March 2020.14 According to the Ministry of Education, more than 73,000 learn-
ing institutions closed, and consequently, 15 million learners and 600,000 refugee learners
are out of school.15

Without a vaccine for the virus, the end of social distancing measures is uncertain, affecting
reopening of schools and could lead to a very disruptive stop-go period during recovery,
with schools reopening and then closing. With children out of school indefinitely, COVID-19
threatens to reverse years of educational progress in Uganda where daunting challenges
remain and the country’s education system is still confronting three key challenges: access
to, quality of, and relevance of.16

There is an urgent need to provide visionary solutions to mitigate the looming social and
economic challenges ahead. Exacerbated socio-economic hardships imposed on house-
holds by the health crisis will have ripple effects as families consider the financial and
opportunity cost of education.17 Dwindling incomes due to prolonged lockdown could
mean that large numbers of children will never return to the classroom. There is over-
whelming evidence the longer children are out of school, the greater the risk of violence,
rape, child marriages, child labour, prostitution and other life-threatening often criminal
activities.18

There is a window of opportunity to set-up learning systems that could enable the continua-
tion of education through innovative and distance approaches.

13
New Vision (2020a) ‘As It Happened | Museveni Address On Coronavirus’, New Vision. Available at: https://www.newvision.-
co.ug/new_vision/news/1516707/-live-museveni-addresses-nation-coronavirus
14
New Vision (2020b) ‘Museveni Closes Schools, Suspends Church Congregations’, New Vision. Available at: https://www.newvi-
sion.co.ug/new_vision/news/1516721/museveni-closes-schoolssuspends-church-congregations
15
Ssebwami, J. (2020) ‘FULL SPEECH: Education Minister Janet Museveni orders on school term, tertiary institutions’, Post
Media(PML) Daily. Available at: https://www.pmldaily.com/news/education/2020/04/ full-speech-education-minister-jan-
et-museveniorders-on-school-term-tertiary-institutions.html
16
Caerus Capital (2017) THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION IN AFRICA. Durban. Available at: www.caeruscapital.co;Muwagga, A. M.,
Itaaga, N. and Wafula, W. S. (2013) ‘Challenges to Quality Primary and Secondary Education in Uganda’, Zimbabwe Journal of
Educational Research, 25(3). Available at: https://www.ajol.info/index.php/zjer/article/view/97003
17
UNESCO (2020b) School closures caused by Coronavirus (Covid-19).Available at: https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationre-
sponse
18
UNESCO (2020a) Covid-19 school closures around the world will hit girls hardest.Available at: https://en.unesco.org/news/-
covid-19-school-closures-around-world-will-hit-girls-hardest
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COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

Learning ‘using’ technologies in Uganda:

Opportunities and Barriers
Innovative and distance approach to education is synonymous to learning ‘using’ technolo-
gies in the 21st century.19 Learning technologies, that is, print-material, radio, television,
video, audio, telephone, computers and the internet – appear to offer an answer to not only
enabling learning to continue where education has been disrupted but also to offer oppor-
tunities for overcoming geographical access and rigidities of conventional education.

However, with 80% of Uganda’s school-age children and youth living in rural areas charac-
terised with lack of basic living resources and underdeveloped educational and supporting
infrastructure20 , does the difficulty of accessing learning technologies and the digital divide
between privileged and deprived groups continue to widen the educational gap?

That question goes to the heart of the challenge of keeping children learning even in the
face of the COVID-19 pandemic and is the focus of this study. It is a vital question for
Uganda, a country with one of the youngest populations in the world.21 Failure to deliver
this basic right in emergencies and beyond means millions of young people across genera-
tions will continue to shoulder the burden of our inaction.

Education must remain a priority. Securing the continued provision of education during the
COVID-19 pandemic is not only important – it is a necessity to control the spread of the virus
and facilitate the rebuilding process.

This is not an easy challenge and the solutions required may seem intractable and over-
whelming. Nevertheless, this study serves as a contribution to efforts to highlight the
opportunities and key challenges or barriers Uganda faces in trying to diffuse technolo-
gy-based learning to reach its populace and address issues of poverty and educational
access.

Uganda’s capacity for distance learning and the use of mass

media
The National IT survey 2017/2018 found that 65.3 % of Ugandan households owned a radio,
21.8% owned a Television set, 5.9% had access to a computer at home, 10.8% of households
owned a household telephone, and 10.8% of all households had at least one member who
had Internet access.

