IICD supported project: ICT Basic Training

Countries: Uganda [UG]
Sectors: education

Summary

With adequately trained manpower, ICT-based skills can easily be passed on to learners at all levels. This project aims to train a critical mass of teachers in ICT-based skills and targets teachers on both pre-service (Teacher Training Institutes) and in-service (Senior Secondary Schools) programmes. The project has trained tens of thousands of Ugandan teachers since it was first launched in 2001.

Update

Updated: 2005-08-01

During the last two years the project has trained large numbers of teachers in ICT-based skills, focussing in particular on developing training content (curriculum), defining training methodology, setting up computer training labs, procuring training equipment and material, identifying and training trainers, training in ICT basic skills, managing the computer training labs, and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) issues. The target groups have included lecturers and students at the Institute of Teacher Education Kyambogo (ITEK), tutors and students from Uganda’s ten National Teacher Colleges (NTCs), and in-service teachers from Senior Secondary Schools (SSSs). During the project’s first year in 2001, a total of 3,546 people were trained. By 2005, the annual figure had risen to 8,500. <br><br>

Uganda’s Ministry of Education and Sport (MOES) supports this project and now plans to fully integrate ICT into the national curriculum: in 2005 the Ministry insisted that all of Uganda’s secondary schools should allow their teachers to go for ICT training and should have a budget for ICT. The project runs in tandem with another IICD-supported project at ITEK called <a href= http://www.iicd.org/projects/articles/IICDprojects.import37>‘ICT-based Education Content’</a>.

Objectives

The project was launched in March 2001 and is based at the Institute of Teacher Education Kyambogo (ITEK). Its activities include:

• Developing training content (curriculum)
• Defining training methodology
• Setting up computer training labs
• Procuring training equipment and material
• Identifying and training trainers
• Training in ICT basic skills
• Managing the computer training labs
• Monitoring and Evaluating the project

The target groups are 1) lecturers and Students of ITEK, 2) tutors and students of the 10 National Teacher Colleges (NTCs) and 30 in-service teachers of Senior Secondary Schools (SSSs).

ICT Basic Training will have been incorporated in the curriculum implying that credits will be allocated to successful students. This also means that other subjects will drop a commensurate number of credit points. This in turn results in mainstreaming of ICT in the curricula. The project runs in tandem with the project ICT Based Education Content, also at ITEK.

Development Impacts

Education is high on the Ugandan government’s list of priorities. Convinced that education has the highest leverage and multiplier effect to foster national development, the government has been implementing the Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy since 1996. This policy aims to enable all Ugandan children to acquire at least seven years of education. To achieve this, the government agreed to pay the primary school fees of up to four children per family for a seven-year period. Primary school enrolments doubled as a result. While a lot of effort and funds have been put into coping with the dramatic increase in numbers in the primary schools, the effects of this policy have started to filter through to the Secondary Schools. Innovative ways are urgently needed to deliver high quality education to this growing body of schoolchildren and ICTs can play a key role here. They are currently being used to improve the quality of the teaching staff by empowering them to mainstream ICTs in their professional work.

Results

The number of persons trained per year is shown in the table below.

	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5
ICT Skills Training (no. of persons trained)	3,546	6,500	7,500	8,000	8,500

Project Owner : Institute of Teacher Education Kyambogo (ITEK)

Project Partners : IICD, Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES)

Project Contact : IICD