Nakasero Senior School in Kampala has been the first school to allow students to carry their smartphones to their classes.
By allowing learners to use their smartphones, the school administration intends to facilitate the implementation of the new Lower secondary school curriculum.
Mr Godfrey Mubiru, the school director of studies explained that they found it important as a school to allow the learners to use smartphones due to the demands of the new curriculum which is hands-on and more learners centred.
In this new curriculum, learners are expected to carry out their own research and write notes. According to Mubiru, the teacher’s role ends at introducing the topic and helping the learners to form groups to research and share knowledge among themselves.
He also explained that smartphones have since helped them to overcome the challenge of limited learners’ guides for the new curriculum as every student can now download the material using their smartphones for effective learning.
“We’ve made a very perfect programme at Nakasero. We’re letting students come with phones because we looked at this as the best way every student can have the learners’ guide for effectiveness. They also need to make research since they are the ones to make their own notes. We are using the phones, the computer lab and the library. However, for more effectiveness, we came to realise the phones are better. That’s why we’re letting them in class,” he said.
Currently, Uganda has no approved ICT policy on education, which would have set standards for the formal education sector.
However, Mubiru explains that the school administrators are perfectly aware that smartphones are a huge distraction to learners, and they therefore came up with regulations on how the learners are supposed to use them.
Upon arrival at school, the learners deposit the phones in the DOS’s office with clear identification. According to Mubiru, the learners only use the phones during class time under the supervision of the subject teacher.
Skepticism:
Godwine Nuwagaba, a senior one student said it was not easy to convince his parents to buy him a smartphone for learning purposes.
“They gave in after realizing that the school would be in charge of the phones during school hours,” he said.
However, apart from the challenge of data, he said they find it easy to research on the different topics assigned to them.
Previously, carrying a mobile phone to school would be punishable and in some schools lead to expulsion. However, last year, the ministry of education and sports allowed student teachers to carry phones.
Dr Jane Egau, the Director of Teacher Training and Education noted that this is a sensitive area, adding that the ministry had already embarked on the process of working on a national framework that will guide the integration of digital learning.