A teacher with impeccable fine art skills somewhere in Africa had drawn a Microsoft Word interface on the blackboard of his classroom. He would use that image to teach the learners about computers and most importantly how to use Microsoft Word.
Microsoft Word is one of the most essential computer programs that people use to create all sorts of documents. It is also the entry point for most learners when it comes to using computers for documentation purposes. The teacher must have found it important to teach his learners how to use it.
I don’t know, though, whether the learners learnt anything. Learning how to use a computer is majorly practical. Without a computer, you would be most likely wasting time. But what choices did the teacher have?
Uganda, through its ministry of Education and Sports, has launched its digital agenda strategy that is expected to see improvements in teaching and learning outcomes, according to newspaper reports. Thus, laptops, tablet computers, smartphones and such other devices will be allowed in schools to facilitate learning.
It is a good idea because digital skills are necessary for the 21st century. Learners must, therefore, be computer-literate if they are to compete in this rapidly digitally changing world. Digital skills are so essential today that employers expect every job seeker to possess at least the basic ones. Yet largely in Africa, this has been missing.
There are many reasons for this. Lack of the devices such as computers, electricity to power them and even the internet these days even though the cost per gigabyte of data has been reducing over the years in Uganda, it is still out of reach for many people and more so for rural schools.
In some areas, the internet coverage may exist but not of the required speeds such as 4G and 5G to facilitate a seamless learning experience. Nothing is more frustrating than videos buffering or unable to download or upload at all.
There are 27.7 million internet subscriptions in the country, resulting in an internet national penetration rate of 61 connections for every 100 Ugandans, according to the Uganda Communications Commission June 2023 performance report. In the period of more than a year since that report, the numbers must have significantly gone up.
It is, therefore, the right time for the ministry to launch its digital strategy though it must be careful enough not to widen the digital divide. Schools, especially public ones, must be facilitated with devices through grants that can enable children to learn as most parents especially in rural Uganda can’t even afford a feature phone (kabiriiti) and, therefore, shouldn’t be expected to provide digital devices to their children. Electricity to power them must be extended too.
Teachers will need to undergo training so that they are empowered to teach these lessons. Already, they are crying about being asked to possess bachelor’s degrees and as many as 5,000 are leaving the profession, according to media reports. They see no monetary value in going back to school to upgrade.
Already, many teachers never returned to classrooms after Covid-19. They had already moved on to other things such as petty trade, farming and boda boda riding. Digital skills are very dynamic and new technologies emerge all the time. The teachers will have to keep up with the rapid changes so that they don’t impart learners with yesterday’s skills.
It is a daunting task, though, for the Ugandan public service. Today, in many cases, if you send an email to most people in public service, you have to call them several times to remind them that you sent an email. In some of these offices, it is not even uncommon to be informed that there is no data to check emails. Many times, officers don’t even have a working computer.
I believe many public schools don’t have a working computer either. In fact, there is a school in northern Uganda where my Rotary club has built a lab pending provision of such digital devices. Although some of the teachers have email accounts, they usually ride a boda boda a few kilometres away to a trading centre to be able to access emails. I believe many schools face similar challenges.
The new digital approach cuts out the job for the ministry of Education to empower learners with the digital skills they need to take on the challenges of the 21st century. And since the highest level of education the majority of Ugandans will ever attain is secondary education, the implementation of this new digital strategy couldn’t have come at a better time.
djjuuko@gmail.com
The writer is a communication and visibility consultant
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