In 2021, the Ministry of Education and Sports launched an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) for School Practice (SP) in the five National Teacher's Colleges (NTCs) to allow three cohorts of students (2019, 2020, and 2021) to graduate while the COVID-19 epidemic was still in effect. The graduation of students was delayed because there were no pupils in secondary schools for the young teachers to gain teaching experience. Students had to complete their teaching courses by doing school practice as part of their final assessment.

In order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and remove the 3-year backlog, the emergency response school practice plan was developed. Three requirements were included in this plan to add up to the final grade needed for each student to graduate:

• Complete the General Teaching Methods course online successfully, 
• complete a peer teaching session and; 
• avail their Continuous School Practice files for review and assessment.

The challenge was that it was something new and unique. Colleges had followed a set procedure for conducting school practice, which involved sending students to various secondary schools to teach under the supervision of their trainers. Given the challenge at hand, it was time to make a shift.

Colleges rapidly welcomed, adopted, and implemented the new school practice plan as a substitute. The plan was a success as it relieved the institutions from the costly burden of facilitating many students for School Practice enabling 3500 students to graduate. Additionally, it allowed students to obtain their teaching certificates, some of which were used to secure jobs.

Former student at NTC Unyama Amanya Isaac who is now a Maths and Physical Education teacher at St Marys’ Lacor in Gulu District said that the ERP was a blessing to him. He said that the emergency plan created a variety of opportunities for him including his job and a chance to further his studies in the teaching profession. Without this plan, Amanya said none of that would have happened.

Alezoyo Lydia a former student of NTC Muni, pursuing a bachelor's at Muni University hailed the emergency SP plan for bailing her class of 286 students out of a desperate situation. She said, “We were stranded in our final school year with no hope to do school practice. I thank the Ministry of Education and Sports and NTC Muni for rescuing us and enabling us to complete our studies on time.”  

Likewise, NTC Mubende’s former student Asiimwe Mary appreciated the emergency school practice plan for the abundance of knowledge she received from it. She said that through the peer teaching experience, she was able to pick up new methods of teaching which she now applies in her classroom.

For Peter Masette an Academic Registrar at NTC Mubende, the ERP provided an opportunity to efficiently assess all the students in a limited time. He said, “With the emergency response school practice plan, all students and teachers gathered at the college. This considerably lowered our operational costs on transport and living expenses for the students. In a short amount of time, we were able to provide instant feedback to the students making it easy for us to assess them. We are happy that 299 students at NTC Mubende graduated as instructors thanks to this strategy.”

In 2021, Enabel, the Ministry of Education and Sports and the National Teachers Colleges partnered to advocate for alternative ways to do School Practice which resulted in the Emergency Response School Practice Plan. Today over 3000 students are happy that the hurried response enabled them to complete their studies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information 
In Uganda, the Ministry of Education and Sports re-strategizes School Modalities: https://bit.ly/3whKTqm