Teachers in the country under their umbrella body, the Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU), have asked the Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Kataaha Museveni to improve educational infrastructure for Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
This was at the third 3rd Teachers’ Forum held under the theme: ‘Digital Literacy: The Effective Use of ICT in Enhancing the Quality of Education’, aimed at bringing together teachers and other stake-holders to share ideas about opportunities, trends and challenges in the Ugandan education sector today.
During the Forum, several teachers cited lack of rooms to store computers, lack of qualified teachers to teach ICT in schools, adequate recourses to acquire ICT tools as well as lack of uniformity in ICT curriculum as the biggest challenges facing advancement of ICT in schools.
Ssensamba Gonza, the UNATU Vice Chairperson implored stakeholders in the education sector need to harmonise efforts aimed at improving the quality of education through the provision of ICT.
In response, Mrs Museveni said the ministry has recruited and trained ICT teachers to help improve digital literacy in schools across the country.
“Digital literacy is not just about having ICT in schools, but also sharing knowledge, analyzing, assessing, integrating and creating new knowledge and effectively communicating, that is why the Ministry of Education is training and recruiting teachers,” she said.
She added: “It is our duty as the Ministry of Education to ensure that children in the whole country especially the rural areas have access to these same ICT facilities so that all our children in the country can be at the same level.”
Majority of schools in both the rural and urban areas have no access to digital learning tools which creates a big divide in digital literacy.
The event was facilitated by the British Council in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU), Vodafone Uganda and ICDL.
The Vodafone Uganda CEO, John Ndego noted that the company will continue to use mobile technology to ensure easy access to education content and also to offer a positive and interactive learning environment.
“We will be contributing effectively to the students to create tomorrow and shaping their future. Having access to technology gives students power to endless possibilities, power to be who they want to be, connect with their peers across the globe. This is our mission, to empower the future generation of our country,” Mr Ndego said.
Karen McCormack, the British Council acting Country Director, noted that developing digital literacy should be a key area of concern for all education stakeholders across the divide.
