UBOS Senior Statistician, Henry Mubiru, who led the research team, says there is a decline in the number of children in the rural areas involved in any kind of learning.
A government-supported
survey casts a looming expansion of the education and prosperity gap between rural
and urban children caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, the
government directed the closure of all schools and tertiary institutions
sending home more than 12 million children until last month when about a tenth
of them, in their final years were allowed back to school.
The survey by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank, dubbed “the
Uganda High-Frequency Phone Survey on COVID-19”, shows a big challenge by the
government to ensure that all students access studies as schools are still
locked. But it also shows that some school-going age children have lost
interest in studies.
The second study was done in July and August, following the
first one done in May and June. Ministry
of Education and Sports in conjunction with its institutions and partners
developed self-study content for primary and secondary schools. It also
created a new digital platform with video lessons to enhance student’s
learning.
Some schools also introduced their own online study
platforms and others delivered physical materials to their students, while some
students rely on newspapers, radio and television programs. According to the report in 2017/18, 41.3% of individuals said they watched
TV, according to the National Information Technology survey but Uganda
National Household Survey 2016/17 found great variation in television ownership
across regions.
In Kampala, 42% of households had a working TV set, while
in the countryside, ownership ranged between 1 and 3%. There is higher Access to a mobile phone at more than half
of the households across the country, but less than one third have a
smartphone.
Radio is the most popular medium to access information and in
2017/18, 78% of individuals said they listened to the radio, according to the
National Information Technology Survey. However, most children and parents have found learning via radio most
challenging as it is not quite interactive.
The survey of about 2,500
households show that between the two survey periods, there is a slight increase
in the children accessing some learning. UBOS Senior Statistician, Henry Mubiru, who led the research team, says there
is a decline in the number of children in the rural areas involved in any kind
of learning.
// “Cue in: In the previous round……
Cue out:….. from 56 to 54.”//
The trend in the rural areas can be attributed to many reasons including scarce
resources, but the Bureau is concerned that a significant number of children
who have abandoned learning say they have lost interest.
According to Mubiru, the rural-based children
are also affected by the increase in household chores that are assigned to them
denying them time for studying:
// “Cue in: Some households….
Cue out …. Which is at 5%,”//
The fate of the non-candidate children is expected to be decided by the
government in January 2021, whether and then the schools will be fully
reopened.
