{UAH} THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION'S ANNOUNCEMENT TO STOP MODERN ON LINE EDUCATION - AN INDICATION OF UGANDA'S ROTTEN EDUCATION SYSTEM*
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THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION'S ANNOUNCEMENT TO STOP MODERN ON LINE EDUCATION - AN INDICATION OF UGANDA'S ROTTEN EDUCATION SYSTEM*
Sunday 5th April, 2020
*BY CONRAD MUTYABA.*
On the 4th of April 2020, the minister of education announced that institutions of higher learning including *UCU* should not conduct any form of teaching including on line exams or classes.
This was supposedly in line with the presidential directive instructing all universities, schools and other institutions of learning to close immediately. According to the president, he intended to decongest centralised big cells of students who were a fertile ground for the quick spread of the novel covid - 19.
That was effectively adhered to. Some universities including UCU came up with creative and novel ideas of conducting on line classes, and on line take home exams. A wonderful innovative step in Uganda's predominantly archaic education system.
The strategy was simple. Give students there exam through any means possible. E- mail, social media class groups, etc. give them enough time (18 days to be exact) to write their exam from the comfort of their homes using either their smart phone, laptop, tablet. Etc. then students send their answers to the university through email.
This would have encouraged research based work, creativity, reduced exam related panic and mental pressure associated with class room exams.
Such a system would have saved lecturers from contracting the deadly corona virus emanating from exchange of answer papers ( from where the corona virus is scientifically proven to last up to five days ) and kept certain key low risk sectors of the economy running. lecturers and other key workers would stay employed easing pressure on the government.
Besides, ucu had allowed all students to do their exams with out paying a single coin for those that couldn't and would pay on assessing their exams or on graduation.
Which graduation would most *probably* be done on line, in real time and there after deliverance of academic transcripts at a students known address. What a creative idea!
*Why the decision to stop ucu on line exams is not wise*
First, its economically straining to students and parents. When they emerge from the quarantine, they will all be financially drained, to ask students to travel back to universities will require huge amounts of money for transportation of property and persons, paying new hostel accommodation, food, up keep and obviously an extra fee to the university for standard operations.
Parents who haven't been working for a month or more won't have that money.
As a result students are most likely to drop out.
(a report by govt recently indicated close to a *million* Ugandans would have slipped back in to *bottle tight poverty* by end of quarantine)
Secondly, and most importantly, the ministers decision to suspend ucu take home exams was in violation of *Article 28* of the Constitution of Uganda, which under *Article 44 (c) is non derogable* ( it can never be suspended no matter the circumstances) reference is made to the ucu vice Chancellors letter, dated 4th April 2020, the minister afforded the university no hearing at all before she announced the prohibition.This is unfair and unacceptable!
In law, contestable, illegal and irrational.
Thirdly, its a step back wards to Uganda's already backward and old styled education system. Today all over the world, universities have resorted to continuing their classes on line and administering take home on line exams. Forward looking economies eg. The uk, usa, china, south africa, Nigeria etc are encouraging this for students not to lose time, money and effort due to the uncertainty posed by the covid - 19 around the world, no one truly knows when it will come to an end.
Such universities conducting take home online exams include: California, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Texas which started exams on 23rd march, Berkeley, MIT, zhejiang (China) among others. The list is end less.
Besides, the move by the ministry of education discourages development of technological capacities by other universities, as there seen as redundant when needed, like for example in such times. This is when Uganda's ICT infrastructure must be put to an evaluation test.
World over, degrees, masters, PhDs etc are done on line as such ucu's strategy was not un- precedented.
Fourthly, the ministries declaration is not in line with the rationale behind the presidents directive of closing universities.
The purpose of the presidential directive was to displace big congregations of students in to smaller cells, the so called social distancing.The directive couldn't have meant that classes and exams shouldn't be administered in an all inclusive manner as we have to look at the mischief the president intended to cure.
which was reducing on the gathering of students.On line take home exams are safe and pose no health risk to the student or lecturer.
The ucu on line exam policy was all inclusive and had predominantly covered all possible loop hole's. To curb plagiarism all exams were subject to a plagiarism soft ware test.
Students had been given sufficient notice for the take home exam about ( 2 weeks or more ) to do preparations such as to buy, borrow or find a loptop to type ones exam or use their smart phones where necessary to type their answers at worst.
