ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how all aspects of life, including schooling, can be instantly interrupted for an unpredictable duration. This calls for countries to rethink how education is offered, reimagining homes as learning sites, and reorienting parents to support learning. This chapter presents findings from a household-based study that interrogated the learning modes and materials used by primary school-going children during the COVID-19 lockdown in Uganda, the support mechanisms instituted to enable learning, and how homes can be strengthened as learning sites. Data were collected from parents, upper primary school children, local leaders, and district officials in three purposively selected districts. The findings showed print materials as the dominant mode of learning used in rural and peri-urban areas; print, radio, and television were most common in urban areas, while radio and online learning were used least. Support mechanisms for learning varied with parents’ socioeconomic and literacy levels. COVID-19 has provided an opportunity to harness parents’ support to enrich the home environment as a learning site and restore the school/home/child tripartite relation for improved learning achievements. Additionally, planning for learning during emergency situations requires addressing existing systemic inequalities to ensure equitable access to learning opportunities across all locations.
