The introduction of the new competency based curriculum in lower secondary school in 2020 raised a storm among the academic circles. A lot of points were raised for and against it with many notting that we were not yet ready for it. In response, the government of Uganda through the Ministry of Education and Sports and the National Curriculum Development Center embarked on a series of workshops to retool the teachers on best practices of how this was to be best implemented.
Eventually, the first batch of students sat for their final exams in 2024, which were done successfully with no major incident. Even when the storm has subsided, it was discovered that continuous retooling was necessary in order to keep the momentum that would eventually set the ball rolling for other levels of education.
One of the key aspects of the new curriculum was the intentional involvement of ICTs in teaching and learning across all subjects. Despite the good intentions, progress in this area has been slow. Transitioning from the narrative that computer labs were strictly for ICT classes was slow and painful. Enter Uganda Communications Commission.
Like last year, the Uganda Communications Commission organised a series of stakeholders’ engagement workshops where ICT integration and the advent of AI i teaching and learning were key topics. At the workshop that took place at Soroti Hotel, I represented the ICT Teachers Association of Uganda to deliver a talk on ICT Integration in the new curriculum. The meeting was attended by headteachers and ICT teachers from Eastern Uganda who were beneficiaries of computer labs, internet and Cyber School software from UCC under the UCUSAF project.
The Talk
I started off with reminding participants about 6 key aspects of the competency based curriculum with emphasis on ICT integration and what it meant for the ICT department at the schools. Teachers were implored to continue finding new ways of integrating ICTs in not only their subjects but also help teachers in other departments in order fulfill the intentions of the curriculum.
I went on to explore what digitisation of teaching and learning meant with examples in key areas like assessment, online classes, ebooks, virtual labs, Learning Management Systems and AI guided lessons. While the audience shared their worries about the budgets involved, they were advised to start with what was available at hand in order to reap from the benefits of tech in teaching and learning.
The Role of Teachers
I reminded fellow ICT teachers of their role in championing the adoption of ICTs in teaching and learning so that it became easier for others to pick a leaf or two from them. I particularly emphasized the need to support fellow teachers, innovate in their field and promote digital citizenship.
This was also an opportunity to remind the school administrators of their role in the implementation of ICT integration in teaching and learning. I mentioned that as leaders, their role involved visionary leadership, policy development, supervision, monitoring and evaluation among others.
I concluded my talk with a call to action where and guide on a few things to think about as they embarked on an intentional effort to integrate ICT across all departments in their institutions. These involved: having an active gmail account, starting out on social media, start a YouTube channel, develop an ICT policy and if possible build a school website with the help of tehir learners.
With the insights shared, it was unanimously agreed that while government through UCC continues to support schools in the area of ICTs, the combined efforts of school administration and the willingness of ICT teachers to support other departments and widen the use of ICTs in the school were key in achieving even better results.
Download presentation here.