A REPORT ON CONDUCTING ANNUAL OPEN DAYS AND CAREER GUIDANCE AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT HELD ON 4TH -24TH JUNE 2013

In the education domain career guidance refers to planning a head in order for pupils to attain their intended long term goals.

                    

Leadership and career go hand in hand for everyone who goes to school would wish to be a better citizen in future.

The purpose of this activity was to help pupils learn to focus evaluate themselves and plan a head.

This exercise was carried out by Mr. Kajura Nelson a teacher from Buhinga primary school whose passion is in career guidance and leadership development. He first elaborated on the importance of going to school as a preparation for a stable and a better future.

The activity targeted 15 schools  with a population of 8430 Pupils (4007 girls, 4423 boys) the facilitator started with a vernacular song with a message connected to the topic “omwana ategesibwe obwomutangana akwata ebitengobye ayesweka ha maiso. Omana ayegesiibwe obwotangana akuramukya nobumanzi akukwata mungaro” meaning when you meet with someone who has not gone to school he covers has face with his ragged clothes, but when you meet with one who is educated, he boldly shakes hands with you.

He said, even if one dropped out school at some level, if it is a girl for instance she would still make a good wife! She would for example boil water and give birth in hospital, and bring up her children in a healthy and acceptable way.

He went on to say, that much as leadership could be in born, some of it can still be acquired at school.

 

Head girl of Kiboota primary school being coached on how to communicate to her fellow pupils

 

pupils being addressed by their head girl

He gave an example of prefects that campaign for headship at school as the born leaders. He went on to say that a good leader should have the qualities below:

1.  Flexible / adoptable
2.       Good communicator
3. Respectful
4. Confidence
5. Open
6. Resourceful
7. Rewarding
8. Well educated
9. Open to change
10. 1    Interested in feedback.

With all qualities available leaders will be confident and will command respect and of course their communicative skills will improve.  He went on to say that it is quite impossible however to find all these qualities in one person which meant that we all have a share of some of these qualities meaning that to some extent every pupil has one or two leadership qualities already all they have to do is develop them through school activities like debates, drama, sports, and so on and so forth. With these qualities he said there is no way one should not be a good leader.

Career guidance according to him should be an ongoing exercise in schools and this in the long run might help to improve literacy and numeracy levels.

When pupils get to know what they want, who they are, and what their capacities are there is a way they work within their resources and survive while knowing fully where they are going  how they are going and for what purpose.

He pointed out problems that children leaders often meet as:

·         Disrespect from fellow  pupils

·         Teasing especially when they are new  

·         Lack of self esteem

·         While choosing the prefect bodies some classes like p.3 and p.4 are normally left out.

In his last remarks he kindly requested teachers to keep the career guidance candle  and developing leadership skills burning. He said the nation of tomorrow depended on their effort to make pupils focused and determined to be good citizens of tomorrow.   

A REPORT ON DEVELOPING USER FRIENDLY INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS 28TH MARCH – 11TH APRIL

As non-convectional innovative methods of teaching / learning English is a continuous program for the year, it is important that safe user friendly materials should be produced in plenty. This time round, Bwanika primary school and Rwimi are the ones that passed for the development of user friendly materials. This was so because they were selected to host the bi annual teachers review show casing best practices come June 12^th 2013.

These are some of the instruction materials prepared to show case during the teachers review in June

               

Puppets for teaching speech for p.4          

 Hand-made material reading corner for p.5

 Imaginative composition materials p.6          

                                                                                 

                            

 Hand-made material reading corner p.7 

Manila reading cards for incidental reading for p.5

          

                          

                                                                                  A noun teaching corner for p.4

   

Library corner for p.6                                                                       

                                                                                       

A noun teaching corner for p.4 

                                             

A drum for teaching listening                                       

 

 A shop corner for teaching speech 

CFSU TECHNICAL TRAINING WORKSHOP

Computers for schools Uganda, held a technical training workshop from the 13th, to the 16th of May, 2013 at NOB VIEW HOTEL in Ntinda. The workshop attended by a number of organizations, was opened by the Director; Computers for Schools Uganda, Mr. Joel Baguma.

