The Guest of Honor,
The Principal,
The Deputy Principal,
The Chief Technical Advisor,
JICA Experts,
Short Term Experts, Heads of Sections,
Fellow Participants
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am honored to make a few remarks about this course on behalf of fellow participants, teachers from Ugandan Secondary Schools who are committed to transforming the Education system through use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Using ICT has made the teaching/Learning process more enjoyable; it has motivated learners and teachers, connected our students to vast educational resources around the world and increased their (students) competitiveness in this increasingly interdependent world. That we were selected among thousands of teachers in the country to attend this course is a vote of confidence in our endeavors.
In our schools we manage computer systems and teach fellow teachers and students in different computer applications. Over the past years we have received extensive training in the pedagogical use of computers for teaching and learning purposes
One of the greatest challenges we face is that of frequent breakdown of computers and lack of skilled personnel to repair them. This disrupts our work and greatly increases the operational or recurrent costs.
This course in computer hardware maintenance and repair therefore, has been timely and will go a long way in addressing this problem. We are now in position to assemble new computers, repair old computers which have broken down, trouble shoot common hardware problems, set up and administer local area networks and recommend appropriate hardware for purchase to the school administration.
This course has been very practical combining a variety of delivery methods such as handouts, theory, practical, questions and answer sessions, etc. For instance, at the beginning of the course, we were told that we were going to network computers; little did we know that we would assemble the very computers, install the operating system and application programs ourselves!
The facilitators have used a unique methodology of teamwork where we had three facilitators in the room. As educators, we were challenged and impressed by this innovative approach, which seems to be the answer to the big student numbers back in our schools. We have had a chance to see modern instructional technologies at work in during this course. This is a case of the use of ICT that we would like to model for our schools
Way Forward
1. We commit ourselves to practice what we have learnt and train others to build capacity in our schools. We believe we are a seed and our effectiveness will be judged by the extent to which we are successful in this endeavor.
2. In our schools, we have Linux servers/computers with tremendous capacity. They can access the Internet, assign e-mail addresses to individual users and host WebPages, etc. However, we are not in position to take full advantage of these servers because of limited knowledge and skill in administration of Linux. Our request to you is to organize a similar course in Linux administration.
3. We realize that some of the tools used during the course may not be readily available in the open market. Our appeal to you is to explore possibilities of making these tools available for purchase by school and individual teachers
4. Lastly, we would like to maintain contact with you and we invite you to visit our schools and judge how effective we are in implementing what we have learnt. This will form a basis for organizing a follow Up course.
We commend the great work done by this Institute in other fields like Woodwork, Sheet Metal and plumbing, Machining, electronics and Motor Vehicle.
I call upon my colleague to give a vote of thanks
Our thanks go to:
1. The Ministry of Education and Sports for organizing this course and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for sponsoring this course and for clearly identifying our training needs.
2. Nakawa VTI Course organizers for creating an enabling environment, which has enabled us to complete our course successfully. In this respect we thank the administration, the experts, the heads of sections, the catering staff and the student body. We were struck by the discipline of the students and by the hospitality of the staff right from the gate keepers to the caterers, we are indebted to each one of you for making our experience a unique one. We have learnt from your attitude, your sense of duty and time management.
3. Our facilitators Mr. Sato, JICA Expert, Mr. Omoo Francis Head of Section, Mr. Rujumba Michael our lead facilitator; who have been with us throughout the course. We commend their high level of organization, their depth of knowledge, their patience, empathy and willingness to help. They gave us a chance to ask questions, explore the options and develop real practical skills. We hope we shall continue to work closely with them.