Canadian Based Ugandan Professor Wants to Fix Uganda’s Education System

Born and raised in the central district of Masaka, Dr Lawrence Muganga holds two degrees from Makerere University, went to World’s top University, Harvard in the United States and now teaches at University of Alberta in Canada.

Dr Muganga advises Governments and has been invited by Governments in Singapore, Finland and many more to change the education system in those countries.

He also advises schools, International Aid Organizations, education managers and administrators, curriculum development experts, educators, learning facilitators, trainers and independent citizens searching for solutions to better education system to deliver meaningful learning.

He is a recipient of 1 million USD grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

He has written a book, “You Can’t Make Fish Climb Trees” which got the recognition of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to win him the grant.

Below, Muganga shares part of his life story as he vehemently calls for change of Uganda’s education system saying that it’s old fashioned:

My name is Dr Lawrence Muganga but I choose to go by Lawrence most of the time. I am a native of this country specifically in Masaka. That is where I was born and grew up like everyone, went through the education system here, graduated from Makerere University, ended up at Harvard University and University of Alberta.

There is what I have noticed around the world, going through all the education systems; I have witnessed, be it here all from kindergarten to the University of Makerere and other great Universities in the country to the top world University I ever we went to which is Harvard University, there is a significant change.”

And I will tell you this change that I have dedicated my life to writing about to see that I can change education the best way we could.

We realize that 150 years ago, education as we know was conceptualized and the Western world gave us an education system here in Uganda. But they have since moved away from this kind of education and in Uganda we are still stuck in the past.

I came up with a paradigm shift of sorts, that changes education as we know it such that you the media and other people who are going through this education system can be able to do something and contribute to your own families, yourselves and the country that you live in.

Gone are the days when we have an education system where you have to sit in front of a teacher and at the end of the day you graduate and think you have the education only to reach the real world and they tell you that that was not enough. That needs to be changed.

How can we look at the things that have changed in the education system and how can Government tap into this kind of change to bring real world education in the Ugandan context here so that a Ugandan child can benefit from this kind of education and become productive?”

In his book, Muganga advocates for education transformation and exposes the “archaic education system modelled for 19th century Europe which has allowed Governments and administrators to structure and deliver education as if it were an assembly line.”

While he focuses on the need for more dynamic education models in Sub Saharan Africa, Muganga establishes applications for the presence of authentic learning where teaching happens in a school centred environment filled with real world applications throughout the global community.

He advoctes for a revolutionized education model that would see Students’ individuality used to empower them so that they can navigate their future and the workforce successfully.