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Teacher Generated Pamphlets as a Feasible Covid-19 Learning Alternative in Uganda: A Review of Existing Global and Domestic Pandemic Pedagogies

Sande Erunao Muwanguzi*, Yuda Taddeo Kaahwa, Nicholas Itaaga

College of Education and External Studies, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

Abstract: Following today’s global volatile Covid-19 pandemic era, especially for the education sector in general and education institutions in particular, governments and other related stakeholders are already heavily embarking on innovating various digital platforms that can embrace distance learning for the millions of children that were sent home as well as survival mechanisms for privately remunerated teachers, whose salaries were heavily affected. In Uganda however, configuration of adequate advocacies aimed at averting the pervasive financial starvation among privately contracted teachers has been overshadowed. This literature review-based paper first reviewed the existing global pandemic pedagogies, before it surveyed the pandemic pedagogies implemented in Uganda, in view of assessing how these pedagogies have informed a pedagogically and economically feasible alternative long distance learning during the Covid-19 era. Lastly, the study discussed the feasibility of teacher generated pamphlets as a domesticated and thus redeeming pandemic pedagogy. The study found out that, since majority of the adopted Pandemic pedagogies globally or even in Uganda, are digital platforms that involve use of digital tools, they were not only found to be facing serious hiccups related to accessibility, connectivity and usability, apparently due to the pervasive digital divide in many developed and developing countries, but did not also address teachers’ financial starvation. The study therefore concluded that teacher generated Pamphlets can be feasible in overcoming such hiccups, and can support teachers financially during the pandemic closure of schools.

Keywords: economics of education, sociology of education, teacher generated pamphlets, Covid-19 alternative learning, domestication of digital education

Received August 07, 2021; Revised September 10, 2021; Accepted September 22, 2021

Citation: Sande Erunao Muwanguzi, Yuda Taddeo Kaahwa, Nicholas Itaaga, Teacher Generated Pamphlets as a Feasible Covid-19 Learning Alternative in Uganda: A Review of Existing Global and Domestic Pandemic Pedagogies. American Journal of Educational Research, 9 (9). 580-586. January 2021. doi:10.12691/education-9-9-4

1. Introduction

Globally, Covid-19 ushered in the largest disruption and devastation of education in the history of the world [1]. In Uganda, March 21, 2020 left 15 million learners out of school [2] and these learners started getting back to schools in intervals after 149 days. Shortly, another lockdown for the second wave of the pandemic in Uganda emerged June 7, 2021 and thus closure of all education institutions at all levels [3]. Concerns have been widely expressed over such disruptive “stop-go” measures with a great deal of enthusiasm to generate indispensable solutions to this disruption. For example, basing on the fact that the country’s education system is already confronting the three challenges of access to, quality of, and relevance of education [4], many activists yearn for immediate reopening of schools [3]. Meanwhile, long distance digital learning emerges as the most redeeming strategy for continued teaching and learning during the volatile pandemic era [5]. The Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) in Uganda employs a few public schools’ teachers to provide lessons via radio and television. What is disquieting is that majority of the teachers who are not contracted to offer such lessons, especially those in private schools as well as those employed privately in public schools are apparently starving financially [3]. In fact, the government has no concrete plan for the financial situation of private school teachers in Uganda. Besides, private schools lament inability to pay teachers due to a halted collection of tuition fees from the parents and thus these schools are financially constrained [6,7]. As a result, varying problems such as exposure to violence and abuse, as well as mental loss, are reported among learners that have been left pedagogically unattended to [8]. Many of the financially distressed teachers who have resorted to offering casual labor in their communities such as car washing and brick laying vow not to go back into teaching even if schools reopen [3]. Other teachers have resorted to small-scale farming and market vending, and some have decided to commit suicide due to lack of food to feed their families [6].

