TEACHERS, PUPILS AND PARENTS OF KASIISI PRIMARY REVEL IN COMPUTER USAGE DURING THE OPEN DAY

As part of the project to target and promote the use of ICTs in primary schools in Kabarole and Kasese districts, CfSU and RWECO with funding from Connect for change and Edukans have supported primary schools to exhibit the use of ICTs during open days. In June 2015, Kasiisi primary school carried out an open day where they invited parents to witness how children and teachers of Kasiisi use ICT in teaching and learning. During the open day, there was exhibiting of different activities that take place in the school and using ICTs for digital stories was one of the activities. Teachers developed and installed digital stories on the computers that were given by computers for schools Uganda (CfSU). Parents and learners were able to see these stories run and those who had questions were given the opportunity to ask questions. As part of the activities that took place, parents were also tasked to give their views about the usage of computers in the schools and from what most of the parents commented, it was clear and evident that they very much liked the notion of their children using ICTs for learning. Basing on the parents’ comments, the head teacher and ICT teacher of Kasiisi primary were able to use this platform to lobby parents to support the use of computers in the school by contributing a small fee per term to enable the school not only to maintain the already existing computers but also to purchase new gadgets like the projector and more computers. The ICT teachers talked about some of the achievements they had realized so far but also sited some challenges they were facing and asked all stake holders to help the school overcome these challenges.   Learners were also given a chance to explore their ICT skills by demonstrating to the parents what they could do using the computer. Some of the tasks included, typing notes, opening the computer and displaying the digital stories while explaining their meanings to the parents among others. This was very exciting to the parents especially the fact that even the learners could freely interact with the computers and they pledged to fully support the program in the schools by agreeing to pay a given amount to the school to finance the program. 

Pupils of Kasiisi primary school as they enjoy a digital story

The day ended with a vote of thanks from the head of the school to CfSU and the parents. She also promised to be very vigilant in upholding the use of ICTs in the school.

EDUCATION CONSORTIUM SIGN PACT TO ADDRESS SRHR IN UGANDA

Education Local Expertise Center-Uganda ( ELECU), Lango Child and Community Development Federation ( LACCODEF), Uganda Joint Christian Council  (UJCC), TPO-Uganda and Rwenzori Consortium for Civic Competence ( RWECO) members of the Education consortium in Uganda hosted by ELECU have signed a pact to promote Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR)  and the Edukans Star School Approach model in Uganda with financial support from the ICCO-Cooperation  from January-June 2015. The Education local expertise center that hosts the consortium signed the pact for six months and will be implemented in 36 Primary School from the four region of Uganda including: Central and Eastern Uganda, Rwenzori, Lango, Bunyoro. The project will cost Euros. 50,000/ where each member is allocated Euros. 10,000/

Ms. Connie (Center holding a pen) signing the pact, from left to right - Jimmy, Daniel, Marrion and Fr. John, witness the signing of the pact on 29th April, 2015 at ELECU, Kampala.

consortium members celebrating after the signing of the pact at ELECU office, Kampala

Compiled by

Marion  Nafuna                    (TPO Uganda)
 Jimmy  Odyek                     ( RWECO)
Daniel  Odongo                   (LACCODEF)
Fr. John  Byamukama        ( UJCC)
Connie   Alezuyo               ( ELECU)

TECHNICIANS RECEIVE NEW TIPS ON COMPUTER MAINTENANCE

     To ensure sustainability of the C4C program and a longer life of the ICT equipment in schools, it was found necessary to train and build capacity of ICT lab technicians so that they could carry out preventive maintenance and also do simple repairs in case the need arises. The training took place in March 2015 where lab technicians and selected champion teachers were equipped with the skill to maintain and do simple repairs on their ICT equipment. This training was organized in form of hands on where the participants had the opportunity to do practical work and understand how to maintain their equipment. They covered sessions on why maintenance is needed for their machines, how to maintain, what to maintain, how often to maintain and what is needed to do the maintenance. They had to develop maintenance schedules which would guide then on how often to carry out different activities that are entailed in maintenance. The facilitator also had to take them through a hands on practical on common technical problems that machines can get and how they can trouble shoot and deal with these problems.  Some of them had personal questions that related to their different schools and the facilitator also handled this session in plenary as he answered as they asked.

