UGANDA / Beacon of Hope Uganda
Teaching, Skills Training, Activities
There is much need for extra help in schools in Uganda. However, it is very important to know where and how to give support. Many agencies place volunteers with out concern for the classes and children they are teaching. We do not support government schools as this interferes with the local education systemand may reduce the incentive of the government to improve its own educational system, while also disrupting the work of the local teachers. In general we support locally based schools that are trying to provide education to those that otherwise could not access this service.
We currently support 3 nursery/primary schools and a secondary school. The firstnursery school is run by us (Beacon ofHope Uganda)- its “Hope Children’s Village” and another one is run by a local organization in Bushenyi that is trying to prepare the children for primaryschool entrance by teaching them basics such as reading, writing, Math’s, andEnglish. The secondary school provides the opportunity of schooling to orphanedand disadvantaged children who otherwise would not be able to attend secondaryschool and vocational training programs in Kyotera- Rakai District.
For the schools we have chosen to support, we try not to impose on their structure, but add to them. We do not agree with placing unskilled people into teaching position, replacing local teachers or with disrupting the work of the local teachers. Local teachers are teaching at all of these schools and rather than replace them, we try to add to their work by taking extra classes and activities, either after school hours, or by splitting a large class (and thus helping to give more individual attention to the children) and switching over.
The children here face a big challenge, as once they reach secondary school allsubjects are taught through English. Many of those lucky enough to attend secondary school fall behind and fail due to their lack of understanding of English. Also, teaching in general in Uganda is carried out through repetition alone and the children rarely get to be creative or to engage inhands on activities, games etc. We, therefore, encourage our volunteers who are interested in helping at such projects to be involved with extra curricular classes in English and activities. The activities and level of English varies depending on the ages of the children in the class. We try our best to placelong term volunteers in these projects to help with the continuity of theprojects, but short term volunteers are welcome to help those that are here forlonger with their ongoing activities.
Along with formal teaching and running activities, there are also opportunities topass on other skills to children, such as drama, singing, music, gardening, knowledge on climate change, hygiene, human rights etc, as we run skillstraining and health/life skills talks at a couple of projects.
For more info on how to adapt your skills or what programs we are carrying out at a given time please contact us directly.
Contact:
Isaac Ssamba
E-mail: beaconyouths@yahoo.com
Tel: +256-791-517383
Weblink: http://www.beaconofhopeuganda.webs.com
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