By Joel Mugabi
National Curriculum Development Center (NCDC) has praised MTN Uganda for encouraging learning from home by zero-rating learning institution websites for students. NCDC is the government body responsible for the development of educational curricula for primary, secondary and some tertiary institutions in Uganda.
Gilbert Gift Siima, the ICT curriculum specialist at NCDC, said MTN’s magnanimity has enabled students who were studying from home to access learning materials during the lockdown. This, he said, was especially helpful for candidate students in the primary leaving examinations (PLE) and the O’level Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) who have recently received their results.
Following the closure of schools during the initial country lockdown, MTN, in March last year, allowed free access to 17 learning sites in partnership with NCDC to ensure students study from home while also enabling parents home school the children. Some of the learning sites which can be accessed from https://www.mtn.co.ug/learnathome/ include: http://www.classroommagazines.scholastic.com/
http://www.allinonehomeschool.com/http://www.abcya.com/
Some of the institutions whose e-learning sites were zero-rated include universities such as Makerere University, Uganda Christian University and Uganda Martyrs University, among others. Agnes Namubiru, a teacher and mother of two candidates at St Francis Education Center in Namawojjolo, says she and her children benefitted a lot from reading materials on the zero-rated websites.
“When they sent the children back home, they told us to access materials online and that is what I did. With the help of my sister who accessed the websites, I was able to homeschool my children. It helped us a lot to keep the children focused on education,” she recounts.
According to Siima, the sites have continuously recorded increased traffic, signaling the increased usage amongst the learners. He lauded MTN for its efforts as a corporate citizen in enabling continuity of the education sector which has been hard hit by the Covid19 pandemic.
MTN Uganda General Manager for Corporate Services and Legal, Enid Edroma, said the telecom is glad to have partnered with NCDC to support the people of Uganda.
“MTN is dedicated to continuously support the people of Uganda. We understand the vitality of education especially to the youngsters in the country, and as such thought it necessary to ensure that they remain focused and studying at no cost to the parents whose incomes have also been affected by the pandemic,” Edroma noted. (For comments on this story, call, text or whatsapp us on 0705579994, 0779411734, 0200900416 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).