       A sample maintenance and trouble shooting chart

To sum up the training, different technicians tried out trouble shooting machines to solve different problems. They later thanked CfSU and RWECO for giving them the opportunity to better their skills and also build their capacity. They pledged to continue carrying out maintenance to keep the machines virus free and up to date with all the necessary software. Finally they each received their blower and simple maintenance kit to help them with carrying out maintenance and repairing some technical problems as the need arises.

ICCO COOPERATION PARTNERS IN EAST AFRICA REACH THE UNREACHABLE " LOITA MAASAI"

In the Holy Book we read, "Where there is a way there is a will" and ICCO Cooperation Partners from Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya ( Host) paid a visit to the Loita Maasia Community in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. The host organisation was Ilikrin Loita Integral Development Program ( ILIDP) that has her roots in the Loita Maasia home land.

The visiting team was impressed by the work ILIDP had done by reaching the " UNREACHABLE" in their own words. Let us take the journey to the Loita Maasia

Ilkerin Boarding Primary School pupils share a light moment with the visiting team, L-R - Jimmy, Head teacher (in Coat) and Fr. John ( in T-Shirt) are taking off time to interact with the children.

Ilekrine Boarding Primary school is supported by ILIDP and is one of the best performing primary schools in Narok County, Kudos to ILIDP

Jimmy joined pupils in tree planting during the visit on 25th March, 2015

Different colors but one people, the visiting team is ushered in into the Maasai cultural dress as they prepared to hit to the community.

The visiting team don in a Maasai cultural attire

Light moments with the Loita Maasia community in Ilekrine. Children and the visiting team interact but remember the communication was almost with sign language and laughing as always when two people fail to community they often laugh!!!!

Blessed are those who take care of the young ones!!!!

The group was also ushered into the Maasia homestead and women and children jubilation on meeting with their other friends from East Africa and beyond

Maasai home stead

Now let us talk cattle keeping, but dont ask me if i own any cattle.. as part of the Maasai community, i was shown the crawl and possibly next time, i will be shown a cattle for keeps

Cattle crawl in Maasai land

 Now let us go wild life and tourism!!! Our team leader assured that, domestic animals and wild life live together in the Loita Maasai land!

A proud Maasai Giraffe

What we had read in books was what we saw after a hectic day in the community. Loita Maasai communities are proud of their cultural heritage and interaction with the nature. ILIDP has gone ahead to introduce eco-tourism and climate change mitigation measure as demonstrated on the farm field schools we visited.

EAST AFRICA is the home of the Rift Valley, Jimmy and Connie at the Eastern Side of the Rift Valley.

Time to get home and tell a story and lessons learned:

Go and become fishers of men!!!

The ICCO-Cooperation partners mooted an idea of continuing the cooperation even when ICCO Cooperation had indicated that the project had ended, it was yet the beginning of another journey to keep the achievements registered during the project period.

Asante sana

Jimmy B. Odyek
RWECO-UGANDA

I HAVE DISCOVERED THE MISSING LINK IN TEACHING OF ENGLISH.

Mr.Kule Eziron practically agreed to have realizing what was missing in his lesson planning and presentation of English language at Kilembe SS. This was during the training in use of ICT in lesson development and English methodology in teaching and learning of English at secondary schools level. The training was organized by RIC-NET a member of Rwenzori Consortium for Civic Competence(RWECO)    implementing the  project “innovative teaching and learning of English using ICT tools” .

The four day training was held from 7^th to 10^th February 2015 with the objective as “To improve the teachers of English’ ability in the use of ICT in lesson planning, development and presentation”. The participants were the English heads of department and Teachers and ICT teachers from St Charles SS, Kilembe SS, St Thereza Girls and Bwera PTC. The training content included among others, the use of local photos (Pstory), videos (CINEDUC).

