Kampala, 7th May 2020 – The East African Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP), a project funded by the World Bank and governments of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, is supporting 16 selected Regional Flagship Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Institutes, to develop e-Learning platforms to facilitate continuous learning during COVID-19 and in the long term.
The current total or partial lockdown initiated by various African governments as a result of COVID-19 pandemic has made face-to-face learning and practical training untenable in most TVET institutes, making e-Learning the most viable option for continuous learning during this period.
Speaking at a Virtual Meeting with the 16 RFTI, the World Bank Task Team Leader, Dr. Xiaoyan Liang, requested the leadership of the institutes to review their project plans to include requirements for establishing or improving e-Learning infrastructure, including software and hardware, and capacity for developing educational content to support e-Learning.
“While some RFTIs that have made prior investment in ICT were able to respond quickly and switch to online delivery, the majority need both technical and financial support to be able to establish e-learning systems. The support from EASTRIP, will enable them setup sustainable and robust e-Learning systems to not only maintain learning continuity in the current lockdown but also promote quality TVET through equitable sharing of best teaching learning resources in the future. This is very much in line with the EASTRIP original vision and plan.” said Dr. Liang.
A study conducted by the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), the project’s Regional Facilitation Unit (RFU), established that more than 53,000 students from 16 TVET institutes had been negatively affected by the current lockdown as they had no access to learning.
With the EASTRIP support, institutes will set up online Learning Management Systems (LMS), train the tutors to develop online courses, review and upgrade the capacity of their servers to support online learning and develop online resources to facilitate e-Learning. Options for enhanced learning such as virtual reality are being explored given that the majority of TVET learning takes place in a practical environment in workshops and laboratories.
The e-Learning systems will also be set up at national and regional level to support capacity building training, sharing of knowledge, information and best practices for a successful e-Learning practice. The IUCEA RFU will develop a series of Webinar courses that focus on TVET management, leadership, and project management training and provide a regional networking platform.
Notes to Editors
- EASTRIP is a five-year project funded by the governments of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania and the World Bank to increase access and improve the quality of TVET programs in 16 Regional Flagship TVET Institutes (RFTIs) and to support regional integration.
- The project supports the development of highly specialized TVET programs at diploma and degree levels for training of technicians and TVET faculty, as well as industry recognized short-term training, targeting regional priority sectors in transport, energy, manufacturing, and ICT.
- The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) is the Regional Facilitation Unit for the World Bank-funded East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP).
For further information, please contact
Godwin Bonge Muhwezi at: gmuhwezi@iucea.org