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.