Senior one and two learners at Nakasero Senior School in Kampala are now free to carry their smartphones to their classes after clearance from the management.
Godfrey Mubiru, the Director of Studies at Nakasero senior school, says that they took the decision to allow the learners to use smartphones to facilitate the implementation of the new lower secondary curriculum.
Mubiru explains that they found it important as a school to allow the learners to use smartphones due to the demands of the new lower secondary curriculum, which is hands-on and more learners centred.
The new curriculum requires the learners to carry out their own research and write notes. The teacher’s role ends at introducing the topic and helping the learners to form groups to research and share knowledge among themselves.
Mubiru says smartphones have since helped them to solve the challenge of the limited learners’ guides for the new lower secondary curriculum as every student can now download the material using their smartphones for effective learning.
Currently, Uganda lacks an approved ICT policy on education, which would have set standards for the formal education sector.
Students says that it was not easy to convince parents to provide smartphones for learning purposes.
They say that despite the fact that they owned smartphones prior to the school clearance, they never imagined using them at school but now they have found them useful in research and self-revision.
Previously, carrying a mobile phone to school would be punishable and in some cases lead to expulsion. However, last year, the ministry of education and sports allowed student teachers to carry phones.