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What do you consider to be your most important achievements? We are very proud to be able to look back at the beginning of the project when the school felt as though it was being treated like a second class citizen. It had an abandoned, unloved and uncared for feel to it. The government did not prioritise education in rural areas and we had to cope with teachers who did not turn up for work. Now that the school has been shown some love, the children have a proper place to learn with good teachers and teaching. The village now sees the school as an important part of community life. And now kids from other areas are being sent to our school, because parents are seeing that there's a good education to be had there. We have double the number of children receiving a far better education than they were before. What are the main things you have learned over the last six years? There is no doubt we have learned a great deal and the whole process has been hugely rewarding, despite the challenges along the way. For instance it quickly became obvious that we needed to concentrate on the issues over which we could have the most control and would make the greatest difference to the lives of the young people who we wanted to help and the community in which they lived. I guess the model that has evolved can be distilled down to two core components. Firstly, the educational infrastructure which provides a safe, supportive and effective learning environment for the children. Then you've got the development of the education itself; making sure that the teachers are well equipped to deliver lessons that are relevant and effective. Of course the students have to be well equipped too and not just with writing equipment and paper. Increasingly we have addressed their wellbeing and safeguarding. Happy, cared for children always learn better. Very little money comes from the Ugandan government. We are a UK registered charity with a Ugandan partner. If COVID has taught us anything it is that it is important to diversify our fundraising channels. Money comes from a wide variety of sources; from people who have undertaken half marathons and other challenging events to black tie dinners. Recently we have looked to apply for grants from a variety of trusts and foundations. That can be initially challenging but becomes easier once you have a track record with which to sell yourself. Sean is now employed by the charity to oversee the fundraising and project management this has made a huge difference.
Once the classrooms were in place how easy was it to attract good teachers? We found very early on that the teaching staff were totally disenfranchised from the school that they were working in. This was not surprising when the government often delayed paying them by up to three months. Daily attendance rates from teachers could be as low as 50% and it was hugely frustrating and logistically difficult to manage this at the beginning. Finding high quality senior management was equally challenging and we saw three headmasters come and go early on. Slowly, things began to improve and it was exciting to see young teachers responding so positively to our training programmes. Very quickly the students began to benefit; there was a noticeable improvement in attendance and the overall student numbers grew; absenteeism fell and the energy throughout the school was noticeable. We are now up to on average 450 boys and girls attending daily with 11 full time staff. The students all come from the local area and walk to school, 10 to 15 minutes on average. What are the main differences between Ugandan and British schools? One noticeable difference between Uganda and the UK is the wide age range that you will find in Ugandan schools. There is no formal age at which children have to attend school in Uganda so some may be much older than four or five on their first day. Some students may progress rapidly through the system, others have to repeat a year. It has been known for 18 year olds to still be in primary school. A class can be comprised of students of a whole mix of different ages which can take a little getting used too at first. Despite the work we have done there are still really high pupil to teacher ratios which is the same throughout many rural Ugandan schools, especially government schools. In the first year of primary school, there might be as many as 120 children in one class with one teacher. One to one teaching is impossible. There is a real need for more and better teachers. There are also a lot of gender specific issues with female children, although the recent provision of sanitation and hygiene facilities that weren't there originally has made a big difference. However, there are still real barriers for girls attending the school and there is a lot of work to be done around dispelling much of the stigma, myth and shame associated with menstruating. The lack of proper support means that young women might miss school three, four or five days of every month.
Now that Bumakenya is on a much more sustainable footing what are you looking at next? The next project, which is now underway, is to support Soono Primary School which is a 20 minute walk from Bumakenya. It too has been neglected over the years. We have begun the fundraising process and are probably about 55- 60% of the way to our target. After that we are looking to extend across multiple schools in Eastern Uganda with the aim of improving their educational outcome statistics compared to those they are currently achieving. We are definitely very excited about the future.
Read more about TUSP and donate: www.theuganderchoolproject.com
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