 

participants attending the training session at Nob View Hotel 

Several Organizations were represented by members of their choice, among, were;

Community Empowerment for Rural Development-CEFORD, Health Need Uganda-HNU, Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development- ACORD.Forum for African Women Educationists.- FAWE, Jinja Catholic Diocese, Health Rights Action Group- HAG,   Uganda National Health Users/Consumers Organization- UNHCO.

The four day conference aimed at imparting technical skills onto the participants. Majority of the participants had a slight background in ICT and other related fields. The workshop was facilitated by Stella Nkesa and Andrew Oboth, both CFSU staff.

 

participants reviewing their action plans with their facilitators 

During the workshop,  a number of areas were covered, among them; information security, video production and management, ICT management, maintenance and many more. The workshop was closed by the Commissioner for education, Mr. Lyazi Nsumba.

 

facilitators and the participants pose for a group photo after the training

BUHINGA P/S HOSTS INTER-SCHOOOLS DEBATE AND DRAMA COMPETITIONS

 

              pupils performing a traditional dance during an interschool competition

Buhinga primary school in Kabarole district, Fort Portal municipality, hosted the first Computers for Schools Uganda organized debate and drama competitions that were organized on 29^th/9/2012 at the school premises. The competition is part of CFSU’s Education Pragmatic Program EPP, supported by Connect for Change, C4C. This program is based on bringing out pupils environment communicative skills, through competition in non-conventional innovative methods of learning.

a pupil of kasiisi proposing the motion

a pupil of kigarama p/s opposing the motion 






The competition was based on the theme, Uganda fifty years of independence, to commemorate the country’s independence. The activities, ranging from the debates to the drama, centered on this theme. All the CFSU project schools met and shared the various experiences acquired during their involvement with the EPP projects.
The District Inspector of Schools, along with a team of 3 coordinating Tutors and the Inspector in charge of special needs children were the guests of honor .Some heads of schools from Rubona, Kiboota, Kabata and Kiibito primary schools were also present to witness the revival of Clubs in the District. A number of pupils engaged in activities that included; a skit with the theme of Uganda’s 50 years of Independence, a western choral song, traditional dance and debate. Each school was represented by one opposer and one proposer from the fourteen participating schools.

 

               a drama episode during an inter-school competition                    

Speaking at the competition, the chief guest of honor, District Inspector of Schools, Mr. Joseph Rujumba hailed teachers and CFSU for their work and dedication to the education sector. The event ended with the awarding of prizes to the best performing schools and individuals. 

 

               Fig 3; Kasiisi p/s won both debate and drama competition awards.

CANON APOLLO GOES MOBILE

 

Figure 1; Mrs. Elizabeth Rwamwenge the deputy principal of Canon Apollo

Fifteen months into the implementation of a project aimed at improving literacy and parent involvement in secondary schools and PTCs, Canon Apollo has adapted the use of bulk sms for administrative purposes especially inviting parents for meetings.

According to Mrs. Elizabeth Rwamwenge the deputy principal of Canon Apollo, most of the parents come from as far as Busheyi, Mbarara and Kabale among other districts. “We would use circulars yet many parents cannot read and on many occasions students would not deliver the circulars”. The college also attempted to use a local radio to reach parents but the coverage of radio is limited and so the message would not be received.

After a meeting with CfSU/RWECO and Text to change schools were tasked to collect relevant telephone numbers so as to use the bulk SMS for communication with different stake holders.

“It is evident that in the past not many parents would turn up for meetings but with the use of bulk sms platform in 2012/2013, the college received the biggest PTA turn up ever and we are beginning to see an improvement in parent involvement at the college”  emphasized  Mrs Rwamwenge.

This is part of the three year Dutch Consortium ( Connect for Change) funded project implemented in western Uganda implemented by CfSU in partnership with RWECO for the period 2012-201

CFSU CARRIES OUT ONSITE SUPPORT IN SCHOOLS AROUND KABAROLE

Between the months of January-June 2013, onsite support was carried out around the schools in the C4C projects. Computers for Schools Uganda mainly supported the teachers in Kabarole district and these included teachers in Kyebambe girls’ school, St. Leos College Kyegobe and Rutete Secondary school.

