Principals asked to rally students to enroll in ECD, embrace digital transformation 

Masindi:Principals and tutors of National and Primary Teachers Colleges in the country have been asked to rally students to enroll in Early Childhood Development (ECD) studies.

The call was made by Kisakye Nsamba Elizabeth, the Principal Education Officer of the Teacher Education Trainings Development Department in charge of Early Childhood Teacher Trainings at the Ministry of Education.

According to Kisakye, there are few ECD teachers in the country, yet the population is growing and the demand is high.

‘’ECD teachers are few; please, we are here for you and you are there for us this year. Tell all principals to rally students to enroll in ECD studies; the population of Uganda needs more, and there are opportunities for them,’’ she added.

Kisakye also encouraged principals to introduce ICT trainings for both ECD and pre-primary teachers in colleges for them to be utilized out there and be able to open Gmail and communicate.

‘’You can’t be a tutor in Uganda when you’re digitally illiterate, yet the students are well versed in digital skills. Some tutors fear computers, some computer labs even have cobwebs, they force them to use computers but they fear,’’ she stressed.

Kisakye was speaking on Thursday, April 25, 2024, at the closure of the 5-day training for principals and tutors at the Redearth Education Center Boardroom in Masindi town.

Over 75 tutors and principals were drawn from the Kigezi and West Nile subregions for training aimed at capacity building of early childhood care and education (ECCE) of tutors and to improve the delivery of the early years of curriculum by nursery teachers.

At the same event, Kisakye handed over 80 iPod phones worth 48 million shillings to tutors and principals donated by the Redearth Education Centre.

Kato Adolf, the Masindi district education officer (DEO), said the training is the beginning of improved service delivery. ‘’Your learning roles, skills, and knowledge must be transferred to the students you’re going to train, and the students will deliver the knowledge to the learners.”

Kato asserted that if the students are well handled, the best will come out of them and their performances. ‘’We are here; we want performance, and we can’t get it without going through you, training, and telling you how you are going to do everything,’’ he added.

Robert Muhangi, the Executive Director of Redearth Education Centre, Masindi Cluster, said this training for transformation project, which they are implementing in partnership with Redearth Education UK with support from the ELMA Foundation, focuses on building capacity for ECCE tutors in colleges.

Muhangi disclosed that the 3-year project which started last year is being implemented in the four colleges of Kabale National Teachers College, St. John Bosco Core Primary Teachers College in Yumbe district, Arua Core Primary Teachers College, and Busuubizi Teachers College Mityana.

‘’We are training these teachers in high-breed skills that rhyme with today’s 21st century, which involves digitalization, while also ensuring that the theory is put into practice,’’ he said, adding that they are developing materials that are approved by the education ministry before training.

Muhangi explains that since part of the programs are being delivered online by the organization’s senior consultants, they have been facing some challenges online since some people don’t have gadgets to access online training, which prompted them to procure 80 iPod phones for the tutors and principals to use for online training.

‘’These iPod phones are not going to be property of the Redearth Education Center but for the colleges to enhance the online or virtual training within the colleges, but they will be assigned to these tutors for this project; however, they are free to use them for other lectures.’’

He also said that the organization would provide internet (data) for the tutors twice a month to enable them to attend the virtual training sessions.

Muhangi also says that through this project, the four colleges where the project is being implemented have been able to establish model nursery schools for their ECD teachers.

Principals speak out

Fred Tusiime, the Deputy Principal Administrator at National Teachers College Kabale, said that previously they were enrolling a few students for ECD, and this was partly because it was misunderstood by the government policy that the ECD program had been temporarily closed, so those enrolling for ECD at the certificate level had stopped while those at the diploma level continued with their studies.

‘’With that statement being put right and clarified, many more students have been enrolled both at certificate and diploma level; previously, we were in our 20s, but now we are in our 100s.’’

Tusiime asked the fellow tutors who have received the gadgets to put them to the right use and ensure they are kept in the best condition so that they can be used for longer.

Rev. Fr. Hillary Kago, the principal of St. John Bosco Core Primary Teachers College in Yumbe district, commended Redearth Education Centre for the donation of the iPod phones and said they will be able to interact with students even during holidays, so learning will continue throughout the year.

‘’Some students only concentrate when they come to colleges, but through these gadgets and this training, we shall be able to engage learners throughout the year, and content coverage will be effectively done.’’

Kago also asked fellow principals and tutors who attended the training to pass on the skills and knowledge they have obtained to students to improve their academic performance, mostly in lower classes.

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