Nevertheless, there is need for exploration of new horizons; for instance basing on [9]’s Expectancy theory, which states that people are motivated to behave in ways that produce desired combinations of expected out comes, as well as the pragmatism philosophical paradigm which focuses on “what works” rather than what might be considered absolutely and objectively true [10], there is need to put due attention to alternative learning mechanisms that can help to simultaneously attend to both students’ pedagogical and teachers’ financial needs in a more domesticated and digital user friendly way. This analytical paper for example, anchors on the need for adoption of teacher generated pamphlets as a clear-cut and thus suiting pandemic pedagogy for alternative learning during the closure of schools. Although the physical nature of this pedagogical-economic mechanism (teacher generated pamphlets) may raise likelihood of transmitting the Covid-19 virus, as well as not being affordable to all learners due to its financial attachment, there is an expectation that it may not only help to avert the pervasive digital divide complications reported by previous scholars’ digital teaching-learning innovations but also reignites both teachers’ and students’ enthusiasm to remain pedagogically focused even during schools’ closure. The study therefore reviews existing related literature in the need to find answers to the following questions;

i. How have existing global Pandemic pedagogies informed a pedagogically and economically feasible Covid-19 alternative teaching and learning?

ii. How has so far implemented Pandemic pedagogies in Uganda informed a pedagogically and economically feasible Covid-19 alternative teaching and learning?

iii. How can teacher generated pamphlets inform a pedagogically and economically feasible Covid-19 alternative teaching and learning in Uganda?

2. Methodology

The current study followed a pragmatism paradigm, which focuses on “what works” rather than what might be considered absolutely and objectively true [10]. Since reality depends on context (according to pragmatic scholars), examining the pedagogical and economic feasibility of teacher generated Pamphlets for Covid-19 alternative teaching and learning might help to address the existing pedagogical and financial threats associated with closure of schools in Uganda as a result of Covid-19 severity [11]. Collection of data was based on peer-reviewed articles that were obtained via google scholar search engine as the main source of data. Besides, the key data sources which the reviewed studies had in their reference lists helped to locate other sources that this paper might have missed. The reviewed articles were mainly those published within the Covid-19 era (between 2020 & 2021) and their inclusion and exclusion depended on their relevance to the study. Findings of the study were analyzed using thematic analysis and thus were put under three themes. The next three chapters of this paper present findings of the analyzed data and thus the themes which provided answers to the study’s research questions. The use of multiple sources of evidence to facilitate multiple view points within and across these data sources was done to ensure validity. For reliability, references for all citations in the paper was provided.

3. Global Pandemic Pedagogies Informing Covid-19 Alternative Education

This section examines the paper’s first objective, which explore Covid-19 alternative learning mechanisms and how they inform a pedagogically and economically feasible education. Globally, by mid-April 2020, 94 percent of learners worldwide were devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic due to the closure of education institutions [1]. Although this was in fear of spread of the virus, varying socio-economic disruptions in the education arena and thus urgent need for cultivation of a creative mechanism for alternative holistic teaching and learning emerged as Covid-19 crisis unfolded. For instance, while it is true that the pandemic provided an opportunity to pave way for introducing innovative alternative pedagogical strategies [12], little scientific focus has emerged to configure the critical private school teachers’ financial conditions. Although it is true that most of the private education institutions have not been able to pay salaries of their employees globally, most governments have also failed to provide adequate support to make policies that can solve the unpaid and dismissed financial problems of the private school teachers and other privately employed educational staff [13]. According to [1]’s Global Education Monitoring Report, an estimated 40 percent of the poorest countries failed to provide a sustainable pedagogical support for learners at risk during the Covid-19 pandemic and the majority are only struggling with deviating digital learning solutions such as providing lessons online. While several countries are planning to implement a “hybrid” or blended model of education, others are significantly reducing class sizes or providing lessons outside classrooms, and in many countries, institutions require that almost all students and their teachers wear masks [14]. The innovations still lack a realignment of pandemic pedagogical approaches that can concurrently address both teachers’ financial starvation and students’ pedagogical challenges during the pandemic schools’ closure.