Some of the teachers during the onsite support meeting.

Using the action plan that was jointly developed after the training, teachers from kyebambe girls, St. Leos College and Ruteete S.S had interactive discussions of what they have so far accomplished with regards to the project and some of the points that were raised were;

·         The setup of the English language resource room; although not up to standard and still requiring some work, St. Leos and Kyebambe were able to set up these English labs with resources like the laptop, projector and the speakers. The schools have worked on these resource rooms making them as safe as possible with burglar proofs and they are in the process of drawing a time table to schedule different classes for the resource room.

·         Development of more interesting and fascinating lessons using Power point and Photo story; teachers of English in these schools mentioned that they are developing more interesting lessons as testified by their students.

·         Computers in the staff room; with the availability of these computers in the staff room, teachers are now able to develop their lessons and type exams freely in their free time without competing with students which was the case previously. It has even helped them practice more, getting a grip on computer usage thus erasing the computer phobia of students being better than them.

·         Heads of schools were met and the project was discussed at length. The head teachers pledged to support the teachers and give them necessary help whenever the need arose.

CFSU PROJECT SCHOOLS CELEBRATE WORLD LITERACY DAY 2012 AT RUBONA

Rubona primary school was the center of activity as Computers for Schools Uganda’s project schools celebrated the annual world literacy day which is commemorated on 8^th, September every year. The day, whose theme was the need for peace and literacy among school going children around the world, started at 9:00am with the singing of the national and Tooro anthems.

Ms. Lydia Kamba, the Education Programmatic Program officer CFSU, explained the years’ theme of literacy and peace, also went ahead to explain and guide pupils and teachers about the rights of the school going children. The event was graced by one of the District Education Officials in charge of the children’s special needs Ms. Harriet Angwena as the guest speaker.

Ms. Harriet Angwena addressing teachers and pupils in Rubona p/s on World Literacy Day 2012

Speaking at the celebrations, the guest speaker emphasized the observation of the rights for a peaceful environment for the girl child and highlighted the importance of having a literate country. She also went on to commend CFSU for the support it has given the district on such an occasion.

CFSU DONATES PROJECTOR TO MBARARA JUNIOR SCHOOL

Mbarara Junior School is one of the good performing day and boarding primary schools in Mbarara district with a population of about 1,412 pupils.

Five years ago, the school’s academic standards had declined so badly and a lot of effort was needed to revive the glory of the school. This saw a new head teacher in place Mr. Mugume Nathan.

 

 Above;the computer lab at Mbarara Junior school

One of the issues he focused on and urged his management and B.O.G to focus on was the use of ICT among other issues considered. At the time, the school had no computers but had a typewriter affecting the efficiency at the school.

On getting in touch with the Computers for Schools Uganda, the school through support from parents, 10 refurbished computers which were housed in the library with support from CFSU and the parents grew to 30 computers which looked not fit in the library.

The parents supported the school to construct a computer lab where the diocese of Ankole/Bishop also contributed 15 computers. Today, the school has over 65 computers with a full time teacher to teach basic skills for classes primary three to primary seven.

Teachers also used the computers for gathering educational materials from the internet and use it for other administrative work. The community has also been benefiting from the facility through internet access.

 

Above;The Manager CFSU Mr. Kamba Joel handing over the Projector to the H/M of Mbarara Junior Mr. Mugume Nathan.

CFSU has also seen the trend of ICT in development at the school and as a result donated a projector to encourage the use of ICT for teaching and learning. CFSU intends to empower the teachers in the use of ICT for education and management so that other primary schools in the region can learn from them.

Joel Kamba (Manager)

KABAROLE DISTRICT PRIMARY SCHOOLS GO ICT

Computers for Schools Uganda introduces digital storytelling as a teaching tool in Kabarole district. Computers for schools Uganda, an ICT for education Non-governmental organization in partnership with Australia Aid, initiated the first digital storytelling project in the Rwenzori region.

