Creating perspectives in times of crisis in Kyazanga, Uganda
Gradual reopening of the educational facilities / opening of a specialist wing building for natural sciences
Even during the Corona crisis, our project “Farming goes to school” at St. Anthony Secondary School in Kyazanga/ Uganda is making progress. In Uganda, the quality of public schools is inadequate due to overcrowded classes and poorly trained teaching staff, and the school drop-out rate is already immensely high in primary school. At the same time, many parents cannot afford the costs of private secondary schools. By supporting the St. Anthony Secondary School in Kyazanga, in the southwest of Uganda, the help alliance project aims to enable young people from socially deprived families to receive a high-quality secondary education in order to improve their future career prospects. Kyazanga itself is located in a rural area where most of the families generate their income through agriculture; therefore, the already existing agricultural profile of the school is planned to be further extended. During the last year a specialist wing for the natural sciences and also an agricultural training workshop with modern machines was completed. Currently, the dilapidated administration building, which is also used provisionally as a library, is to be replaced by a modern administration center. At the same time, the project plans to enable the construction and equipping of two IT rooms including a school library. As several other classrooms are provisionally used as dormitories, the construction of a boarding section is planned in the long term.
With a consistent policy, regular exchange with scientists and numerous targeted tests in recent months, the government has so far succeeded in keeping the COVID-19 infection rate relatively low – despite the current increase in the number of cases. But this policy came with severe consequences. In a country with class sizes of up to 100 students, many boarding schools with huge dormitories and cramped living conditions in the villages, there was hardly a middle way between lockdown and rising infection rates. Since 20 March, all schools in Uganda have been closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular non-governmental schools like the St. Anthony school were hit hard by the lockdown. While the government continued to pay the salaries of teachers at the government grant aided schools during the final months of the lockdown, the majority of private schools could not afford to do so. Many teachers lost their jobs and had difficulties to earn a living and to survive with their families. Also, parents cannot afford the school fees now in order to save the schools from insolvency as they lost their jobs and income during the corona crisis and the weeks of the lockdown. Now the Ministry of Education and Sports has decided to gradually reopen the educational facilities from October 2020. For the time being, the opening applies only to the graduating classes.
The continuation of the project “Farming goes to school” at St. Anthony Secondary School is more important than ever, especially in times of crisis. It strengthens confidence in the educational institutions and gives students career prospects in their home countries despite a collapsing global economy.