It should however also be noted that, with the subsequent onset of the pandemic outbreak, conventional methods of teaching and learning activities were put to a halt and thus virtual classes have taken precedence in many countries [5]. The virtual classroom platforms like video conferencing (Google Hangouts meet, Zoom, Slack, Sisco, Webex) and customizable cloud-based learning management platforms such as Elios, Moodle, Big Blue Button and Skype are increasingly being used [15]. Besides, flipped classroom as a simple strategy for providing resources such as pre-recorded videos and YouTube links before the class are also used. The online classroom time is further used to deepen understanding through discussion with peers [16]. To allow the tracking of students’ learning and assessment, unified communication and collaboration platforms such as Google classroom, Microsoft teams, Canvas and Black boards, which allow teachers to create educational training and skill development programs are globally used [17]. However, although in many countries such coping mechanisms have witnessed an increase within the education arena, they have not only faced digital divide complications, but they have also not been able to provide opportunity for income to teachers without digital tools and skills.

Meanwhile, the frequent hiccups faced while using these digital tools have posed fundamental obstructions towards a pedagogically and economically feasible alternative learning during Covid-19 closure of schools. These hiccups relate to accessibility, affordability, flexibility and lifelong learning [18]. To begin with, online assessment is done with a lot of trial and error, uncertainty and confusion among teachers, students and parents. Secondly, there is increased and unstructured time spent on online learning which has exposed children to potentially harmful and violent content as well as a greater risk of cyber bullying [19]. Besides, teachers lack basic digital skills, basic ICT skills, and better methods of new education delivery that can also be financially rewarding. Arguably though, teachers’ digital incompetence is for example explained by [20]’s study which indicates that, 574 (67%) of Norwegian and 239 (92%) of US teachers had little previous (pre-distance) online teaching experience and thus lacked adequate preparation for online teaching. Also in the survey of 325 US K-12 teachers, [21] found out that teachers lacked both preparation and support in using technology to design quality instruction during the transition to distance learning. Even in Estonia where teachers were found to possess a high level of knowledge about online teaching, they were reported to have little confidence about their digital competences and their habits of using ICT [22]. This thus leaves the window open for a multiplicity of innovations towards a better conceptualization of alternative learning during Covid-19, whose volatility goes beyond students’ pedagogical aspirations to encompass teachers’ financial distress globally.

Although a global education coalition comprised of United Nations Agencies, international organizations, private sectors entities and civil society representatives, mobilized by UNESCO have been engaging actively and with a great deal of enthusiasm to support international Covid-19 education responses, their endeavors absconds themselves from addressing financial concerns of non-statutory teachers working on temporary contracts and all those privately paid out of school fees collection from the parents [13]. As a consequence in the short term, many teachers may need to turn to alternative sources of income and thus will be unable to support learners in distance learning. In the long term, schools may not only face teacher shortages due to attrition, but failure of continuity of private schools would leave public education systems burdened with absorbing high numbers of additional students [1]. There is therefore a need to identify innovative alternative teaching and learning mechanisms aimed at helping both students (to learn without converging in conventional classrooms) as well as teachers (to earn income from provision of their long distance pedagogical services). For example different mechanisms have been tried globally in different countries. According to [23], due to adverse financial effects of Covid-19 pandemic on private schools’ teachers, a students’ learning facilitation guide “was approved by law in Nepal to aid learning through a circumstantial approach but at a fee to support the unpaid teachers [24].

