Preparedness of Institutions of Higher Learning for Emergency Education in COVID-19 – Pandemic: A Case of Uganda

Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah

doi:doi:10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13

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Preparedness of Institutions of Higher Learning for Emergency Education in COVID-19 – Pandemic: A Case of Uganda

Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah

Published in Education Journal (Volume 11, Issue 5)

Received: 10 June 2022 Accepted: 1 September 2022 Published: 16 September 2022

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Abstract

Uganda reported its first case of COVID-19 on 21st March 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, education institutions across the globe made the difficult decision to close all institutions forcing an abrupt shift into online teaching. Several institutions in Uganda undertook online teaching without accreditation from National Council for Higher Education. This study, therefore, assessed the preparedness of the teachers and leaders of Higher Education institutions in Uganda in managing, handling, and implementing emergency Open Delivery e-Learning (ODeL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in 12 institutions of higher learning. Fifty-nine (59) teaching and administrative staff participated in this study. A self-report questionnaire was used for data collection and descriptive statistics were used to analyze both numerical and categorical data. Percentages were used to summarize the data. Forty-seven percent (47%) of the 59 participants had been formally trained in pedagogical online teaching although almost 50% of these lacked the basic infrastructure for online teaching. The teaching staff indicated the difficulty to deliver a regular curriculum using online teaching methods. The study noted that there was resistance from students to study online which was shown through a drop in the number of students that attended online classes. Participants further mentioned that there was a decline in students’ performance during the period of online studying. The study makes several recommendations that include; The need for government to come up with a policy on e-learning as a mode of teaching, compulsory pedagogical training in online teaching which should be integrated into the curriculum reviews, and deliberate removal of taxes on education technology such as computers, smartphones and providing free internet to learners and teachers. While the emergency period has slowly passed on, institutions of higher learning in Uganda suffered heavily from the consequences of COVID-19 in managing the emergency teaching process. The study concludes that regardless of the challenges and the unpreparedness of the Institutions of higher learning in Uganda, there was an achievement in managing the emergency period that saw many institutions swiftly invest in technology and staff training for online teaching.

Published in	Education Journal (Volume 11, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13
Page(s)	231-234
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Emergency Education, Institutions of Higher Learning, COVID-19, Education in Uganda

References

[1]	Rutayisire E, Nkundimana G, Mitonga HK, Boye A, Nikwigize S. What works and what does not work in response to COVID-19 prevention and control in Africa. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2020; 97: 267-9.
[2]	Douglas M, Katikireddi SV, Taulbut M, McKee M, McCartney G. Mitigating the wider health effects of COVID-19 pandemic response. BMJ. 2020; 369.
[3]	WHO. COVID 19 Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Global research and innovation forum: towards a research roadmap. 2020.
[4]	Hale T, Webster S, Petherick A, Phillips T, Kira B. Oxford COVID-19 government response tracker. Blavatnik School of Government. 2020; 25.
[5]	Museveni, Y. K. (2020, March 18). President of the Republic of Uganda address to the nation on the coronavirus (COVID 19) guidelines on the preventive measures. Kampala, Uganda, Uganda: President of the Republic of Uganda.
[6]	National Council for Higher Education (2022, April 24). Home: National Council for Higher Education. Retrieved from NCHE: https://unche.or.ug/
[7]	World Education News +Reviews. (2020, October 8). Education in Uganda. Retrieved from WERN: https://wenr.wes.org/2020/10/education-in-uganda
[8]	The Daily Monitor. (2021, April 27). COVID forces head teacher out of class to gatekeeping. The Daily Monitor, pp. https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/COVID-forces-head-teacher-out-of-class-to-gatekeeping-3378640
[9]	The Redpepper. (2020, April 2). Education Ministry blocks UCU online examinations amidst coronavirus lock-down. The Redpepper, pp. https://redpepper.co.ug/2020/04/education-ministry-blocks-ucu-online-examinations-amidst-coronavirus-lock-down/.
[10]	Saphina, B., Lilian, G., Gilbert, O., Felix, B., Paul, W., & Leornard, W. (2021, August). COVID-19 and Students’ Readiness for Online Learning in Higher Education Institutions in Uganda: A Case Study of Busitema University. Journal of the National Council for Higher Education, Vol. 9 Issue 2 August 2021.
[11]	Baruch Y, Holtom BC. Survey Response Rate Levels and Trends in Organizational Research. Human Relations. 2008: 1139-60.
[12]	Amin A. Social Sciences Research, Conception, methodology, and analysis. Kampala: Makerere University printery. 2005.
[13]	Creswell, J. W., & Plano, C. V. L. (2007) Desiging and conducting mixed methods research. Thousands Oaks, CA” Sage.
[14]	Uganda National Council for Science and Technology: National guidelines for conducting Research during COVID-19 Pandemic \| ClinRegs (nih.gov).
[15]	Ministry of Health: COVID-19 Guidelines and Regulations 2020 Retrieveded from: https://health.gov.tt/covid-19/covid-19-guidelines-and-regulations