Mr. Kule observed the missing links were the use of locally captured photo, use sound and videos in driving his lesson and the new innovative methodology of using the “Umbrella” in teaching tenses. He mentioned that the three items will shift the lesson from teacher centers to learner centered. “I have also realized there are millions of teaching materials online (internet) which require the teacher to sort what suits his/her lesson” these innovations will improve my lesson presentation in comprehension, composition writing and literature in English.

Ms Lillian from St Leo’s college shared her experience of how the “Umbrella” had made it possible for her learners to grasp the tense which cover a great part in the English examination at the final stage of education.  Some actions were reached to roll out these innovations in schools which shall be handled through mentorship.

WE ARE THE CHANGE AGENTS.

Teachers of English in Kasese agreed that “change begins with us”. This was during the reflection on the use of ICT in teaching and learning in secondary schools. The reflection was organized by Rwenzori Information Centers Network (RIC-NET) in conjunction with Connect for Change (C4C) and Rwenzori Consortium for Civic Competence (RWECO) on the implementation of project “innovative teaching and learning English using ICT tools” by retooling teachers and Tutors of English in innovative teaching and learning using ICT.

The meeting was held on the 30^th January 2015 with the objective as “To identify areas of progress and develop strategies that can improve the teaching-learning of English” in the project schools. The participants were the English heads of department and Teachers from St Charles SS, Kilembe SS, St Thereza Girls and Bwera PTC as direct implementers of the innovations in the school. 18 teachers (6 female and 12 males) and 3 staff participated in the focus group meeting. The reflection was also attended by 1 senior English teacher Ms from St. Leos College- Ms. Lillian Kababgambe who had used the innovation methods for long time.

It was observed that there is great progress in using ICT in teaching-learning process especially it has simplified work, increased interaction among the teachers in the department and improved local innovation in lesson development and delivery. In St.Thereza for example “the new innovations have got an impact on composition writing among the learners, teachers have integrated ICT in their daily activity and the innovation have been taken up by other departments like French and Geography”. In Kilembe secondary, “teaching using ICT has specifically improved team work among the teachers which has had an impact in lesson delivery and improved results. It has improved creative learning among the learners in composition writing; thus it’s easy to test the four skills”. Above all students have impressed ICT to do research. It has enhanced the school management to procure software’s for management to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

However the constant transfers of teachers affect the continuity and reduce the chance to measure the impact since new teachers are introduced and adapt to the innovation every year. The teachers need more training in online sourcing for teaching materials and how they can integrate them in the teaching syllabus.

Ms Lillian shared her experience of how using ICT in teaching made her work simpler and she was able to measure the students’ progress easily. She said that ICT innovation makes lesson presentation simple; teacher is able to learn the abilities of the learners very easily, improves class interaction and control and tickles the learning’s minds to the reality. Thus a teacher has to be more practical in lesson development.

A number of action points were agreed upon to form the next step of actions to handle the challenges  realized.RIC-NET/RWECO and the heads of department on behalf of the schools agreed to take the challenges ahead with more hands on trainings and mentorship conducted to cater for school and individual challenges.

WHY CANT WE TAKE CHARGE OF THE EDUCATION OF OUR CHILDREN?:

WHY CANT WE TAKE CHARGE OF THE EDUCATION OF OUR CHILDREN?:

Rwenzori consortium for civic competence (RWECO) organized parent’s day at the different primary schools in the Kasese District to sensitize the parents their role in supporting children to go to school and get quality education. The schools visited were, Muhokya Katwe and Munkunyu primary schools on (21^st Nov,4^th  and 5^th Dec respectively).RWECO in collaboration with the school management committee’s brought parents,OB’^s&OG’^s of those schools together to share views and ideas on how performance can be enhanced in the schools.

A total of 514 parents, 24 members from PTA and managements and staff of RWECO participated in these sensitization school days.

SCHOOL	MALE	FEMALE	PTA/MGT	TOTAL
MUKUNYU	86	129	09	224
KATWE	35	58	07	100
MUHOKYA	99	106	08	213
Total	220	293	24	537

The main purpose of RWECO involvement in education is “to improve literacy and proficiency levels in English Language by enhancing communication skills in primary school of Kasese District”. The initial target was improved literacy and proficiency in English language of 4500 Primary School pupils and 225 teachers in 15 primary schools by 2014.

