Justice and Peace Commission
Archdiocese of Gulu
August 2008, Vol. 8, No. 5
As part of the programme to improve education standard in Acholi, the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) has taken twenty students of the Peace Club for an exposure tour of Kampala, in central Uganda.
The exchange visit is one of the activities under peace education. Since early 1990s, the Justice and Peace Commission has been implementing peace programme in the community and secondary schools.
The goal of the Peace Education in schools is to empower students (and they in turn help others) address issues that would easily involve violence and human rights abuses peacefully; by appreciating the values of human rights and its importance as a foundation for freedom, justice and peace in the greater society.
Exchange visit was to enable students from Northern Uganda share and get experience from other secondary schools in and around Kampala.
The students were selected from schools in Pader and Amuru districts were JPC is currently implementing the programme. Ten students and two teachers (Matrons and Patrons) from each district were selected for the exchange visit.
One of the schools visit was Uganda martyrs Namugongo Secondary School. The team also visited the martyrs' shrine for both catholic and protestant and the Parliament of the republic of Uganda.
The visiting students were distributed in classes and attended teaching. They shared their experiences during the teaching. Teachers on the other hand were given chance to interact with their fellow teachers.
The head teacher of Uganda Martyrs Namugongo Secondary School, John Muyingo and the school chaplain Rev. Father Sebugwa addressed the exchange visit team. Muyingo emphasized the three cardinal aims of Namogongo school which make it excels country wide. "To produce responsible leaders; upright people in the future and excellent students academically in Uganda".
He said, Uganda Martyrs Namugongo School is peaceful and excelling academically in Uganda because of discipline in school. "Students love their school, they cannot beat up their teachers, and they respect each other," he added.
What was observed from there is that students and teachers of Namogongo love prayers. Very early in the morning they go for prayer and because of this, "they produce the best students yearly in academic, and it is that prayer that makes us very well behaved, respectful and obedience," Muyingo emphasized.
The team was also made to know that student leaders work hand in hand with teachers and they share problems together. "There is respect for authority, obedience, honesty, and self control. We encourage students to share their problems with student leaders and teachers," he added Muyingo said as a school, they think of being successful, doing something great and anything which might put them down is ignore.
When asked about the students strikes, he said, Namugongo has never had a strikes and it will not have because; there are several forums where teachers and students express their feelings.
The flow of information is perfect between the students, teachers, and the administrators. He added that, class teachers always have a talk period with their students and students are being listen to.
On the slow learners, he said, students have 'a reformer club' to help the slow learners. Teachers on the other hand have a separate sitting outside to help slow learners.
The students ended their exposure tour by visiting the Parliament of Uganda.
They were shown important places like the printer room, the chamber, the lobby
and the committee rooms among others. Some Members of the Parliament addressed
and encouraged the student to study hard. The MPs included Okumu Reagan [Acwa
County], Hon. Oyet Simon [Nwoya County] and Hon. Christine Baku from Arua
district.
Baku, who is also a shadow minister of education in Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) addressed the students saying, northern Uganda has suffered from war for a long time and is the least in education standard in the country. She encouraged students to be peaceful.
Both Okumu and Oyet advised JPC staff to be the ears and eyes of the vulnerable people in the community.
Both teachers and students praised the exposure programme and said they benefited a lot. They said they learnt from Namogongo secondary school how to live in harmony with each other at school, with teachers and with the administrators.
Students said they learnt skills of excelling academically such as hard work and concentration. While teachers said they got some experience on how to avoid the outbreak of violent strikes in their schools.
Back home, most schools complained to JPC about the few number of students sent. They proposed that next time, the whole candidate classes should benefit from the programme. They also complained that only one day was not enough to learn from their counter part. They wanted a weeklong programme.
What is observed from the exchange visit is that it might have to take long time for northern Uganda to achieve the standard of education other parts of the country enjoy. In Namugongo, two teachers handle one subject in some classes. Classes are bigger, spacious and many, accommodating a large number of students without seeing congestion. Some of the buildings are storage.
Learning or scholastic facilities are adequate, not even comparable to what we see in northern Uganda schools. Materials for practical are enough, not like in northern Uganda where 100 students may have only four microscopes for instance. A lot have to be done in northern Uganda if we want to have educated future generation.
Justice and Peace Commission
Archdiocese of Gulu
Tel. 256 (0) 471-435.951