However, this learning facilitation guide instead created a chaotic mindset between the parents and education institutions regarding the fee [23]. In Italy, teachers provided three hours of income generating online tutoring a week via computer, tablet or smart phone [1]. These however did not benefit majority of learners due to digital divide complications. For the Nigerian government launched a package to pay more than 10000 contract teachers who had missed salary for three months due to Covid-19 pandemic [25]. Other low-income governments improvised low technological print self-study materials, but since different subjects had varying needs and different age groups required different approaches, this mechanism proved to be surrounded by objectivity-related challenges. There is however optimistic literature about the global concerns for educational print self-study materials (Pamphlets) especially before Covid-19. The materials were for example found to be cost-effective, convenient and easy to circulate [26]. According to the [27], there are several benefits of Pamphlets as an educational tool such as reaching a large audience, being more technical than other formats, tailoring messages for specific audiences and for different groups as well as providing detailed information. Besides, users can re-read and think about the material, often at a low cost and good to use as a follow-up educational mechanism [26]. Despite all these optimistic views about educational pamphlets, existing literature globally still lament no yet a one-size-fits-all “Pandemic pedagogy” for long distance learning during schools’ closure [15,16]. This paper being based on a Ugandan context, the researchers found it worth specifically examining how Covid-19 alternative learning has so far been handled. The next chapter of this paper presents the current state of existing alternative teaching-learning mechanisms in Uganda amidst Covid-19 schools’ closure.

4. Pandemic Pedagogies Implemented in Uganda

The study’s second objective was to examine how the so far implemented Pandemic pedagogies in Uganda have informed a pedagogically and economically feasible Covid-19 alternative teaching and learning. Uganda’s education system in its struggle to usher a holistic transformation from the traditional missionary and thus colonial education since independence in 1962 has for long continued although with progress notwithstanding [28]. Before the Covid-19, several ambitious educational reforms aimed at moving away from the linear pedagogical models of teacher–centered instruction (anchored on left-brain pedagogical strategies) to child–centered pedagogy (anchored on creative use of the whole brain/person) had prevailed in Uganda [29]. These encompasses reforms in teachers training, curriculum development, the supply of instructional materials, language policy, Universal Primary and Secondary education, which have been under taken since the mid 1990’s [30]. Besides, efforts have been made to incorporate ICT into mainstream curriculum despite the fact that Uganda’s education system is still rooted in the traditional rote learning approaches with very limited scope for the application of digital concepts. More distressing is the problem of access to modern technology platforms, to keep pace with modern teaching and learning in the 21st century [4]. With Covid-19 disruption of schools, ensuring continuity of learning during the time of school closures in Uganda necessitated government to embark on using distance learning modalities for home teaching and learning, often a mix of educational television and radio programming as well as the distribution of print study materials. These were adopted by the Ministry of Education and Sports as official pedagogies for primary and secondary schools during school closures because of the pandemic severity.

However, effective reach, use, as well as appropriateness of these modalities have always remained doubtable. For example, according to [31], although radio is a more popular medium used than television mainly due to poverty and lack of electricity, [32] indicated only 65 percent of Ugandan households who owned a radio, meaning that effective Covid-19 distance learning in Uganda required rolling-out campaigns similar to those that were done in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra-Leone during the Ebola epidemic. During these campaigns, Red Cross distributed solar radios in remote villages so that school–going children who were facing grave difficulties in accessing formal education could not be left out. In Uganda, the recent promise by government to distribute radios throughout the country to aid distance learning amidst Covid-19 remained pending up to date. Therefore, failure to take necessary actions clearly vindicates persistence of the problem of biased education provision amidst Covid-19. Besides, successful application of any “Pandemic pedagogical approach” is assumed to involve teachers’ efforts to develop learning strategies that suit different learners’ intellectual abilities. These abilities are hardly acknowledged by broadcasted radio and television lessons as currently done in Uganda.