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Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah. (2022). Preparedness of Institutions of Higher Learning for Emergency Education in COVID-19 – Pandemic: A Case of Uganda. Education Journal, 11(5), 231-234. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13

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Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah. Preparedness of Institutions of Higher Learning for Emergency Education in COVID-19 – Pandemic: A Case of Uganda. Educ. J. 2022, 11(5), 231-234. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13

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Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah. Preparedness of Institutions of Higher Learning for Emergency Education in COVID-19 – Pandemic: A Case of Uganda. Educ J. 2022;11(5):231-234. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13

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@article{10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13,
  author = {Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah},
  title = {Preparedness of Institutions of Higher Learning for Emergency Education in COVID-19 – Pandemic: A Case of Uganda},
  journal = {Education Journal},
  volume = {11},
  number = {5},
  pages = {231-234},
  doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20221105.13},
  abstract = {Uganda reported its first case of COVID-19 on 21st March 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, education institutions across the globe made the difficult decision to close all institutions forcing an abrupt shift into online teaching. Several institutions in Uganda undertook online teaching without accreditation from National Council for Higher Education. This study, therefore, assessed the preparedness of the teachers and leaders of Higher Education institutions in Uganda in managing, handling, and implementing emergency Open Delivery e-Learning (ODeL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in 12 institutions of higher learning. Fifty-nine (59) teaching and administrative staff participated in this study. A self-report questionnaire was used for data collection and descriptive statistics were used to analyze both numerical and categorical data. Percentages were used to summarize the data. Forty-seven percent (47%) of the 59 participants had been formally trained in pedagogical online teaching although almost 50% of these lacked the basic infrastructure for online teaching. The teaching staff indicated the difficulty to deliver a regular curriculum using online teaching methods. The study noted that there was resistance from students to study online which was shown through a drop in the number of students that attended online classes. Participants further mentioned that there was a decline in students’ performance during the period of online studying. The study makes several recommendations that include; The need for government to come up with a policy on e-learning as a mode of teaching, compulsory pedagogical training in online teaching which should be integrated into the curriculum reviews, and deliberate removal of taxes on education technology such as computers, smartphones and providing free internet to learners and teachers. While the emergency period has slowly passed on, institutions of higher learning in Uganda suffered heavily from the consequences of COVID-19 in managing the emergency teaching process. The study concludes that regardless of the challenges and the unpreparedness of the Institutions of higher learning in Uganda, there was an achievement in managing the emergency period that saw many institutions swiftly invest in technology and staff training for online teaching.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Preparedness of Institutions of Higher Learning for Emergency Education in COVID-19 – Pandemic: A Case of Uganda
AU - Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah
Y1 - 2022/09/16
PY - 2022
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13
DO - 10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13
T2 - Education Journal
JF - Education Journal
JO - Education Journal
SP - 231
EP - 234
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2327-2619
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13
AB - Uganda reported its first case of COVID-19 on 21st March 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, education institutions across the globe made the difficult decision to close all institutions forcing an abrupt shift into online teaching. Several institutions in Uganda undertook online teaching without accreditation from National Council for Higher Education. This study, therefore, assessed the preparedness of the teachers and leaders of Higher Education institutions in Uganda in managing, handling, and implementing emergency Open Delivery e-Learning (ODeL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in 12 institutions of higher learning. Fifty-nine (59) teaching and administrative staff participated in this study. A self-report questionnaire was used for data collection and descriptive statistics were used to analyze both numerical and categorical data. Percentages were used to summarize the data. Forty-seven percent (47%) of the 59 participants had been formally trained in pedagogical online teaching although almost 50% of these lacked the basic infrastructure for online teaching. The teaching staff indicated the difficulty to deliver a regular curriculum using online teaching methods. The study noted that there was resistance from students to study online which was shown through a drop in the number of students that attended online classes. Participants further mentioned that there was a decline in students’ performance during the period of online studying. The study makes several recommendations that include; The need for government to come up with a policy on e-learning as a mode of teaching, compulsory pedagogical training in online teaching which should be integrated into the curriculum reviews, and deliberate removal of taxes on education technology such as computers, smartphones and providing free internet to learners and teachers. While the emergency period has slowly passed on, institutions of higher learning in Uganda suffered heavily from the consequences of COVID-19 in managing the emergency teaching process. The study concludes that regardless of the challenges and the unpreparedness of the Institutions of higher learning in Uganda, there was an achievement in managing the emergency period that saw many institutions swiftly invest in technology and staff training for online teaching.
VL - 11
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Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah

