St. Anthony School, Kyazanga

Despite its considerable wealth of natural resources and solid economic development, Uganda remains one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. In the East African country, over 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas. The majority of the workforce therefore earns its livelihood from agriculture, which is the main source of income. The average age in this densely populated multi-ethnic state is just 15.7 years. Nevertheless, children and young people from poorer backgrounds in particular have hardly any chance of obtaining a good school-leaving certificate or vocational training. 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, help alliance enables young people from socially disadvantaged families to receive a high-quality secondary education in order to improve their future career prospects.

The project is aimed at children and young people aged 12 to 18 years from the structurally weak region. Currently 446 pupils attend the St. Anthony Secondary School. The expansion of St. Anthony Secondary School is intended to give more pupils access to further education in the future. By 2027, the secondary school shall be expanded into a regional education centre with an agricultural profile, where 600 young people will be taught in four grades.

In addition, the project indirectly benefits the families of the pupils, as the young people pass on the knowledge they have acquired, especially knowledge of agriculture and entrepreneurship, to their parents, thereby improving the family’s financial and social situation.

In order to improve the quality of education at St. Anthony Secondary School and at the same time provide access to education for more young people from the region, help alliance and its partner organisation ADEPT e.V. pursue several goals.

The current collapsing administration building, which is also used provisionally as a library, is to be replaced by a modern administration centre. At the same time we want 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 school is planned in the long term.

In addition, a specialist wing for the natural sciences, including water and gas connections for chemistry and physics, but also biology and agriculture lessons, will be built. Each newly created room is to be equipped with scientific equipment and teaching materials. The solid school education with an agricultural focus, combined with entrepreneurial know-how, should create the basis on which the young people can escape poverty as adults. In addition, adults in the region will be invited to attend training courses in agriculture and IT.