In further exploration of the implemented Pandemic pedagogies in Uganda, some teachers already started income generating cloud-based lessons, door to door tutoring of learners yet many adapted to alternative non-pedagogical income generating sources such as commercial “boda-boda” riding and brick laying [3,8]. To some teachers, shifting from their jobs is not so easy due to skill requirement, and the fact that other industries are equally affected by the pandemic [7]. There is however fear that if these teachers are not properly supported financially, they may never return to school even after Covid-19 schools’ lockdown [1]. More about Pandemic pedagogies in Uganda, government through MoES has embarked on print self-study materials for learning at home. However, being designed by the MoES and not the teachers who understand their respective learners better, these materials did not only fail to enrich syllabus information, but were also not received by majority of learners. With such issues, there could be a chance for these study materials to be realigned by individual teachers in a modified way, to provide objective pedagogical help to learners at different education levels as well as giving some income to financially starving teachers. Meanwhile, the way in which these materials have been used by the ministry, as educational tools for aiding distance learning during school closure, focuses on large groups of learners (with out considering their differences in learning background and intellectual abilities); yet different schools consist of learners with varying abilities all over the country. Therefore, as [33] urged, there is need for cautiousness while designing these study materials to save learners from getting demoralized in case the materials are higher than the level of their containment. Could individual teacher generated Pamphlets help to attend to the mismatch between the material and learners’ proficiency levels? Besides, as education policy makers in Uganda continue seeking for long-term solutions that may be suitable for Covid-19 alternative learning, modified use of teacher generated pamphlets should not be ignored.

To further justify teacher generated pamphlets compared to online learning platforms, literature presents 80 percent of Uganda’s school age children to be living in rural areas and thus characterized by lack of basic living resources as well as digital tools and supporting infrastructure [4,34]. As a matter of fact, only approximately 8 percent of households in rural areas have access to the national electricity grid, compared to 71 percent in urban areas. Yet electricity remains a major component needed to power the technologies used for remote learning. Such pervasive digital divide between the privileged and deprived groups continue to widen the educational gap during the Covid-19 alternative long distance learning. The situation in Uganda is thus like; the schools are not responsible, parents are not responsible and the government does not have a concrete plan for learners who are not attended to, pedagogically and for the financial life of private school teachers as well as those privately contracted in public schools [7]. Nevertheless, the current study seeks to put forward a domesticated pedagogical–economic mechanism which teachers in Uganda can adapt with pedagogical and financial intentions. The next chapter presents teacher generated pamphlets and how they can inform a pedagogically and economically feasible Covid-19 alternative teaching and learning in Uganda.

5. Feasibility of Teacher Generated Pamphlets in Uganda

This third and last objective of this study explores how teacher generated pamphlets can inform a pedagogically and economically feasible Covid-19 alternative teaching and learning in Uganda. The shock of Covid-19 crisis did not only disproportionately affect learners, but also the vulnerable teachers at large. With a negative spiral of aggravating pedagogical-economic circumstances that increased among learners and teachers, there is unlimited drive towards tapping the currently untapped resources during the struggle for the restoration of not only essential pedagogical services, but also the basic financial aspirations of teachers. It is thus the responsibility of the government and the necessary supportive community to “open up doors” for opportunistic teachers in making it happen. For example, the need for a shift of authorship, production and distribution of print self-study materials to individual teachers for their respective learners throughout the country is the focus of the current study [35]. With this done, issues of accessibility, age-appropriateness, varying linguistic backgrounds, as well as averting issues of digital divide may be minimized [36]. Besides, involving teachers may also be able to earn a living, especially if the platform proves appropriately streamlined among schools, teachers, parents and learners, with the help of the government.

Meanwhile, teacher generated Pamphlets have for long faced a bumpy journey in Uganda’s education arena, due to the apparent belief that their economic perspective may lead to skepticism in their pedagogical objectives [37]. However, basing on [38]’s definition of pedagogy; as the teachers’ teaching-learning experiences shaped by their actions, objectives, and preparedness towards their job as teachers, economic benefits were instead found to stimulate their pedagogical effectiveness. Therefore, for the current study to have a better understanding the pedagogical and economic feasibility of teacher generated pamphlets for Covid-19 alternative teaching and learning, [9]’s Expectancy theory attests inevitable in underpinning it. To [9], people are motivated to behave in ways that produce desired combinations of expected out comes. The theory is premised on the belief for expected outcomes of actions taken especially if effectively conducted. It is also based on a multiplicative combination of three factors in motivating individuals to take certain actions. Each of the three factors depends on the individuals’ perception of the situation [9].

