OPEN LETTER TO NCDC: INTRODUCE RENEWABLE ENERGY CURRICULUM IN LEARNING INSTITUTIONS

By Guest Writer

OPINION: Greetings to the entire team at the National Curriculum Development Center (NCDC). First and foremost, we thank you for your good work towards shaping the education sector in Uganda.

Since the implementation of the new curriculum in 2020, learners are now attaining skilled education that is practical, which will allow them to innovate new things due to the exposure to new technologies in the new curriculum.

Providing quality education for all is guaranteed by the country’s Constitution, and education training is embedded in the country’s strategies for socio-economic development. Vision 2040 recognizes the provision of universal primary and secondary education as a human right and emphasizes the objective of improving girls’ completion rates.

The Vision 2040 also highlights the importance of changing the curriculum and methods of instruction and examination to adapt the education system to Uganda’s development objectives, which is so innovative.

In February 2020, we were happy for the kick-off of the new curriculum (the New Lower Secondary School Curriculum), which was rolled out in a phased approach starting with the senior one. This will improve the quality and relevance of secondary education, ensure that post-primary students are armed with skills needed in the workforce, and train them as job creators, not job seekers. This will reduce the unemployment rate in the country.

As clearly stated in the youth report 2019 by the Center for Policy Analysis,  the majority of the youth demanded more practical subjects, and over 50% of them revealed that the education they had received had not prepared them for the available opportunities in the labor market. The old curriculum could not equip the learners with thorough skills and knowledge, which explains the high levels of unemployment in Uganda.

Coming up with a new curriculum that is so practical will equip young people with innovations to survive after their educational journeys.

Today we send you this letter because we have hope in the NCDC’s capacity to accomplish real and tangible achievements in this sector that would affect systematic change and usher in a new era.

The current energy crisis provides an opportunity to look for a clean, safe, and renewable alternative, and this should begin right away with education institutions that may act as innovation hubs.

On March 25, 2023, as youth from Hoima district under our umbrella of East Africa crude oil pipeline-affected communities held a meeting to discuss the future of energy transition in Uganda. Since 2006, when oil was discovered in our region, a lot of changes have happened, including the increase in pollution that has affected our lives as young people who are affected by oil and gas production.

The meeting was built on the background of the president’s speech in July 2022, in which the president, who had previously been a champion for oil and gas exploitation, publicly stated that the future belongs to renewable energy.

The Ugandan president noted that it is best that Uganda thinks beyond oil and gas while promoting electric mobility, while the government is still involved in oil and gas exploitation efforts in Uganda.

Albertine Graben’s public statement presents an opportunity for us, especially young people, to increase the public discourse on the need for a just energy transition, and this calls for policymakers, academia, and the government to embrace this transition by including renewable energy curriculum in schools.

During the meeting, only three youth out of the 20 that attended knew about renewable energy, and this calls for more training in energy transition if the country is to fully transit.

From the meeting, we recommended the following:

There is a need to introduce a renewable curriculum in educational institutions. Uganda is blessed with many resources, including sun, which is free of charge. Youth need to be trained right from school on how to efficiently utilize available sun to produce energy that is cheap and sustainable. For the transition to happen, we need more youth to have technical knowledge on how to locally make solar panels.

Furthermore, Uganda is also blessed with too much wind to produce wind power, especially in northern Uganda. To transit successfully, students need to be trained on how wind energy is produced practically, as this will increase their innovative ideas as far as transition is concerned. With increasing electricity bills, wind power would be the best option for young people to learn how it’s produced.

In Uganda, most families rear cattle, which is an opportunity for all cattle keepers to use biogas as a source of energy in their homes. Due to a lack of knowledge, biogas hasn’t been tapped into, and by introducing such a curriculum, students will be equipped with the knowledge to produce biogas at home. This will reduce the emissions produced by oil and gas projects and save people from high power tariffs.

In addition, youth recommended that the introduction of this curriculum in schools will allow them to innovate in many areas, including pushing the agenda for electric cars, motorcycles, bicycles, renewable energy policies, and consumer protection laws, among others.

Currently, some bodaboda people are riding electric bikes, and this has reduced emissions in the atmosphere. Training more people in learning institutions will increase the capacity of young people to come up with new technological innovations.

Finally, we call upon the NCDC to work hand in hand with the National Council for Higher Education to work on a renewable energy curriculum for the country to transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean renewable energy by introducing this curriculum in schools.

This will produce more specialists in the field and will position Uganda as one of the countries using clean, renewable energy for a better planet.

The author is Gerald Barekye, Research Associate Afiego.

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