Digital technology will make bad education worse

Soon, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and other digital devices may be available for use by learners and teachers in primary and secondary schools. This follows the launch of the Digital Agenda Strategy by the Ministry of Education on August 22.

A significant development, indeed, for our education sector. But I just have a bad feeling about its likely impact on the less privileged learners in subpar schools across the country. I mean the learners in schools wrecked by absent or overloaded teachers, dilapidated classrooms, broken toilets, illiterate parents and without power supply.

For such learners and schools, here is what I foresee: When the time comes, the digital gadgets - laptops, tablets, desktop PCs, etc. - will be received with excitement by the administrators, who will carefully assemble them in newly created computer labs. However, soon after, due to power shortages and absence of funds for technical support, the gadgets will begin to fail and will eventually be locked away.

On the other hand, the better-resourced schools with decent staff and facilities will put the digital tools to good use without too much distraction. This will only increase the already wide gap in the quality of learners emanating from these two sets of schools. And life will be harder for our young folks graduating from the poorer schools.

Also, with IT staff unlikely to be hired, the introduction of computers in the classroom will double the teachers’ workload and without an increase in pay, it could worsen the absenteeism problem. Not only will the teachers have to design lesson plans, they will also have to provide some technical support - troubleshooting, updates, maintenance or repair - in case of technology failures.

Furthermore, I am worried that the implementation of this Digital Agenda Strategy could lead to a loss of focus on the competency-based curriculum recently introduced for lower secondary students, that is just finding its feet, amidst different challenges. I am aware that currently, there’s insufficient funding for retooling examiners, training teachers and rolling out of the necessary technical tools to schools, yet the Uganda National Examination Board is expected to collect the continuous assessment scores.

And how will the digital learning tools be integrated in teaching when majority of our teachers in the said schools lack digital literacy? How about school inspections, monitoring and support supervisions? In the recent past, government has introduced a number of school inspection initiatives such as the Teacher Effectiveness and Learner Achievement (TELA) and E-inspections, but inspections remain insufficient, thus hindering the enforcement of education standards.

Certainly, the argument shouldn’t be about whether digital technology has a place in our schools or not. To argue that it doesn’t is irresponsible and short-sighted. Instead, the argument should be about its inclusivity and effectiveness for all learners and schools, irrespective of their status. We should also know that digital technology will not be the silver bullet that will solve the long line of our national education shortfalls.

Digital technology will never make up for a lack of good teachers; Indifferent administrators or inspectors won’t suddenly care more because their schools have gained smart gadgets; Undertrained teachers won’t improve just because they can use digital content; And school budgets won’t expand no matter how many “cost-saving” machines the schools will acquire. If anything, these problems will likely be exacerbated by the digital technology.

Brian Mukalazi, Uganda Country Director, Every Child Ministries [email protected]