JET Vocational and Secondary Education Report

Visit to Jinja July 2015

It was wonderful to be back in Jinja and to visit the various projects again to see how everyone was getting on. It is a privilege to now be a Trustee and to report back. It was also great to see Dave, Emma and Nelly again.

MutaiWe made two visits to Mutai, one to observe lessons and the second concerning the audit. We seem to be ahead of things here as Emma the head teacher told us that very soon the government is to insist that all schools offer vocational subjects. Unfortunately I was not able to observe a Tailoring lesson as the teacher had been called away on family business. According to Dave and Emma he is excellent and has made a very good start to the subject here, he is very knowledgeable about the subject and open to ideas from us. The pupils all seem to like him and have made a very good start to their learning. On our first visit the room was open – which was very good as they are often locked up, and some students were using the tables. The assistant teacher showed us round, she is also the Librarian and the Hair and Beauty teacher. Some finished work was displayed around the room which looked of good quality, especially considering the short time the subject had been up and running. They had been making children’s clothes, samples of shirts, dresses, blouses, skirts and shorts.

There were several a homemade posters around the room, covering Rules of the Room (which i might have ordered slightly differently!), Small Equipment, The Sewing Machine

The sewing machines all looked in good condition, and there were two large high cutting out tables. The cupboard was very well organised and is kept locked unless a teacher is in the room, they are quite well equipped although could do with more tape measures as she wants them to be able to measure themselves ready to start making clothes to fit. Dave said that these are easily available in Jinja; they also don’t have much fabric so we bought some to take in on our second visit. She also mentioned a few other things such as interfacing, pattern paper etc which is not readily available which I will price up now we are home.

During our visit there were three adult learners in the room, showing that it is being used by those outside school. It would be good to know how often this happens and how much they are paying; ideally we would eventually like the vocational subjects to be self funding.As mentioned above the assistant tailoring teacher also teaches Hair and Beauty, this subject had been added by Emma the head teacher without funding from us. She had a longer list of equipment needed for this subject, most of which Dave said is readily available in Jinja and Nelly will talk to her hair dresser friend. This is a subject that is also open to people outside the school and should eventually be self funding. The equipment they do have is stored with the Science equipment and one of the science rooms is used for teaching. Dave’s parents and sister are all Physics teachers and they were looking at the Science provision for us.

The constructions area looks good, they have been learning how to make bricks and build with them. There is a blackboard on the outside wall of the adjoining classroom which is put to good use both for teaching and as a notice board!

Agriculture is also well underway, although I am not entirely sure how much student input there is at present. Once the cows give birth the idea is to get more students involved learning about feeding and raising the calves. They could also be helping with the crops and perhaps learning how to prepare and cook them.

Sally and I also met the Art teacher, as Sally had some paints and brushes to give out that had been donated. He was extremely pleased as so far most of the Art teaching is theory or just using pencil. We explained that more paints were on the way on the container and asked if there was anything else he needed. Larger paper and more brushes were purchased which we took in on our second visit.

The second visit was mainly taken up with the audit meeting which will be mentioned in Sue’s report. One point though was that if we had realised how much in debt they were we would have waited before implementing the vocational subjects. Emma the head teacher needs to be more honest with us before we agree to put in more subjects. Sally, Karen and Bernie were also able to look round but none of us were really able to observe any lessons. Bernie ended up taking a Maths lesson to show the Maths teacher new ways of teaching, but he didn’t take full advantage of this. Actions/Recommendations Draw up lists of equipment needed for the Tailoring and Hair and Beauty courses. Items readily available can be purchased when necessary – eventually these should be self funding. I will sort out any resources I have at home and send on the container, books and posters etc.Price up drafting paper, interfacing etc and see if it can be delivered before the container goes outI took photos of the parts of the sewing machines and will try to make up resources with these, possibly could be taken out on the next trip.Dave is hoping to get HYT to help with the teaching and resourcing of construction. Check on exactly how much student input is happening with the Agriculture course.Check what Dave’s parents thought about the Science provisionCheck new specifications of the Ugandan curriculum when the new changes are finally implemented.

Kakira Senior School We were fortunate to be able to visit the Senior School at the Mahdvani Sugar factory; we had seen the Nursery and Primary school but not the Senior one before. The teachers met with their respective subjects and managed to observe lessons or talk. I met with the Art teacher, who showed me lots of finished work. There is no specific Art Room, and all the work is kept in a draw in a cupboard shared with PE staff. The subject is compulsory in S1 and then an option as are all vocational subjects; he seems to have about 10 pupils in each year group S2 and above. It seemed a real shame that none of the excellent work I saw was displayed around the school especially as most of the rooms and corridors were bare. I think he was hoping that we would put in a good word for the subject with the school as he feels it is sidelined by the more academic subjects. The results have been excellent and I was very impressed with the work I saw. Actions/Recommendations It would be useful to see a lesson here to compare with Mutai. We could help with books and equipment and suggestions on displaying work, they may well want to implement more vocational courses if it is instructed by the government

Mama JaneThe Tailoring room is still being very well used and they had made more children’s clothes for us to buy. They are continuing to improve and we donated some more fabric, the only thing I feel that would really improve their work now is ironing at each stage of making, collars, hems etc needed pressing. Obviously we need to consider electricity for this, perhaps something to think about for the future. They are also still making the shopping bags with the donated sugar bags.

MirembeWe were not able to see the Mirembe girls in situ and there was not much evidence of their work available. They are still making the shopping bags with the sugar bags donated by the Mahdvani factory, and I purchased some more fabric for them to continue with this.

Actions/Recommendations Check out other items that could be made with the sugar bags such as iPad cases, to be sold at the Mahdvani lodges. I need to make some samples and patterns. Both these homes could start teaching food preparation and cooking so that the children can look after themselves when they leave The extra land owned by Mama Jane is supposed to be used for vocational courses. We can look into this more thoroughly next time