Academic Department, Ernest Cook Ultrasound Research and Education Institute, Kampala, Uganda

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APA Style

Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah. (2022). Preparedness of Institutions of Higher Learning for Emergency Education in COVID-19 – Pandemic: A Case of Uganda. Education Journal, 11(5), 231-234. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13

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ACS Style

Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah. Preparedness of Institutions of Higher Learning for Emergency Education in COVID-19 – Pandemic: A Case of Uganda. Educ. J. 2022, 11(5), 231-234. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13

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AMA Style

Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah. Preparedness of Institutions of Higher Learning for Emergency Education in COVID-19 – Pandemic: A Case of Uganda. Educ J. 2022;11(5):231-234. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13

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@article{10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13,
  author = {Kanyesigye Rullonga Monicah},
  title = {Preparedness of Institutions of Higher Learning for Emergency Education in COVID-19 – Pandemic: A Case of Uganda},
  journal = {Education Journal},
  volume = {11},
  number = {5},
  pages = {231-234},
  doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20221105.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20221105.13},
  abstract = {Uganda reported its first case of COVID-19 on 21st March 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, education institutions across the globe made the difficult decision to close all institutions forcing an abrupt shift into online teaching. Several institutions in Uganda undertook online teaching without accreditation from National Council for Higher Education. This study, therefore, assessed the preparedness of the teachers and leaders of Higher Education institutions in Uganda in managing, handling, and implementing emergency Open Delivery e-Learning (ODeL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in 12 institutions of higher learning. Fifty-nine (59) teaching and administrative staff participated in this study. A self-report questionnaire was used for data collection and descriptive statistics were used to analyze both numerical and categorical data. Percentages were used to summarize the data. Forty-seven percent (47%) of the 59 participants had been formally trained in pedagogical online teaching although almost 50% of these lacked the basic infrastructure for online teaching. The teaching staff indicated the difficulty to deliver a regular curriculum using online teaching methods. The study noted that there was resistance from students to study online which was shown through a drop in the number of students that attended online classes. Participants further mentioned that there was a decline in students’ performance during the period of online studying. The study makes several recommendations that include; The need for government to come up with a policy on e-learning as a mode of teaching, compulsory pedagogical training in online teaching which should be integrated into the curriculum reviews, and deliberate removal of taxes on education technology such as computers, smartphones and providing free internet to learners and teachers. While the emergency period has slowly passed on, institutions of higher learning in Uganda suffered heavily from the consequences of COVID-19 in managing the emergency teaching process. The study concludes that regardless of the challenges and the unpreparedness of the Institutions of higher learning in Uganda, there was an achievement in managing the emergency period that saw many institutions swiftly invest in technology and staff training for online teaching.},
 year = {2022}
}

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