19
Gulati, S. (2008) ‘Technology-enhanced learning in developing nations: A review’, International Review of Research in Open
and Distance Learning. doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v9i1.477; Kirkwood, A. and Price, L. (2014) ‘Technology-enhanced learning
and teaching in higher education: what is “enhanced” and how do we know? A critical literature review’, Learning, Media and
Technology. Routledge, 39(1), pp. 6–36. doi:10.1080/17439884.2013.770404.
20
UNFPA (2018) Uganda’s Youth Population. Kampala, Uganda. Available at: https://uganda.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/-
pub-pdf/YoungPeople_FactSheet %2811%29_0.pdf
21
Patierno, K., Kaneda, T. and Greenbuam, C. (2019) 2019 World Population Data Sheet, Population Reference Bureau.
Washington, DC. Available at: https://www.prb.org/worldpopdata/
 MAY 2020 8
COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

Of the households with internet access, 99.1% used their mobile phones to access the Inter-
net. The survey also found that overall, 70.9% of all individuals owned a mobile phone.22
Figure 1 below shows a summary of the household indicators.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/04/09/-
covid-19-coronavirus-drives-sub-saharan-africa-toward-first-recession-in-25-years

Figure 1:NATIONAL IT SURVEY 2017/18-Summary of IT household Indicators

Source: NITA, 2018

How can the current capacity be used for distance learning?

Radio
Radio is still a central feature of national life 28 years after private FM broadcasting made its
appearance and changed Ugandan society.23 In 1954, the British colonial administration
introduced broadcasting with the establishment of the Uganda Broadcasting Service. The
radio service at the time mainly aired re-broadcasts of the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) news and was used to execute and promote colonial policies and programmes.24
Today, according to the Uganda Communication Commission Post, Broadcasting and Tele-
communications Market & Industry Q2 Report, 2018, there 292 licenced FM radio stations
in Uganda.The radio stations are spread all over the country and even most upcountry
towns have at least two.25

22
The National Information Technology Survey 2017/18, The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern
Africa (CIPESA) Sample of 2,400 individuals Report available online: https://www.nita.go.ug/sites/default/files/publica-
tions/National%20IT%20Survey%20April%20 10th.pdf
23
Timothy, Kalyegira (2013) ’20 years of FM radio stations in Uganda. Available at: https:meug.org/2013/12/31/20-years-of-fm-
radio-stations-in-uganda/
24
AfriMAP, OSIEA and OSMP (2010) ‘Public Broadcasting in Africa Series: Uganda’. Available at: https://www.opensocietyfoun-
dations.org/uploads/98954150-a6df-49ee-a680-d9d4a8cd07fe/ugandapublic-broadcasting-20100701.pdf
25
Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), Post, Broadcasting and Telecommunications Market & Industry Q2 Report,
2018. Report available online: https://www.ucc.co.ug/wpcontent/uploads/2017/09/Communica tion-Sector-Perfor-
mance-for-the-Quarter-ending-June-2018.pdf
 MAY 2020 9
COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

Listenership figures also support that radio is the most popular medium in Uganda. The
BBC Monitoring Uganda Media Guide Report notes that radio is more popular medium than
television mainly due to poverty and lack of electricity.26 Most Ugandans receive their infor-
mation from radio because of its high level of penetration and affordability. A Steadman
Group (now Synovate) study27, reported that 89 per cent of Ugandans said radio was their
main source of news. People especially in rural areas, listen to the radio at home, at their
friends, relatives or neighbours, and at work.

Radio broadcasting has been used in Uganda for different educational purposes. It was very
essential in the fight against the HIV epidemic in the 1990s and has increasingly been used
to deliver different programmes to the masses.The decentralisation of radio ensures that
cultural, social, and practical knowledge of the target population can be embedded into
program design. This can be exploited to adapt the curriculum to a diverse set of mother
tongues and allow broad participation.

Although radio can serve to enable the continuation of education through the live or record-
ed broadcast sessions for many learners, the learners without access to radio should not be
neglected. Efforts such as the Red Cross distribution of solar radios in remote villages in
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic28, should be studied and best
practices used to roll-out similar campaigns to ensurethat school-going children that still
face grave difficulties in accessing formal education are not left out.

Television

According to the Uganda Communications Commission, there are 39 operational television

stations and seven (7) pay-TV service providers. 29Out of the seven Pay Television Stations,
four (4) broadcast using satellite, two (2) Digital Terrestrial and one (1) uses cable as the
mode of broadcasting. Only the four using satellite have a countrywide coverage. Digital
migration was completed in 2015 and has led to the growth in the number of channels that
viewers can access.