The theory indicates that, Motivational force = Expectancy X Instrumentality X Valence. Expectancy is the extent to which an individual believes that a particular action/effort will produce a particular result, Instrumentality is the extent to which an individual believes that effective conduct of the action will lead to desired results, while Valence is the strength of the belief that those attractive results are actually available. In keeping with [9]’s theory, the current study believes that effective conduct of teacher generated pamphlets, as an alternative teaching and learning mechanism would produce the desired and attractive pedagogical-economic outcomes in the period of Covid-19 school closure. In further appreciation of [9]’s theory, teachers’ professional knowledge and their teaching-related decisions seems to be highly influenced by their own beliefs [39]. Teachers prefer what they believe is valuable in their choices for actions [40]. Their expression of beliefs in practice seems to further be influenced by the pedagogical traditions ruling in the country [41]. However, research shows inconsistencies between teachers’ beliefs and practices [22], meaning that teacher generated pamphlets may in some cases fail to maximumly yield all the intended expectations in terms of, for example failure to be accessed by all learners due to the financial attachment, likelihood of spreading Covid-19 due to its physical nature as well as failure to fully satisfy teachers’ financial needs amidst a non-profit oriented pedagogical environment.

Nevertheless, it is expected that since teacher generated pamphlets suggested in the current study are financially rewarding in nature, many teachers may not only be inspired to comply with their institutional demands (such as better grades), but also take pro-active role in advancing more initiatives that reflect the changing needs of learning today (such as those created by Covid-19 pandemic outset) [42]. It is unfortunate that available literature offers no eminent justification for effective use of teacher generated pamphlets in Uganda’s education institutions. While some lament with pessimistic voices [38,43], others’ voices are optimistic [33,42], yet some offered both voices [36,44]. Since literature does not craft a strapping and undeviating harmony with each other pertaining the feasibility of teacher generated pamphlets, there is need for a discourse about this mechanism for the education arena amidst Covid-19 schools’ closure in Uganda. Teachers in this case are depicted as instruments whose income generating pedagogical-related engagements signal potential solutions to the existing pressing pedagogical problems among education institutions in Uganda [38]. Therefore, if the suitability of this contextualized model of operation (teacher generated pamphlets) finds itself approved, it may enable an ideal and rewarding pedagogical service delivery during this anomalous period, in which both teachers and learners win.

The feasibility of this mechanism is however, despised by a number of pessimistic scholars. According to [43] for example, teacher generated pamphlets ignore differences in reading levels of learners and do not give enough explanations of content and thus, preparing examination oriented citizens. However, generalization of such findings should depend on the nature of the pedagogical environment, which directs teachers interface with the learners [38]. Besides, individual subject teachers know their learners better, and thus may develop these materials in a contextualized manner that is compatible to the experiences, realities and “first languages” of their learners [33]. Although there is always high interference from the education policy makers, community, schools’ management and colleagues [45,46], the current study assumes a well-functioning relationship between different education stakeholders, such that an adequate pedagogical-financial bandwidth can be developed as a system that can fit the learning needs and convenience of all students. The mechanism might also financially support the non-remunerated teachers during the Covid-19 closure of education institutions in Uganda.

