More than 4 weeks have passed since my last blog entry. In the meantime, I had a lot of work to do and was able to visit some schools. I am always impressed by how big (or should I say huge) these school grounds are. Not infrequently, there is enough land to raise chickens and cows in addition to pupils. Bananas, mangoes and avocado grow everywhere directly in the schoolyard. I have also already discovered passion fruit and pomegranate. And every time I go to school, I'm really excited about these opportunities.
More than enough space...
At the same time, however, you always encounter big (or should I say huge) challenges: In a classroom there are usually 80 often up to 140 students and still there is a lack of classrooms and lessons take place under sun sails or outdoors under a tree. The population is simply growing faster than schools. Usually the lessons consist of a teacher standing head-on in front of the class, reads, explains and dictates. If the teacher is there at all. Absenteeism of teachers, but also of students, exist for a variety of reasons. I could continue this list further.
Of course, it is not enough to just get a first impression. After all, the Church of Uganda with approx. 6000 primary schools and approx. 2000 secondary schools of one of the largest school authorities in the country. Therefore, there should be school inspections in the future that regularly take a closer look at schools and collect information about the opportunities and challenges of these schools. I will advise and support the team of school inspectors of the Direcorate of Education (i.e. the central education department of the Church of Uganda). Together, we will carry out and evaluate school inspections at model schools throughout the country. These experiences can then be used to train local school inspectors in the dioceses and to provide advisory support if necessary.
Meeting with the Provincial Inspectection and Support Supervision Team
This is not only about collecting data or evaluating schools, but also about finding ways to support and network schools. And I am already looking forward to hopefully soon introducing you to smaller and bigger ideas, projects and networks that arise from them.