This stated with selling of the idea to three pilot schools and was followed by an inception meeting which was later followed by the collection of stories. This took place between the 28^th of January and 8^th February, 2013, in Kabarole district. The meeting, held in three schools, Rubona, Mugusu and Kasiisi primary schools, attracted teachers of English language and head teachers from the three schools.

                      Inception: Teachers of Kasiisi, Mugusu and Rubona primary schools.

The project being piloted in the three schools of Kasiisi, Mugusu and Rubona is aimed at improving literacy in primary schools and improving pupils’ writing skills. Three teachers of English language were selected from each of the schools, to implement the project.

Head teachers of the chosen schools, welcomed the idea and agreed to work with CFSU, to see that the project becomes a success. This is the first of its kind to be carried out among rural project schools in Uganda. Digital story telling involves the changing of hand written stories into digital stories, using video, photo or audio tools.

COMPUTERS FOR SCHOOLS UGANDA HOLDS INTER-SCHOOL CLUB COMPETITION

Computers for Schools Uganda under its Education Programmatic Program, EPP, organized an inter-school club competition for primary schools. The event was carried out in 15 of its project schools by the CFSU project officer Ms. Lydia Kamba with the help of the project school teachers.

The competition was aimed at ascertaining the existence of these clubs and the creation of some in those schools, which did not have any.  The competition had the Debate; Music Dance Drama and Writers’ clubs compete in their respective categories.

A pupil performing during the drama competition

Computer for Schools Uganda and the participating schools had three quarters of the month of September 2012 dedicated to improving these clubs in order to help improve the communication skills of both teachers and students through debates, music, dance and drama, writing and drawing.

Pupils in the dance competition

The competition acted as a Curtain raiser for the instructional materials exhibition which was to take place in 5^Th October, 2012.

                               

DIGITAL STORY TELLING ANALYSIS WORKSHOP HELD

Kenneth Inn played host to a four day workshop on digital storytelling, by Computers for Schools Uganda. The workshop aimed at analyzing stories written by primary four and five pupils in the project schools of Kasiisi, Mugusu and Rubona primary schools; attracted over six hundred story contributions from the pupils, with only four hundred fifty of these, being passed by the teachers for consideration.

Teachers from the three primary schools conducted in-class and inter-class story writing competitions, to have pupils come up with stories for the project. The project, funded by AusAid and implemented by CFSU, is aimed at equipping pupils in rural schools with modern learning skills and exposes them to ICT oriented class experience.

  

                    ANALYSIS: Teachers of Mugusu, Kasiisi and Rubona, analyzing the stories. 

The selected stories underwent further scrutiny by CFSU and the teachers from the respective project schools and had only fifty stories selected for digitalizing. This reduction in stories was due to the limited writing skills of the pupils, inconsistent theme formations and numerous grammatical errors. The remaining stories were handed over to CFSU, for further development, improvement and digitalization. The rest were sent back to the contributing schools, for improvement.

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS EXHIBITION HELD

Rubona and Kigarama coordinating centers, played host to the Mini exhibition of instructional materials of non-conventional innovative methods of teaching and learning, held on 25^th to 28^th September, 2012, in Kabarole district. 

The event, aimed at correcting and improving material developed by teachers, in preparation for the main exhibition slated for 5^th October 2012, was attended by language experts and a representative from Computers for Schools Uganda. The event left the exhibition inspectors impressed and they advised participating schools against use of artificial materials for the main exhibition, which some of the schools had initially attempted to use.

   

CFSU MEETS HEAD TEACHERS, PTA AND BOG TO RAISE AWARENESS AND SUPPORT ICT ENHANCED LEARNING (17th June 2013)

To ensure a smooth and successful implementation of the projects, head teachers, PTA and BOG members had to be brought on board with the project. It is on this note therefore that Computers for Schools organized a meeting inviting all head teachers, PTA and BOG members of all project schools in Kabarole district. The meeting took place at Kaalya courts on 17^th June 2013.