( its very less likely that a student paying between 2.5 to 4.3 million in ucu can honestly fail to access a laptop to type there exam either through out his whole family or friend network)
Otherwise how have the same students been doing their course work take home exams that are always typed ? Such students have been borrowing, and even hiring others to type for them. The same tactics could therefore be employed by a student for their take home exam.
Its part of training that students should learn to be creative and manoeuvre challenging tasks as the world they strive to work in is not any different.
Be that as it may, in the worst case a student could still have written their answers on a paper. Scanned them using any on line application and emailed it to the university for assessment.
( according to statistics about 96 percent of students at ucu have smart phones) the 4 percent have an immediate neighbour with one.
Ucu had also arranged free internet to down load the exams and upload them for every student free of charge for the exam period.
For a student who has no access to electricity at their home had no reason to go there as opposed to a relatives place with electricity knowing their soon having an exam. This shows the necessary *mens rea* (guilty mind) lack of planning and actions not expected of an intellectual at university level. Such a student would be a risk to the future of this nation.
( That's why we are burdened with leaders today, who wait for desert locusts to arrive and destroy crops in Uganda having known of their advancement months earlier then they rush to purchase spraying equipment and chemicals on their arrival)
Lastly, the minister instructed universities to resume exams and classes on 2nd may, 2020. This is untenable, risky and too early a pronouncement, likely to reverse the little achievements by the ministry of health.
Her assumption probably was that a few weeks from now the covid-19 virus would have been wiped out of Uganda and universities safe to resume. Its a good imagination, but that's all it is.
Even counties like China praised for their effective modes of combating the virus have taken up to three months to fight it. And their not about to stop it, just recently China quarantined another town in a *Wuhan* like manner having another out break.
The UK experts declared that the virus is likely to be with them for up to four months or more may be 6 months or even more. These are statements of un- certainty from a country with one of the worlds best medical equipments, systems, health experts, money, hospitals.
Its therefore clearly less likely as numbers of infected cases in Uganda are raising per day. Some infected persons having sneaked through the airport in to the public, up to now un-traced that the lock down will end as earlier pronounced or that universities will open by 2nd may.
Opening universities too soon is likely to spread the corona virus like wild fire at rates un imaginable!
Its therefore clear that universities are not about to open, should they open soon, then that would have been our greatest undoing in this corona people fight as declared by the fountain of honour.
The challenge the president now finds is to give guidance on his declaration and reverse what his wife and minister of education clearly wrongly pronounced. The president I know will obviously keep silent and let it pass. Sadly, to the long term detriment of the country, its citizens and the education system.
--
-- Sunday 5th April, 2020
*BY CONRAD MUTYABA.*
On the 4th of April 2020, the minister of education announced that institutions of higher learning including *UCU* should not conduct any form of teaching including on line exams or classes.
This was supposedly in line with the presidential directive instructing all universities, schools and other institutions of learning to close immediately. According to the president, he intended to decongest centralised big cells of students who were a fertile ground for the quick spread of the novel covid - 19.
That was effectively adhered to. Some universities including UCU came up with creative and novel ideas of conducting on line classes, and on line take home exams. A wonderful innovative step in Uganda's predominantly archaic education system.
The strategy was simple. Give students there exam through any means possible. E- mail, social media class groups, etc. give them enough time (18 days to be exact) to write their exam from the comfort of their homes using either their smart phone, laptop, tablet. Etc. then students send their answers to the university through email.
This would have encouraged research based work, creativity, reduced exam related panic and mental pressure associated with class room exams.
Such a system would have saved lecturers from contracting the deadly corona virus emanating from exchange of answer papers ( from where the corona virus is scientifically proven to last up to five days ) and kept certain key low risk sectors of the economy running. lecturers and other key workers would stay employed easing pressure on the government.
Besides, ucu had allowed all students to do their exams with out paying a single coin for those that couldn't and would pay on assessing their exams or on graduation.
Which graduation would most *probably* be done on line, in real time and there after deliverance of academic transcripts at a students known address. What a creative idea!
*Why the decision to stop ucu on line exams is not wise*
First, its economically straining to students and parents. When they emerge from the quarantine, they will all be financially drained, to ask students to travel back to universities will require huge amounts of money for transportation of property and persons, paying new hostel accommodation, food, up keep and obviously an extra fee to the university for standard operations.
Parents who haven't been working for a month or more won't have that money.
As a result students are most likely to drop out.
