News from Namisindwa
We are now well past half way through 2024, and as such, we wanted update you on The Uganda School Project’s work this year so far, and the impact your support is having on our pupils’ education.
Bumakenya Primary School
Class in session at Bumakenya!
Bumakenya Primary School, where we started our work some 7 years ago, continues to go from strength to strength. We are seeing a consistent increase in daily attendance, which has even in the last year risen by over 70% (from an average of 421 to 720). In a context high dropout and low school completion rates are common, this is a fantastic indicator that parents and communities believe in the education we are able to offer at our schools.
Additionally, both the total number of and percentage of children passing their Primary Leaving Exam - the standardised national exam when finishing primary school - has also increased. In 2022, 18 children passed the exam with a success rate of 47%, which in 2023 increased to 28 children and 60% success rate. So whilst there remains work to be done, there has inarguably been significant progress.
TUSP has constructed a new purpose-built kitchen, with fuel-efficient stove at Bumakenya this year which helps ensure children are in the classroom for as long as possible, and with funds from the campaign we’ve continued to feed every child a nutritious daily meal, which helps keep children in school and improves learning outcomes whilst there - you can read more about that here
Additionally, the campaign helped fund 100 brand new desks at the school. This is crucial in giving children the environment and tools to learn to read and write as early as possible - particularly in the early primary years, classrooms sizes can be huge and desk numbers are often insufficient - and so these new desks ensure children don’t get left behind through a lack of facilities.
‘Primary 2’ class using the first 20 newly constructed desks
Soono Primary School
Our second intervention school, at nearby Soono, has also seen big improvements since we began our work in 2023.
Daily attendance of children has risen by 59%, and Primary Leaving Exam performance has also improved (12 children / 48% successes in 2022, 23 children / 77% successes in 2023).
We have now completed construction on six classrooms, one latrine block, a school kitchen and water tank to better accommodate our 600-700 pupils, and have received great feedback from the community on the impact our work is having.
Daily lunch programmes and desk construction - again funded by your generous fundraising - have helped facilitate this improvement.
Lunch is served from the new kitchen at Soono Primary School!
In closing, I would like to thank you again for supporting our work, which is having a significant impact on children’s lives. In particular, we can’t wait to see the day some of our first cohort graduate from secondary school, and what they go on to do to uplift themselves and their communities.
Stay tuned for some big updates to come!