KAMPALA: COVID-19 is a pandemic that has killed a lot of people. The Ministry of Education and Sports wants teachers to come up with practical ways to lessen the effects at the fourth teacher education symposium.
Education is one of the sectors that was affected by the pandemic, with learning institutions closed for almost two years, leaving over 15 million learners out of school.
The symposium that starts on Thursday will be a platform for educators to share their role and experience in dealing with the impact of COVID-19.
Jonathan Kamwana, the Commissioner of Teacher Education Training and Development in the Ministry of Education, says that the symposium will focus on the automatic promotion of learners, the use of ICT, and the abridged curriculum.
It is up to the teachers to make sure that the students who are automatically promoted to the next class have all the skills and values that they need to do well there, he says.
Max Okiror, the Assistant Commissioner of Teacher Development, says that after the lockdown, a number of private schools closed down, leading to overcrowding in government schools. He says that teachers in such schools need to be supported with practical ways of handling the large number of learners.
According to Kamwana, during the symposium, teachers will be introduced to affordable and reliable ICT systems, not excluding innovations in blended learning at different education levels.
Schools also had to follow the guidelines set by the Ministry of Education, like automatically promoting students and teaching with the abridged curriculum. Counseling was also required for both teachers and students.
People who had to miss school because of bad weather also took remedial and extra classes at some schools to help them get back up to speed.
