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By Mulengera Reporter
“When Universities closed in March, I thought it would be for a short time so I decided to take a break from studies and relax a bit,” says Doreen Namuli, a second year student of Economics at Makerere University. “But when the first three weeks ended, I started feeling rusty and I knew I had to read in order not to lose grip of what I had learnt and, hopefully, use this time to read ahead.”
It goes without saying that most university courses are research-based and average students typically spend more time in the library than in the lecture rooms. Therefore, reading notes and handouts alone did not make much sense to Namuli as she needed to refer to material which she did not have.
“Back at campus, I would easily download this material from the library or anywhere around the University with WiFi,” says Namuli “So I asked my parents to buy me data bundles.”
Although the bundles were availed, Namuli knows that they were costly especially at such a time when her mother’s business was closed due to the Covid19 prevention guidelines.
Like Namuli, Lynn Kwikiriza, a third year Law student at Uganda Christian University (UCU), admits that the high cost of data while studying at home threw the reality of the biting lockdown in her face. “I was used to the library Wi-Fi while at campus. Mobile data while at home is quite costly given these hard times.”
In different phone interviews with other university students, the high cost of accessing learning material online was a repeated concern. However, MTN closed that gap by zero rating university e-learning sites, just like it did for the Primary and secondary school learners.
Students from universities including Makerere, UCU, Uganda Martyrs, Kyambogo, International University of East Africa, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) and Gulu are benefitting from this offer. By zero rating the e-learning platforms, lecturers can upload study materials to the platforms at no data cost to enable students study for free while at home.
“Oh my God, It’s the best offer ever. You know how we law students read widely and heavily. I am sorted,” Kwikiriza said hysterically. “It’s amazing and very convenient. I can see results and course work marks at any time without data worries.”
This offer has seen many learners get out of their comfort zones and study despite the pandemic and lockdown.
According to Trevor Ochom, a final year student of Education at Kyambogo University, this offer is an answered prayer.
“When it’s all said and done, I know we shall have quite a marathon back at university once schools re-open. So the best way to keep up is by reading ahead while at home,” says Ochom, noting that this offer makes studying while at home very easy. “You don’t even need a laptop; a simple smart phone is enough. I appeal to fellow students to use their time at home productively.”
According to Kwikiriza, the content on the website is insightful and students have no excuse whatsoever when it comes to studying. ”I would totally recommend it to my course mates and friends seeing as we need all the information we can get at the moment.”
At an administrative level, Makerere University Vice-Chancellor Prof Barnabas Nawangwe has lauded the telecommunications giant for this gesture saying it will go a long way in enabling students catch up on lost study time as they will now have access to the study materials at no cost.
“Our negotiations with MTN Uganda yielded a lot of fruit as the telecom company has accepted to zero-rate six of our (Makerere University) online learning platforms. We applaud them for this. I now urge our students and lecturers to take advantage of this opportunity,” said Prof Nawangwe when MTN first announced the offer, two weeks ago. (See: MTN UGANDA OFFERS MAKERERE STUDENTS, LECTURERS FREE ACCESS TO ONLINE STUDY PLATFORMS).
MTN Uganda has reiterated its dedication to helping and impacting the communities positively and this is one of the ways the company is reaching out to students that may have a hard time accessing study materials on the internet because of financial constraints.
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