26
BBC Monitoring (2016), Media Guide, Uganda Report. Available online: https://monitoring.bbc.co.uk/country/UGA
27
The Steadman Group, (2009) ‘Uganda Audience Research Survey: Final Report’
28
IFRC (2015), ‘Guinea: “Radio in a box” Ebola campaign’. Available online:https://www.ifrcnewsroom.org/story/en/138/gu-
niea-radio-in-a-box-ebola-campaign
29
Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), Telecommunications, Broadcasting & Postal markets Industry Q3 Report, S
eptember 2019. Report available online: https://www.ucc.co.ug/wpcontent/uploads/2017/09/Communica tion-sector-perfor-
mance-Report-for-the-quarter-endingSeptember-2019.pdf
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COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

Despite the growth in active Pay-TV subscribers, TV access is still low. The Uganda National
Household Survey 2016/1730 found great variations in television ownership across regions:
42% of households in Kampala were reported to own a television; 3% of households owned
a television in Kigezi; 2% of households owned a television in Teso, Bukedi and Acholi, and
1% in West Nile. The findings may be explained by the fact that resources are not evenly
distributed across regions in Uganda. Persistent high levels of poverty in most regions mean
that many households cannot invest in a television set, bear the cost of access to electricity
and are unable to pay service subscription charges that range from a monthly fee of
11,000/= ($2.89) to 219,000/= ($57.54).

The low television ownership statistics across the country has important implications for
developing a framework for the provision of continued learning during the COVID-19 lock-
down and in the future in Uganda. Although television programming is being used to reach
students, as a medium, it is inequitable with huge disparities between rich and poor. There-
fore, it should not be used as a standalone solution but as a combination with other solu-
tions.

Mobile Phones
The introduction of cellular telephony revolutionised Uganda’s telecommunications indus-
try since the first network went live in 1995, with two more followings in 1998 and 2001. As
early as 1999, Uganda became the first country on the continent where the number of
mobile subscribers passed the number of fixed-line users, and the ratio has been growing.31
According to UCC, Uganda has 63.9% mobile penetration and the National Information
Technology Survey found that at an individual level 70.9% individuals owned a mobile
device, and of this only 16 % owned a smartphone.29

Uganda is uniquely advantaged tothe use of mobile phones because of its young popula-
tion. The young populace is knowledgeable about new technologies – smartphone features
and are enthusiastic to explore and learn any technologies, and can learn fast. Also, mobile
phones are stillmore affordable technology than laptops or a computer.

Mobile phones allow for interaction with broadcast lessons and have the potential to
expand content limits through greater interactions. Following the abrupt closure of schools,
teachers have extensively used mobile phone applications like WhatsApp, Facebook and
Google hangouts to continue engaging their students. Holiday work packages that could not
be provided at closure are being forwarded to parents via these phone applications.

30
Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), Uganda National Household Survey 2016/2017 Report. Financial assistance from the
Government of Uganda. Technical input provided by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Economic Policy
Research Centre (EPRC) during the data analysis phase. Survey sample included: 17,320 Households Report available online:
https://www.ubos.org/wpcontent/uploads/publications/03_20182016_UNHS_FINAL_REPORT.pdf
31
ITU (2009), ‘A look at one of Africa’s fastest growing markets.’
Available online: https://www.itu.int/net/itunews/issues/2009/06/31.aspx
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COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

The mobile phone also advances broadcasting. Not only are most phones pre-installed with
a radio application, but it also gives audiences opportunities to call into radio/television
stations to participate. During radio and television educational programmes, learners can
use their mobile phones to ask questions, receive lesson content and individual feedback.

The power of mobile networks to transform education and other services in Uganda
notwithstanding, issues of cost and affordability of mobile internet, access to phone
charging points and lack of digital literacy and responsible use of technology need to be
addressed.

Partnering with mobile networks to offer special tariffs and bundle packages for learning
purposes; exploiting offline mobile phone educational applications and open source soft-
ware platforms, are a few of the strategiesthat can be adapted to overcome the aforemen-
tioned challenges and serve the educational needs of students and teachers.

Internet

Several pieces of literature on distance learning supports the view that more than any other
distance media, the Internet and the web help overcome the barriers of time and space in
teaching and learning.32 The successful offering of single-mode distance education by
South African in 1946 and successes of United Kingdom’s Open University established in
1969 are cited as examples that have led to the opening of other 25 open universities in
developing countries.33 Today, there several massive open online course (MOOC) platforms
offering a wide range of courses from leading universities, private sector and individuals.