It is also however important to note that, teaching being complex, ambiguous and dynamic, it is vital to put into consideration that this mechanism (teacher generated pamphlets) may be limited by the diverse components of teaching and learning, especially on how exactly these components will be considered by teachers, while making decisions related to teaching in the context of distance learning [4]. Besides, there is also a limitation that many students as well as teachers have undergone a lot of psychological and emotional distress, and thus maybe unable to engage in effective teaching and learning via teacher generated pamphlets [15]. Teachers are already in dilemma as to whom to listen to, and which tools to adopt and feasibly remain as educators under virtual teaching and learning in the Covid-19 era. Many of these teachers were not only left out in the disbursement of Ug.shs 100,000 (about USD 28) as Covid-19 relief fund [3], but have also not been remunerated from their respective schools [8]. Therefore, the existing critical pedagogical-financial gaps among students and teachers respectively amidst the Covid-19 pandemic may be averted if the current study’s domesticated alternative learning mechanism (teacher generated pamphlets) is loomed with all the care and support it deserves. Unless this is done, the pedagogical-financial tribulations that have proved pervasive in Uganda’s education system during the Covid-19 pandemic are here to stay.

6. Study Conclusions and Recommendations

This literature review-based study sought to explore how teacher generated pamphlets can inform a pedagogically and economically feasible Covid-19 alternative learning in Uganda. The study started with reviewing global pandemic pedagogies, before it reviewed the Pandemic pedagogies so far implemented in Uganda, in view of assessing how these pedagogies have informed pedagogically and economically feasible alternative long distance learning during the covid-19 pandemic period. The study discovered that, although online learning has become a common global panacea for Covid-19 alternative learning, research highlights global challenges with online teaching infrastructure, limited exposure of teachers to online teaching, the information gap, non-conducive environment for learning at home, equity as well as challenges related to academic excellence in terms of objective assessment and feedback. It was also found out that effective conduct of teacher generated pamphlets might avert issues of pervasive digital divide in Uganda, since these do not require application of complicated digital tools as well digital connectivity. Lastly, teacher generated pamphlets were thus found to be key to pedagogically and financially objective negotiation of entry into a successful alternative learning platform during the Covid-19 pandemic period. The study therefore makes the following conclusions.

First, there is need for a mechanism to cater for most vulnerable learners who have poor digital skills and the least access to the hardware and connectivity required for online learning solutions implemented during schools’ closure, thus scaling up remote learning opportunities for majority of children. Secondly, to meet the current Uganda’s pedagogical and financial demands of learners and teachers respectively, a more digital user friendly mechanism for alternative learning aimed at helping both students (to learn without converging in schools) as well as teachers (to earn income from provision of the long distance pedagogical services) is necessary. Lastly, individual teacher generated Pamphlets may serve as a suitable mechanism in partial containment of the current learner-teacher pedagogical and financial tribulations respectively.

These conclusions lead to several recommendations for today’s Covid-19 pandemic era of schools’ closure. In the first place, as all possible measures are ensured to make sure that all protocols necessary for safe re-opening of schools are put in place, adjustments have to be made to staff, parents, managerial structure, as well as policymakers’ mindset if the practice of teacher generated pamphlets is to succeed as an alternative learning mechanism. Besides, the government needs to shift authorship, production and distribution of print self-study materials into hands of individual teachers, who are assumed to know their learners better. In so doing, issues of equity, language appropriateness, age suitability, as well as teachers’ financial starvation may be averted. Lastly, individual teachers can keep on providing self-generated pamphlets to learners with clear explanations, so that parents keep on getting them from the respective schools for their children at a subsidized tuition fee (for those in private schools) to enable the teachers earn a living simultaneously, as learners also continue gaining pedagogically from their teachers’ services while at home. This recommendation was based on the ideas of [9]’s Expectancy theory, which is premised on the belief for expected outcomes of actions taken especially if effectively conducted. The study encountered a number of limitations. First teacher generated pamphlets stand a risk of spreading Covid-19 due to physical nature of these pamphlets. Secondly, given the financial attachment perhaps for buying these pamphlets, it may leave out many of the financially incapable learners. Lastly, differentiating between the purely non-profit oriented objectives of Uganda’s education system from the financial orientations of teachers involved in generating pamphlets leave gaps in how these pamphlets would be feasibly and sustainably used. However, these limitations do not seem to have affected the scholarly worth of the paper’s findings, due to its strong theoretical and methodological base that underpinned the study.

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