Pupils of Munkunyu Primary School, Kasese District matching during the speech day in December 2014

A series of activities were done including pupils matching into communities inviting parents to the schools, pupil’s presentation of their grievances and desires towards education through poems, songs and dance to put up the message of their need for education, parents responding to the issues raised by the parents and key note message to the parents by the Guest speaker.

It was realized that the level of participation of parents in school going activities has improved in different schools as evidenced from the statistics above; the learners expressed their willingness to be in schools but always frustrated by the lack of the basic things especially scholastic materials

A parent supporting her child to receive a present from Mr. Dauglas K ( right)

The guest speaker Mr.Katemba Douglas requested the parents to learn how to sacrifice for their children. He gave examples of prominent people who passed through these schools as Mr. Sudhir, Bidandi Ssali who passed through Katwe primary school. He said, for the learners to get good education, they need good food, sleep well, provide medical care and the best care. As Parents, “we need to develop ‘focus and vision’ for the future of our children, pay fees, provide uniform and other materials and ensure we corporate with our children for the betterment in school and the future”.

In summing up the day’s activities, Parents vowed to support their children in school by making a follow-up on the class activities and attending to school programs. The best performing pupils and teachers were awarded for the work done in their respective schools to motivate them in school and to instill the spirit of competition among the learners and the teachers.

RWECO Field team:

Charles Kaliba
Medrace Balira

KATWE PRIMARY SCHOOLS PUPILS IMPROVISE WITH SCHOOL BAND

" DURING OUR DAYS WE HAD THE BEST BAND, I JOINED KATWE PRIMARY IN 1959 AND CAME BACK AS HEAD TEACHER IN 1982" KATEMBA. C. DAUGLAS.

Katwe Primary School children matching during the speech day on 4th Dec. 2014

It was a remind of our past as every parent at Katwe Primary School, Kasese district lamented during the speech day on 4th December, 2014. The children had improvised with drums as a school band, and they matched the streets of Katwe-Kabatooro Town Council, singing and joyful. Onlookers were busy commenting, but UPE children were show casing and indeed innovative enough. Who could imagine that in the 21st Century school band could be history, but come to Katwe Primary School you will see reality. Children in between the salt lake and fishing in lake Edward.

Mother joining pupils during the speech day

The mother of one of the pupils remembered her days at Katwe Primary School, she could not hold her happiness when she jumped and joined the pupils dancing. Speech days are important in children's education.

P. 2 Class showcasing their skills to the parents on

Mr. Katemba in cream shirt,

Ms. Jenifer Kabarangira, talking about the girl child education in relation to sanitation and the gender specific needs for girls

The Speech day at Katwe Primary School on 4rd Dec. 2014 was an exciting moment for parents and pupils to spend their time together a culture that has degenerated due to the commercialization of Education. Universal Primary Education (UPE) did not mean free education as some parents have take it to be. Provision of scholastic materials and paying special attention to the girl child was crucial if Katwe community was to benefit from the government UPE prrimary, Ms. Jenifer challenged the parents. On his part, Mr. Katemba, took the parents through the tier of education and how the prism narrows down as one climbs the ladders. He asked the Katwe community if they had any children in the last tier being University Education.

The participants of the speech day agreed to meet at the beginning of the term at Katwe Primary school and were reminded to take care of the pupils as they go for holidays


Compile by

Jimmy B.O
Medrace B
Kaliba Charles
RWECO Team in Katwe

TEACHER TESTIFIES HOW ICT HAS HELPED HER IN TEACHING ENGLISH

 ICT - Information and Communications Technology is any piece of device that allows users to create, store, display and communicate over a distance.

Integrating ICT in the teaching is using it alongside existing methods to support the learning process across the curriculum.

From the time I attained training in ICT; it has greatly reduced my work load and also attracted the learners’ attention so that I find some ordinary methods rather distractive. The use of the projector for instance tactfully creates alertness in class which builds the learners keenness through listening and reading skills.

