Homeschooling can’t replace teachers - experts
Schools that were closed after the outbreak of COVID-19 are yet to reopen.
KAMPALA- Education experts have advised that no amount of homeschooling will replace a teacher and asked government to ensure that content is revised once schools reopen.
The Uwezo country director, Dr Gorretti Nakabugo, yesterday said though the homeschooling is supposed to keep children busy during the lockdown, the materials should be revisited to ensure all learners understand the concepts when school resumes.
“It is not that this homeschooling is going to replace teachers. No, you can’t replace a teacher. It is trying to close a gap. It was going to be extremely challenging if there was no arrangement to ensure some continuity of schooling at home,” she said.
She warned against a dead year saying it will cause a crisis if learners do not progress to the next level.
“I hope we are not going to have a dead year. It will be terrible. Not everything in curriculum is relevant. It can be compressed to avoid a dead year. Very few children were learning even in the presence of teachers. It is not going to be a lot of learning without teachers,” she said.
“We can’t depend on children teaching themselves with new materials.”
Dr Nakabugo acknowledged that children who already had learning difficulties will not benefit much from the programme but that it will be good for those whose understanding was average.
Interrogation of materials
The Uganda National Teachers’ Union secretary, Mr Filbert Baguma, like Dr Nakabugo, advised that the quality of materials being developed be interrogated and the best teachers deliver the content on the various platforms of radio and television.
“ I know they are part of the curriculum but I think an extra mile has to be taken. I know National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) is doing that but there is need for research to understand how they are developed, distributed, how children are using them and whether they understand them,” Dr Nakabugo observed.
Ms Grace Baguma, the NCDC director, told Daily Monitor that the materials they are developing for homeschooling will now tackle new topics as were designed in the old setup.
However, areas which require practicals that involve use of chemicals have been deferred to when schools reopen so that they are performed with the assistance of teachers.
Dr Nakabugo asked government to facilitate the programme to have quality input in content development enough for all children to access across the country.