(a report by govt recently indicated close to a *million* Ugandans would have slipped back in to *bottle tight poverty* by end of quarantine)
Secondly, and most importantly, the ministers decision to suspend ucu take home exams was in violation of *Article 28* of the Constitution of Uganda, which under *Article 44 (c) is non derogable* ( it can never be suspended no matter the circumstances) reference is made to the ucu vice Chancellors letter, dated 4th April 2020, the minister afforded the university no hearing at all before she announced the prohibition.This is unfair and unacceptable!
In law, contestable, illegal and irrational.
Thirdly, its a step back wards to Uganda's already backward and old styled education system. Today all over the world, universities have resorted to continuing their classes on line and administering take home on line exams. Forward looking economies eg. The uk, usa, china, south africa, Nigeria etc are encouraging this for students not to lose time, money and effort due to the uncertainty posed by the covid - 19 around the world, no one truly knows when it will come to an end.
Such universities conducting take home online exams include: California, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Texas which started exams on 23rd march, Berkeley, MIT, zhejiang (China) among others. The list is end less.
Besides, the move by the ministry of education discourages development of technological capacities by other universities, as there seen as redundant when needed, like for example in such times. This is when Uganda's ICT infrastructure must be put to an evaluation test.
World over, degrees, masters, PhDs etc are done on line as such ucu's strategy was not un- precedented.
Fourthly, the ministries declaration is not in line with the rationale behind the presidents directive of closing universities.
The purpose of the presidential directive was to displace big congregations of students in to smaller cells, the so called social distancing.The directive couldn't have meant that classes and exams shouldn't be administered in an all inclusive manner as we have to look at the mischief the president intended to cure.
which was reducing on the gathering of students.On line take home exams are safe and pose no health risk to the student or lecturer.
The ucu on line exam policy was all inclusive and had predominantly covered all possible loop hole's. To curb plagiarism all exams were subject to a plagiarism soft ware test.
Students had been given sufficient notice for the take home exam about ( 2 weeks or more ) to do preparations such as to buy, borrow or find a loptop to type ones exam or use their smart phones where necessary to type their answers at worst.
( its very less likely that a student paying between 2.5 to 4.3 million in ucu can honestly fail to access a laptop to type there exam either through out his whole family or friend network)
Otherwise how have the same students been doing their course work take home exams that are always typed ? Such students have been borrowing, and even hiring others to type for them. The same tactics could therefore be employed by a student for their take home exam.
Its part of training that students should learn to be creative and manoeuvre challenging tasks as the world they strive to work in is not any different.
Be that as it may, in the worst case a student could still have written their answers on a paper. Scanned them using any on line application and emailed it to the university for assessment.
( according to statistics about 96 percent of students at ucu have smart phones) the 4 percent have an immediate neighbour with one.
Ucu had also arranged free internet to down load the exams and upload them for every student free of charge for the exam period.
For a student who has no access to electricity at their home had no reason to go there as opposed to a relatives place with electricity knowing their soon having an exam. This shows the necessary *mens rea* (guilty mind) lack of planning and actions not expected of an intellectual at university level. Such a student would be a risk to the future of this nation.
( That's why we are burdened with leaders today, who wait for desert locusts to arrive and destroy crops in Uganda having known of their advancement months earlier then they rush to purchase spraying equipment and chemicals on their arrival)
Lastly, the minister instructed universities to resume exams and classes on 2nd may, 2020. This is untenable, risky and too early a pronouncement, likely to reverse the little achievements by the ministry of health.
Her assumption probably was that a few weeks from now the covid-19 virus would have been wiped out of Uganda and universities safe to resume. Its a good imagination, but that's all it is.
Even counties like China praised for their effective modes of combating the virus have taken up to three months to fight it. And their not about to stop it, just recently China quarantined another town in a *Wuhan* like manner having another out break.
The UK experts declared that the virus is likely to be with them for up to four months or more may be 6 months or even more. These are statements of un- certainty from a country with one of the worlds best medical equipments, systems, health experts, money, hospitals.
Its therefore clearly less likely as numbers of infected cases in Uganda are raising per day. Some infected persons having sneaked through the airport in to the public, up to now un-traced that the lock down will end as earlier pronounced or that universities will open by 2nd may.
Opening universities too soon is likely to spread the corona virus like wild fire at rates un imaginable!
Its therefore clear that universities are not about to open, should they open soon, then that would have been our greatest undoing in this corona people fight as declared by the fountain of honour.
The challenge the president now finds is to give guidance on his declaration and reverse what his wife and minister of education clearly wrongly pronounced. The president I know will obviously keep silent and let it pass. Sadly, to the long term detriment of the country, its citizens and the education system.
--
"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"
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