Covid19: Ministry weighs options of achieving learning outcomes, promotion

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT | The Education and Sports Ministry is discussing possible alternatives of ensuring that learners achieve the desired learning outcomes pending the government’s decision in January next year on whether or not to reopen studies for non-candidate classes. The learners were in the middle of the first term when government announced the nationwide closure of educational institutions in March this year to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the learners, especially senior one and five, had hardly spent two weeks at school. The government rejected the idea of announcing a dead because of its perceived impact on the entire education system. Now, the Ministry is focusing on determining how learners at primary and secondary school levels can cover their respective class syllabi and achieve the needed competencies to pave way for their promotion to the next classes. 

The Higher Education State Minister, John Chrysostom Muyingo notes that their earlier arrangement suffered setbacks with the delayed rollout of the second phase of the proposed long-distance learning program.  He says they had planned that if learners were continuously engaged in any form of learning during the school closure, teachers would conduct remedial teaching and assessment to determine their promotion.

“Our initial plan was to have these learners learn something while at home. However, it has not worked well as per our plans. And therefore we need to look for means of ensuring that we achieve the desired learning outcomes without having a dead year,” says Muyingo.

The government was expected to distribute self-study materials covering the entire syllabus for each subject in addition to televised and broadcasted lessons in the long-distance learning program. However, the government has failed to secure funding for the radio receivers as parliament trashed the idea. 

Apparently, it seems impractical to rely on continued learning during the lockdown as the majority of the 14 million learners who have spent home eight months lack access to any kind of self-study materials. In addition, there have been several reports, some from government agencies, indicating that no learning is taking place. Other reporters indicate that the children have already lost interest in learning. 

What Plans are Available?   

Muyingo says there are two options. One to reopen schools for the second term and later the third term for all learners, save for the finalists who are already at school or compact the term one content for the learners.

“If a learner is coming back (save the needed assessment reports) they will be coming back as part of this running academic year. Remember we have already made the amendment and finalists are finishing their second term right? Still, we will need to make a decision on which term the rest of the learners will be returning to attend,” he said.  

Dr. Kedrace Turyagenda, a seasoned educationist and Director for Education Standards in Ministry of Education, says as schools reopen there is need for a radical and robust strategy to ensure that learning happens.

According to her, no learner will just come out of the lockdown and match to the next classroom. Dr Turyagenda notes that they are planning a mechanism where teachers will ensure that learners have the needed competence before they proceed to the next class.   

A similar concept was put into consideration when the government was planning to reopen candidate classes. Although many people were calling for the reopening for the third term, authorities in the education ministry settled for the second term so that learners have enough time to get the needed competencies before being subjected to national examinations.  

A decision on whether to reopen or not will be declared after the ministry of education and their health counterparts have completely assessed the compliance level of schools with the set COVID-19 operating procedures and their readiness to increase student numbers in line with the COVID-19 situation in the country.

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