The impact of COVID-19 on the E-learning of sciences in Uganda

Abstract

COVID 19 is a respiratory virus that has terrorised almost every human kind on this planet. Its emergence has downgraded every aspect of a good livelihood of people including, social, economics, emotional, industry and most profoundly education. The latter has experienced severe damages most especially in the developing countries, Uganda inclusive. In Uganda, COVID-19 has led disrupted many sectors including transport, tourism and education being the most severely affected with about 15 million learners out of classes in pre-primary, post primary, secondary schools tertiary institutions and universities. In order to counteract the consequences f school The purpose of this review paper is to examine the impact of COVID-19 on online teaching and learning of sciences in Uganda. The paper critically examines the accessibility of online learning services to students and the impact of the closure of schools on acquisition of practical skills. The study used secondary data from online recent articles and other publications including relevant websites. The analysis of the obtained data revealed that most students in Uganda were severely affected by the COVID-19 lockdowns attributed to limited accessibility of online learning by students due to inability to purchase smart phones and other gadgets that connect to internet, lack of access to electric power most especially in the rural areas. . Furthermore, the implementation of tax on data repelled majority form using internet claiming that attending a two-hour session required about 1 GB of data. The paper recommends provision of free internet connection to all school-going children by the government and increased monitoring and supervision of the programmes for effective implementation