Minister launches ICT hub at Nakasero PS

By Gloria Nakajubi

Minister of Education and Sports Jessica Alupo on Thursday launched a fully equipped and connected computer hub at Nakasero Primary School in Kampala.

The digital Hub is part of the ‘Connecting Classrooms’ project being implemented by the British Council across Sub Saharan Africa. In Uganda the project will see 14 hubs set up in 10 districts.

In his remarks, Peter Brown, British Council Country Director noted that the hubs will have high speed internet connection freely provided for the next three years in partnership with Airtel Uganda.

“This project is intended to create opportunities through which students and teachers can deepen their knowledge and be able to share their experiences in the global village,” said Brown.

He  explained that without internet access there is no way citizens and more so children can participate in the global world because these interactions are hard to make face to face.

V.G Somashekar, Managing Director Airtel Uganda said that this was an opportunity for the company to give back to the community and the best way they can do this is through supporting education systems.

“What a better way to give back to the community by supporting education and more so computer education, a trend that is being adopted for the development of nations,” said Somashekar. 

He added that enabling children to access internet is one way of opening up their world and making them able to adapt to the changes that come with the different developments in the world.

KCCA Executive Director, Jennifer Musisi while receiving the visitors at the school which is one of the 83 primary schools in the city commended British Council and Airtel for the partnership aimed at supporting the education sector.

“Computer literacy is the way to go and there is no other option around it, we therefore appreciate any initiative that is directed towards that.” said Musisi.

She committed to ensuring that the facility is well maintained by the authority’s ICT section in order to achieve its intended purpose.

“We pledge that none of these computers will be found out there in internet cafes doing private business rather than what they are meant for,” said Musisi.

While launching the hub, Jessica Alupo cautioned the teachers to ensure that the computers are programmed in such a way that children do not access pornography and other negative sites.

“This hub should be used specifically for educational purposes and should not in any way become sources of culture and moral degeneration,” said Alupo.

She appreciated the fact that with internet access in schools, teachers are less strained as long as they guide students on how to use computers. This actually makes students more open minded and intelligent.

Alupo further noted that government is working to see that each school whether rural or urban has a fully connected computer laboratory.