Educationists say that although the government took a long time to make changes in the curriculum, they are hopeful that the few changes shaping the curriculum will help to equip students with the right employable skills.
According to the director of Kabojja International School, Mr Ahmed Lwasa, what is required is for the schools to continue supporting students to embrace science and technology as the government continues to provide critical support in the country’s education sector.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a method of hands-on teaching and learning where students learn to apply academic content by creatively solving real-world problems with innovative design-based thinking to prepare them for future career opportunities.
‘You see, if such a programme is supported by the government, then it can easily enroll in different areas, because now the country has a big number of people who are trained. If these people are supported, they can easily move to rural areas, and they start training,’ he expressed.
He made the remarks while officiating at a two-day third National STEM robotics schools competition at the school in Buziga, a Kampala suburb, where 28 schools participated in a robotics competition.
The National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) introduced a competence-based learning curriculum for lower secondary, promoting practical skills aimed at supporting schools to protect innovations that various learners have innovated.
The Academic Registrar at the Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Agnes Namulidwa Lumala, ordered schools to utilise the services of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) to commercialise and protect the innovations they are producing.
‘We encourage all innovators, mentors and institutions to actively utilise the services of the Uganda registration services bureau, as well as our national Uganda ICT and intellectual property guidelines to ensure that their ideas, their designs, software and technological breakthroughs are properly protected,” she noted.
She said, “These mechanisms provide a secure pathway for innovators to commercialize their work, attract investment, and confidently scale their solutions.”
She said currently, various students in lower and higher learning institutions have come up with various innovations, which abound to solve local challenges facing the community, and these must be protected.