Telecom giants, Airtel Uganda and UNICEF have hit the 130th school connected to high-speed internet in Uganda.
This is part of their efforts to reach 200,000 in-school and out-of-school learners across Uganda.
The announcement was made during on Wednesday the commemoration of the UNESCO International Day of Digital Learning under the theme Digital learning realities in low-resourced contexts where Kasengejje Secondary School in Nansana Municipality, Wakiso district became the 130th school to be connected.
Speaking during the function, the First Lady and Education Minister, Janet Museveni who was represented by Dr. Jane Egau Okou the Under Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Sports under scored the role of digital learning in the current education set up.
“Digital learning became a key means of educational instruction ever since the globe faced Covid pandemic which forced people to think and shift from traditional methods of education to online to online learning. This shift remains with us today and we must therefore engage new technology while being cautions and diligent in assessing the challenges we may face.
“Digital learning is effective in enabling a more individualized way of learning based on the capabilities of the learners, leading to improve learning outcomes. This learning also supersedes the learners location and time, including their pace of interaction with the online content, due to the flexibility in learning, which is a key aspect of digital communication."
She applauded Airtel and UNICEF for the initiative .
Airtel Uganda Managing Director, Soumendra Sahu said they are committed to empowering Ugandan learners.
“No child should fail homework in any household with a smartphone. This network is important for breaking barriers to equitable education and giving undeniable opportunities to children to grow to their full potential. We are creating this potential at the schools to ensure teachers can access modern online resources to deliver brilliant life-changing lessons to our learners,” Soumendra said.
“ We are honored to contribute to Uganda's Education Digital Agenda and are committed to leveraging our extensive robust 4G+5G network to transform learning experiences for young people across the nation."
In 2021, Airtel Uganda and UNICEF launched the partnership in which they roll-outed digital learning by connecting schools to the internet and ensuring free access to learning platforms.
According to officials, as of today, 130 primary and secondary schools across the country have been connected.
They said they seek to connect an additional 71 schools and youth community centers by June 2025, bringing the total to 200 schools nationwide.
Thomas Meyerer, Deputy Representative Operations for UNICEF underscored the rationale of the partnership.
“By increasing access to quality education, we can bridge the gap between urban and rural areas and encourage our children to compete favorably. We seek to achieve a brighter future for Uganda’s population,” said.
He said by connecting 129 schools to internet previously, at least 41000 learners and 1800 teachers have benefited, noting that more will benefit from the additional schools connected.
“By equipping our children with digital literacy, we are not only preparing them to succeed in their studies, but or future employment in a more digital economy and with that, they will contribute to the economic and social fabric of the country by making positive changes in their families and communities.”