However, low internet penetration in Uganda means that a few individuals can access this
mode of learning.22 Furthermore, several technology-related barriers of inadequate infra-
structure; high costs of access; unreliable and poor quality of Internet connections and elec-
tricity services; weak policy regimes; inaccessibility to appropriate software and course-de-
livery platforms; shortage of skilled personnel to manage the resources and maintain new
delivery modes; a technology-illiterate user group; limited bandwidth; and lack access to
online scholarly material have to be overcome for the Internet to become a national option
for extending education and learning.34

32
Bates, T. and Bates, T. (2005) Technology, e-learning and distance education;Gulati, S.
(2008) ‘Technology-enhanced learning in developing nations: A review’, International Review
of Research in Open and Distance Learning. doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v9i1.477.
33
Wagner, G. (1998) ‘ Technology, Open Learning and Distance Education A. W. (Tony) Bates
London and New York, Routledge, 1995, vii + 266 pp.
34
Farell, G. (2007) ICT in Education in Uganda. Available online:https://www.infodev.org/infodevfiles/resource/Infode-
vDocuments_435.pdf
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COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

To develop a framework for the provision of continued learning electronically, the Ministry
of Education and Sports needs to: collect empirical data on ICT access and use; recognise
local differences across rural and urban communities, male and female students; promote
the professional development of teachers so that they can make effective use of ICT; inte-
grate in and out-of-school digital literacy practices; consider how global software can best
be adapted for local use.

Most importantly, for internet supported ICT learning to play its part in supporting continui-
ty of learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately achieving Education for All,
there is an urgent need for collaborative partnerships between a wide range of stakehold-
ers at both the local and global level.

Barriers to accessing these types of delivery platforms

Besides the national challenges of poorly developed ICT infrastructure, high bandwidth
costs, unreliable supply of electricity, and a general lack of resources to meet a broad spec-
trum of needs, there also significant barriers to accessing the delivery platforms discussed
in 5.2. To ensure that any efforts towards distance/remote learning are sustainable, the
issues below should also be addressed to maximise learning and accessibility potential:

Language of instruction: Without planning, there may be difficulties in adapting the curricu-
lum to a diverse set of mother tongues. For remote programming to be relevant to allow
broad participation, mother tongue language provision must be a priority.

Content differentiation: Especially for radio and television provisions, a lack of content
differentiation by class level in delivery may leave content inaccessible or inadequate.
Therefore, solutions allowing the provision of multiple class levels are paramount.

Relevancy and progression: For most parents, the value-add of school is that it leads to
qualifications and a job. Grades, tests and promotions are associated with relevant educa-
tion and pathways to opportunity. Parents examining the opportunity costs usually deprior-
itize poor quality education in lieu of alternate ways for their children to spend their time
and contribute to the family.
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COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

Conclusion
The coronavirus pandemic highlights the ongoing need for education to be the first line of
defence in crisis -not the first casualty. The more than 15 million children out of school as
a result of COVID-19 underline the need for a sustainable solution for education in
emergencies through a dedicated resource pool.

The digital divide in Uganda highlights the enormous inequality gap. The difficulty of
accessing learning technologies and level of digital literacy skills between privileged and
the deprived groups continues to widen the education gap. For the vast majority of
learners living in rural Uganda, online learning is but a dream within a dream. The daily
realities and struggles to access basic needs, means education is often not a priority. As a
nation, the current state of technology infrastructure and access in Uganda only allows for
electronic measures to serve a few and only provide basic programs, and cannot be
comprehensive or long-term solutions.

Uganda cannot afford to continue to look from the sidelines. Talk and discussions on fully
embracing ICT in education must be turned into action. Policymakers must continue to
seek long-term solutions that allow equitable education for all through consultation
processes, learning and interaction with stakeholders. Policymakers should avoid short-
term political and emergency-induced solutions that are often short-sighted and are not
holistic.

Similarly, schools and higher education institutions need to lead the shift to the new ways
of teaching and learning. This demands that institutions ensure that teachers and faculty
members develop the required digital literacy skills, develop effective pedagogical
strategies, and develop peer collaborations and support to secure adequate technology
and bandwidth.

There is an opportunity to develop digital literacies and more equitable systems. It will
require all education stakeholders to support efforts to transition from the traditional rote
learning approach with very limited scope for the application of concepts to a more
practical and interactive approach that supports critical thinking, creativity and lends itself
to a learner-centred instructive approach and electronic learning.
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COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response: Rethinking e-Learning in Uganda

About the Author

Ms Josephine Tumwesige is the Uganda country manager of Rural Senses, a social enter-
prise that combines robust community-driven data collection methods with advanced
artificial intelligence (AI) data analysis algorithms to provide scalable and customisable
solutions for organisations seeking to digitally transform and become more human-centric
and data-driven. She holds a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Engineering for Sustainable
Development from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Telecom-
munications Engineering from Makerere University.

Cover image credit: https://images.app.goo.gl/eLhDQKPgKZHmYoin8

Disclaimer
The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of KAS but
those of the author