BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE FOR REFUGEES IN UGANDA

ECW investment in Uganda, delivered by UNHCR, supports COVID-19 education continuity plan to ensure students, including refugees, continue to learn.

By Education Cannot Wait

April 21^st, 2021

Adapted Story from the Field. Special contribution by James Kiwalabye Male and UNHCR (Original).

“Technology is a tool that has the potential to elevate millions of young people out of marginalization and poverty. It empowers girls and boys with previously unavailable information, new networks and channels to learn and develop 21st century skills.” -Yasmine Sherif, Director of ECW

Micah Egessa, 26, was among the teachers who learned how to use a tablet-based learning platform so he could help his students continue their education from home during the COVID-19 school lockdowns in Uganda.

“I was excited to work with refugees,” says the mathematics and physics teacher at Nakivale Secondary School.

“Teaching children how to count is easy but teaching them what counts in their life is a huge responsibility.”

Last March, Uganda instituted a lockdown to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the country. All education institutions were closed and 15 million learners were sent back home, including 600,000 refugee children. The Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), in cooperation with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UNICEF and other partners, developed a national COVID-19 Response Plan for Education to ensure continuity of learning during the pandemic through investments from Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UN's global fund for education in emergencies.

A young girl uses a laptop at the Kamurasi Demonstration Primary School. © UNICEF Uganda/2019/Adriko

Vulnerable girls and boys in Uganda, and their ability to access quality, inclusive education, have been severely impacted by the pandemic.

As education systems worldwide transitioned to virtual or distance learning, a daunting digital divide has become apparent – affecting the most vulnerable and marginalised students the most, especially girls. The United Nations has stated that digital inequality further reinforces existing social and gender inequality.

According to UNHCR, refugee girls are only half as likely to be enrolled in secondary school as boys. Already faced with considerable hurdles in accessing education, this additional gap in technology availability and training has kept many girls and young women in Uganda from continuing their learning.

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and partners are striving to change that.

Girls and boys at the Kamurasi Demonstration Primary School utilize technology in the classroom. Students with hearing and visual impairments benefit from assisted devices. © UNICEF Uganda/2019/Adriko

“As a teacher, my role is to make things easier for my pupils.”

To support the implementation of Uganda's plan, UNHCR, with contributions from ECW, took an “Ed Tech”’ approach and invested in tablet devices to enable secondary school girls and boys to continue their learning during the COVID-19 restrictions. A total of 2,115 tablets were procured for 35 secondary schools and loaded with learning content, as approved by the Ugandan National Curriculum Development Centre. With most schools lacking access to electricity, UNHCR also purchased 2,115 power banks to ensure fast charging for the tablets.

This innovative, ECW-backed initiative in Uganda has been in the making for a couple of years. In 2019, ECW partnered with HP and UNHCR to pilot educational technology interventions for refugee children in the country.

Ugandan Micah Egessa teaches his class in Nakivale Secondary School, Uganda. © UNHCR/Joyce Achiro

Based on the 2019 Annual Report, these innovative approaches to programming with private-sector assistance are also set to provide 600,000 primary school children with access to digital learning opportunities in Uganda and Ethiopia.

Thanks to radio lessons, students are continuing their studies. Photo © JRS

In addition to tablets, ECW had worked with partners to distribute radios to vulnerable families – supporting virtual learning in refugee settlements during COVID-19. ECW funding also supports teachers in broadcasting lessons on the only radio station in Rwamwanja refugee settlement. With this support, many students and teachers in Uganda have been able to continue learning and working.

Teachers undergo training on how to use tablets donated by Education Cannot Wait, in Mbarara, Uganda. © UNHCR/Joyce Achiro

“As a teacher, my role is to make things easier for my pupils,” says Micah, who has taught a class of 350 students until COVID-19 hit Uganda.

In a training for teachers, organized by UNHCR in collaboration with Learning Equality, Micah learned about Kolibri, a free and easy to use digital learning platform, as well as applications to monitor and assess pupils’ performance.

“The tablets will help teachers quickly plan assignments while also helping students focus on their homework,” says Micah, adding that these devices will help improve the computer skills of refugee girls and boys and boost their creativity.

Students equipped with and trained in technology not only gain access to an education today, but are set up for more opportunities and greater economic independence in the future.

A group of girls work on a laptop at their school in Uganda. © UNICEF/UNI381399/Bongyereirwe

Ultimately, narrowing the digital divide can also significantly impact gender and social inequalities.

The distribution of such devices, especially to the most vulnerable students – girls and children with disabilities – is not simply critical on an individual level. Such skills can serve as a major boost to socio-economic development for an entire country.

Vulnerable girls and boys in Uganda stand ready to rebuild their lives and communities. What they need now are the necessary tools, in combination with teachers and schools, to support their learning. Technology can play an important role in that process.

Young girls fill a classroom in Uganda. © UNICEF Uganda/2010/Noorani

Uganda hosts more than 1.46 million refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi. Fifty-seven per cent (835,685) of these are children. Since last October, the Government of Uganda has begun reopening schools for selected classes, in phases. With the kick-off of the vaccination campaign in March 2021, the Ministry of Health aims at immunizing 49 per cent of the population above 18 years of age, including refugees. Teachers are part of the priority group to be vaccinated against COVID-19, alongside health workers.

“Education will provide me with a brighter future.” -Rosemary, young refugee at Itula Secondary School

As more students return to the classroom in the coming months, ECW and partners are aware that technology provides solutions to issues beyond the COVID-pandemic. ECW is committed to equipping and empowering the most vulnerable girls and boys with technology and closing the digital divide that threatens not merely the present, but the future of so many.

Education Cannot Wait’s ‘Stories from the Field’ series features the voices of our implementing partners, children, youth and the communities we support. These stories have only been lightly edited to reflect the authentic voice of these frontlines partners on the ground. The views expressed in the Stories from the Field series do not necessarily reflect those of Education Cannot Wait, our Secretariat, donors or UN Member States.

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