Uganda - Uganda Kitgum Education Foundation

Kitgum District

Kitgum District is one of the remotest and most impoverished districts in Uganda. Kitgum borders wapen van ugandaSouth Sudan (Republic) to the North, Kaaabong District to the east, Kitodo District to the Southeast, Agago District to the south, Pader District to the southwest and Lamwo District to the northwest. Kitgum is a constituent part of Acholiland, home to an estimated 1.1 million people, according to the 2002 National Census. The district headquarters is approximately 452 kilometers (281 miles), north of Uganda's capital, Kampala.

Uganda, The Country

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania.

Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala. The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country.The area was ruled by the British beginning in the late 1800s. Uganda gained independence from Britain on 9 October 1962. The period since then has been marked by intermittent conflicts, most recently a civil war against the Lord's Resistance Army.

The official languages are English and Swahili. Luganda, a southern language, is widely spoken across the country, although multiple other languages are spoken in the country. The current President of Uganda is Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

Geography

The country is located on the East African plateau, lying mostly between latitudes 4°N and 2°S (a small area is north of 4°), and longitudes 29° and 35°E. It averages about 1,100 metres (3,609 ft) above sea level, and this slopes very steadily downwards to the Sudanese Plain to the north. However, much of the south is poorly drained, while the centre is dominated by Lake Kyoga, which is also surrounded by extensive marshy areas. Uganda lies almost completely within the Nile basin. The Victoria Nile drains from the lake into Lake Kyoga and thence into Lake Albert on the Congolese border. It then runs northwards into South Sudan. One small area on the eastern edge of Uganda is drained by the Turkwel River, part of the internal drainage basin of Lake Turkana.
Lake Kyoga serves as a rough boundary between Bantu speakers in the south and Nilotic and Central Sudanic language speakers in the north. Despite the division between north and south in political affairs, this linguistic boundary runs roughly from northwest to southeast, near the course of the Nile. However, many Ugandans live among people who speak different languages, especially in rural areas. Some sources describe regional variation in terms of physical characteristics, clothing, bodily adornment, and mannerisms, but others claim that those differences are disappearing.

Mount Kadam, Uganda
Although generally equatorial, the climate is not uniform as the altitude modifies the climate. Southern Uganda is wetter with rain generally spread throughout the year. At Entebbe on the northern shore of Lake Victoria, most rain falls from March to June and in the November/December period. Further to the north a dry season gradually emerges; at Gulu about 120 km from the South Sudanese border, November to February is much drier than the rest of the year.

The northeastern Karamoja region has the driest climate and is prone to droughts in some years. Rwenzori, a snowy peaked mountainous region on the southwest border with Congo (DRC), receives heavy rain all year round and is the source of the Nile. The south of the country is heavily influenced by one of the world's biggest lakes, Lake Victoria, which contains many islands. It prevents temperatures from varying significantly and increases cloudiness and rainfall. Most important cities are located in the south, near Lake Victoria, including the capital Kampala and the nearby city of Entebbe.

Although landlocked, Uganda contains many large lakes; besides Lake Victoria and Lake Kyoga, there are Lake Albert, Lake Edward and the smaller Lake George.

Source : WIKIPEDIA

Why Kitgum, Uganda?

Kitgum district suffered the worst effects of not only the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels’ insurgency with thousands of people losing their lives and many others forced to live under dehumanizing conditions in internally displaced people’s (IDPs) camps but also the tribal cattle raids of neighbouring Karamojong pastoralist.

With the silence of the gun, the lives of the people who survived the armed conflict, displacement and subsequent loss of access to their agrarian-based livelihood system in the district; have experienced significant changes towards recovery.

Many people have returned to their ancestral homes and embraced the challenges of rebuilding their lives and communities while living conditions remain basic. The population depends largely on firewood as the main source of energy. Access to clean drinking water remains limited with many families having to walk long distances to fetch clean drinking water. Land disputes are rampant as families and clans try to demarcate their land from their neighbours after over 2 decades of displacement. Many children in the district have no access to basic formal education despite the existence of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in theory.

Uganda Education system

A brief overview of Ugandan Education System

The structure of Uganda's education system dates back to the colonial era. It had been in place since the early 1960s. It comprises of seven (7) years of primary education, four (4) years of lower secondary schooling and subsequent two (2) years of upper secondary education. After this basic schooling, one follows a three (3) to five (5) years of university education or a two (2) to three (3) years of tertiary institution.

On successful completion of primary school cycle, a student can either join lower secondary schooling or take a three (3) year craft course in a technical school. According to Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports, about 40 percent of primary school graduates join lower secondary schools. The rest of the students either drop out of formal schooling or join craft course.

Since 1997, Uganda introduced a Universal Primary Education (UPE), a government run program intended to provide free primary education. Unfortunately, UPE is only free in paper. In reality, however, schools still charge extra money as fees. This makes many children especially those in rural communities in the country still unable to attend schools. In addition to charging fees, children also have to provide their own scholastic materials, school uniforms and other requirements that the schools may demand. For children living in some communities, schools are a long walking distance.

Most Government-run schools are often poorly funded with an average class size of over 100 students/pupils. This makes less talented and special-needs students unable to get the necessary help to cope with the classes and feel comfortable learning with the rest of the their classmates. In the end, these students/pupils feel left behind and in most cases, drop out of school.

There are a number of privately owned schools that provide a relatively higher quality of education with smaller class sizes. Some schools also have boarding sections where children report to school at the beginning of school terms and return home for holidays during the end of school terms. In most of these private and/or boarding schools, qualities are better with attention tailored to the needs of individual children to help them learn better. However, this always come with a high price which makes many families unable to afford to support their children through such systems.

An academic year consists of three (3) terms. At the end of each term, students do examinations to monitor their progress. The final examinations at the end of Third term assesses students' ability to progress to the next class or repeat the same class. The school year begins in early February and ends in early December. The curriculum in Uganda mostly consists of examinable subjects of Mathematics, English, Science and Social Students (including religious education). Schools also teach non examinable subjects such as Physical Education (PE), Agriculture, Fine Art, Language (Mother tongue), Music and others. In Secondary schools, students study more subjects.

Although Uganda has over 30 different languages, english is the official language of instruction used in schools. Although learning english can be a real challenge for some children, using english in schools help the children from different tribal backgrounds and languages communicate among each other and feel a sense of unity.

Chairman	W. Apokowat/Germany	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Secretary	W.J.B. van Wegen/The Netherlands	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Treasurer	Ed Grassère, Bocholtz, The Netherlands	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Founder	Nestar Okella Lakot/The Netherlands	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.