My effort towards class control lessens, thus enabling me to achieve my lesson objectives – the aim of any teacher.  The duster and chalk are issues that remain yards away rendering ICT less inconveniencing. A simple click – right or left takes me to my desired destination instead of having to repeatedly stretch my hand – especially with my punctuated height.

Depending on the animation schemes I select, I feel the lessons provide for students’ opinions through interaction therefore minimizing the students’ attitude to view me as   ‘all knowing ‘, but rather boost their critical abilities.

Inexhaustible is its goodness so that ICT also serves as a reference by enabling me walk majestically into the next stream to handle an aspect I had earlier taught - without fresh preparation since it provides the saving option.

Thus widely known is that ICT is hugely transforming at a rate measurable by the discoveries I make of it each moment I venture.  The challenges I have realized with its use through the period after training include security.  This pauses laxity to put the language lab to full use since most of the tools have to be ferried over and over.  Also the internet not being an all time provision in school calls for need to supplement the laboratory with relevant teaching  materials such as videos and a digital camera to facilitate lesson development..

Lastly, the administration’s swift effort in securing us a room is the basis for this piece.  We are grateful to CFSU and its partner organizations for ensuring that we are part of this crew and assure you of our role on the voyage.

Kabagambe Lillian

Teacher of English Language and Literature in English

St. Leo’s College Kyegobe

HEAD TEACHERS IN KABAROLE DISCUSS ICT GUIDE LINES IN SCHOOLS

Objectives of the ICT guidelines in schools;

·        To integrate ICT into mainstream educational curricula to provide for equitable access for all students and teachers

·        To ensure ICT equipment at the schools is periodically maintained and handled carefully for durability

·        To address the obstacle of lack of awareness about ICT usages/benefits as being a major and prevalent hindrance to the establishment of the Information society with in educational institutions.

·         To bridge the gap of lack of skills for effective utilization of ICTs by the teachers through capacity building trainings

·        To identify a cadre of e-champions who will inculcate and head the use of ICTs in educational institutions.

ICT facility management: 

The ICT facility refers to the computer laboratory where all ICT gadgets/equipment like desktop computers, laptops, projectors and generators are put to use. The overall manager of this facility is the head teacher who makes the final decision after consultation with the computer lab manager or ICT teacher. Any teacher/student who wishes to use ICT gadgets /equipment should go through the custodian of the equipment who is the ICT teacher.

Maintenance and Repair of ICT equipment:

ICT equipment maintenance refers to periodical servicing of equipment to prolong its life. Maintenance is a necessity in schools because it reduces the risk of equipment break down while increasing the life span of the ICT gadgets.  It is usually advisable to clean all ICT gadgets on a daily basis and preventive maintenance on a monthly basis. Preventive maintenance entails activities like blowing, antivirus checks, software updates and simple trouble shooting and this should be done by the ICT teacher/custodian. Advanced repairs should be done on a need basis by the ICT teacher if they have the capacity or outsourced to a trusted external technician who should be supervised by the lab custodian and approved by the head teacher. The ICT committee in the school should come up with a maintenance schedule which should be followed strictly.

   ICT training:

ICT training refers to building of the capacity of the users to effectively utilise the equipment. The trainings are categorized into different sections to carter for different user needs. These trainings are categorized into; basic & advanced training for teachers, administrative trainings for administrators and technical trainings for lab managers.  A needs survey should begin the entire process to ascertain the skills level and the type of training that should be administered. A training schedule should be drawn by the ICT committee and these trainings should take on a trainer of trainer (ToT) approach to create a multiplier effect.

ICT equipment/ lab Usage:

Most of the schools have desktop computers, laptops, projectors, generators, televisions and printers as ICT equipment. A schedule for usage is very important. The teacher in charge should develop a usage schedule which should manage who borrows or uses the equipment and when. The school should have a requisition procedure which should be followed by the user, recommended by the head of department, then custodian/ICT focal person and approved by the head teacher specifying the period of use, purpose of use and condition of taking/return of equipment.

