We will never again close education institutions due to pandemics, says gov’t

The State Minister for Higher Education, Dr.John Chrysostom Munyingo has said the Ugandan government will never again close education institutions due to a pandemic like it happened previously.

Uganda made the record for closing its education institutions for close to two years due to the Covid pandemic.

The schools were fully reopened in January.

Speaking while in South Africa where he toured the Huawei exhibition hall for the smart education solutions for Africa, Muyingo said government has learnt lessons and it will never repeat the same mistake.

“The Coronavirus pandemic presented the education sector with profound challenges especially within developing countries. No one foresaw the coming of this pandemic and the crippling effect it would have on our economies. In Uganda, 15 million learners were out of school for two years, and our education sector, like most countries around the world, was forced to rethink the delivery of Education,”Muyingo said.

“It was a big lesson learnt which the country is now aggressively addressing through a digital agenda strategy. With the broad experience that Huawei has developed over the years, I am confident that this partnership can help us to find more innovative solutions to these challenges that we are facing. With the education solutions available, we shall never again close our education institutions because of Covid-19 or any other pandemic.”

Minister Muyingo who represented the Ugandan government applauded Huawei for supporting the digitalization efforts in the country more so the education sector.

“I thank Huawei Technologies for supporting digitalization efforts in the country generally, and more specifically for the support to the ICT initiatives focusing on the education sector.”

He noted that the Ugandan government is committed to up scaling and mainstreaming ICT in the delivery of education as a measure to facilitate not only improved delivery and make continued learning more interesting, but also prepare for any eventualities in the future.

According to Muyingo, the Education Ministry is working with the National Council for Higher Education and the institutions of higher learning to accredit technology initiatives for long distance learning and smart education solutions.

“We requested our National Council for Higher Education to work with our universities and accredit them to operate through open and distance e-Learning. Not all were able to operate during the lockdown, but many started building their capacity to offer on-line learning and to-date they have adopted and operate a multi-pronged approach to teaching and learning. I see opportunity here for capacity building, and I request all of us here to come together, share ideas and make the best use of this innovation and experience to improve our chances of success for use of digital solutions now, and for any future disruptions of learning in our respective countries,”Muyingo said.

Meanwhile, at the same ceremony, Huawei launched its LEAP skills development programme.

Announced at its ICT competition awards Ceremony, LEAP aims to help advance the ICT skills of more than 100 000 people across the Sub-Saharan Africa region within three years.

The LEAP programme, which stands for Leadership, Employability, Advancement and Possibilities, is aimed at fostering stronger digital leadership and a skilled ICT workforce, building a digital talent pool, and promoting digital literacy among citizens.

It includes a wide range of activities spanning from ICT training and certification courses, government digital capacity building and ICT skills competitions.