The purpose of this meeting was to ensure that the heads of schools, PTA and BOG allowed the C4C project activities to be implemented within their institutions. Further on, administrative support is needed to ensure sustainability of the project even after the project life has ended. As a ripple effect of the project, administrators had to be fully aware of the project activities within the school so that it does not only benefit the English department but also other departments. Issues that were discussed in the meeting included the following among others;

• The project brief, activities involved and responsibilities of the stake holders especially school administration
• Discussion of achievements in the schools so far and challenges faced

                

                                  The ICT project officer discussing the brief

The heads of schools discussed the achievements and challenges that they have been facing since the project inception to date. The heads of schools each discussed what was happening within their respective schools with regards to the project. After looking at the achievements, challenges faced were also brought up and solutions to mitigate the challenges were pointed out and below are some of the issues that were discussed;

Achievements

• The set up of the English language resource room; Canon Apolo core PTC, Ruteete secondary school and St. Leos and Kyebambe have set up English labs with resources like the laptop, projector and the speakers. Now with the two desk tops and flash disks that CfSU has added to the department, these institutions have worked on these resource rooms making them more student friendly and as safe as possible. The teaching and learning process can now comfortably take place in these rooms.
• Development of more interesting and fascinating lessons using Power point and Photo story; the head teachers of these schools were proud to mention that the teachers are developing more interesting lessons as testified by their students. Learners are more eager
• Computers in the resource room; with the availability of these computers in the English resource room, teachers are now able to develop their lessons and type exams freely in their free time without competing with students which was the case previously. It has even helped them practice more, getting a grip on computer usage thus erasing the computer phobia of students being better than them. The learners have also adopted a research culture where they can accomplish projects on their own   

                                                              Mr. Otigo Evans explaining the benefits and challenges they face 

The representative from the DEO’s office of Kabarole district Mrs. Harriet Angwena finally urged administrators and PTA members to fully embrace the program and give the much needed support to the teachers and implementing organizations. She also pledged to be supportive at the district level by offering the necessary support like inspecting and lobbying at the ministry.

                  Administrative members listening to the DEO

SCHOOLS RECEIVE POSTERS ADVOCATING FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN KABAROLE FROM 5TH-7TH JUNE 2013

Fifteen posters advocating for English language /teaching/learning were made and distributed to 15 schools in Kabarole

The poster has three logos ICCO representing our partners, computers for schools and RWECO as implementers of EPP programs in the Rwenzori region and a message on improving literacy and numeracy levels through mastery of English Language.

Deputy Head teacher Haibale primary school receives a poster advocating for English language mastery from CFSU 

Excited teachers of Kigarama Primary school receive the poster advocating for English Language proficiency 

The presence of the posters in the compound act as a multi-purpose:

1.   Pupils get incidental reading
2.  The message written on the poster acts as a reminder whenever it is read.
3.  The poster serve as a visibility for the community to get to know of the presence of the NGO and its objectives

PARENTS TEACHERS ASSOCIATIONS AND SCHOOL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES CONTINUE GETTING IN HOUSE WORKSHOPS ON THEIR ROLES IN SCHOOLS

Following the 2012 PTA and SMC^S TRAINING WORK SHOPS COMPUTERS for schools has continued following and monitoring the activities of these management institutions by participating in their meetings in schools.

These institutions are the real back bone of schools, when they are weak literacy and numeracy levels lower and vice versa.

In order for PPE to attain intended goals it is imperative that these institutions be encouraged and supported.

The heads of schools have embraced this program because they feel their work load has been shared and made easier.

Kibiito PTA and SMC^S having a tea break in one of the meetings in march 11^th 2013.

Many times for example a school would not have enough funds to cater for a meeting of 21 members of PTA but since EPP joined their schools this problem has been somehow solved.

The presence of these institutions in schools mean greater planning, greater communication leading to literacy and numeracy levels automatically rising thus building a steady education pyramid for the young generation.

Computers for schools therefore deems it right to keep supporting these institutions for without them all it’s endeavors of promoting a well-balanced rich meaningful education system will come to no avail.