Procurement of ICT equipment/Services: 

Procurement refers to purchase of new equipment. It can be in form of replacement or buying new. Procurement is always necessary when the equipment breaks down beyond repair or when it becomes obsolete.  It is advisable to try repairing equipment before procuring. The ICT focal person/teacher should check/trouble shoot equipment; if it fails, then an external technician should be engaged and finally if the technician fails, the procurement process should be initiated through requisitions to the ICT committee.  The committee should discuss the specifications of the equipment that they would want to be procured which should be checked and verified by the ICT teacher on delivery.

Security of Equipment:

This involves physical safety and security of the ICT equipment. There should be a database of all ICT equipment with all the detailed specifications, engraving is important as it separates all property that belongs to the school from that of individuals.  The proper engraving format should include the name of institution, type of equipment, the number and date of engraving.  Access to the facility should be managed by one person and should always be available; if not the key should be handled by a defined senior official who takes responsibility. Institutions with the capacity should boost equipment security by installing CCTV cameras.

System security:

Unlike security of equipment, system security refers to safety of the system, i.e. protection of the system from intruders, viruses and unwanted users. There should be clear and defined system boundaries of who should access what kind of information. For example what should students access, teachers and school management, who manages access to the systems by unauthorised users?  Management of different information like exams, student content, teacher materials, accounts, hospital and stores should be assigned to the responsible persons. Passwords should be created to give user rights to responsible persons. Periodical antivirus updates should help to prevent loss of data by viruses and software like anti-porn should be installed to bar students from accessing pornographic materials.

ICT committee:

The ICT committee is a special group at the school that is chosen to make important decisions regarding all ICT matters at the school. This committee comprises of teachers, parents, administrators, and the community. The main role of the ICT committee is to make important decisions regarding ICT usage in the institution but it is also a lobby and advocacy voice for the use of ICT in the institution.

Skilling the students in ICT:

    The capacity of students to use ICT should be built to effectively utilise the equipment. The government of Uganda through the Curriculum has made computer studies a subsidiary paper at “A” level and examinable at “O” level. Therefore computer studies are taught both at the school and community level. However to further encourage students to appreciate ICT use, ICT clubs at the schools should be formed so that they can have interclass, inter school and inter regional competitions.

BEST TEACHERS RECIEVE MERIT AWARDS APRIL, JUNE AND NOVERMBER 2014

“Motivation is the key to hard work”. This saying has become real during the star model school year 1!

In both Bwanika and Canon Apollo Demo schools CFSU has been observing teachers’ performance especially in the methods they use in teaching English language teaching. This was done together with the English language heads of department the inspectors of schools the CCTs aim being to choose the best performing teachers for recognitions’ sake. After some period of scrutiny the best teachers who have been working tirelessly and whole heartedly were selected from the many.

Constant follow up of star school activities has shown that some teachers go on extra mile to meet the star school objectives. It is such teachers that the project manager keenly decided to reward.

The kind of teachers that qualified for the award were those that:

·          Constantly encouraged pupils to speak English while in the school compound

·          Enlivened their classrooms with instructional materials.

·          Encouraged and supported  co –curricular activities like MDD, Debate, writing and drawing in line with language teaching and learning

·          Attended to their classes no matter what.

The names of such teachers eventually came out as:

NAMES	SCHOOL	TERMI	DATE AND YEAR
Irene Mateete	canon Apollo  Demo	1	0 3/04/2014
Kyomuhendo Florah	canon Apollo  Demo	2	09/06/2014
Wamara Edison	canon Apollo  Demo	3	5/11/2014
Lucy kyomuhendo	Bwanika  p/s	1	07/04/2014
Kobusinge stella	Bwanika  p/s	2	12/06/2014
Naiga victoria	Bwanika  p/s	3	03/11/2014

The project coordinator of star school Mr. Jimmy Odyeke Baluku from Rweco and the inspector of schools in charge of Burahya sub county Ms. Kwezi Gorret presided over the occasion and carried out the handing over of the certificates.

           

Bwanika p/s teachers displaying their certificates          Canon Apollo demo school teachers

                                                                                                      displaying their certificates       

The teachers promised to “keep the candle burning to the end”.  The head teachers thanked the CFSU and all the partners that have been giving them a hand in bringing up children of the nation.