We had the amazing privilege our first day in Kampala to meet with the Ugandan education representative from US AID to talk to her about how the ministry of education receives and and works with funding for schools in the north.
She outlined a current program called UNITY, that targets core concerns in the schools. The acronym doesn't translate well, but here's the basic overview of this initiative:
1. Expanding professional capacity of teachers
2. HIV/AIDS prevention program
3. Increasing the role of the community and parents in the schools
4. Making policies functional and easy to implement
After this meeting I realized that these concerns were not unique to Ugandan schools. Choose to disagree if you want, but I literally felt like I was back in Chicago talking about education reform with my colleagues. Yes, these issues are magnified because of this country's history and the root causes for them are different, however I learned that the core challenges of education are universal.
*Teacher prep
*Parent Involvement
*Students dropping out
*Lack of Implementation in programs
*Accountability in initiatives
*Dependence on aid
*Professionalism of teachers
So what's the answer to it all?!
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Jill, you've confirmed what I've been thinking. The current issues we face in Chicago are everywhere, and it has a lot to do with the way we live now with declining moral values, epidemic diseases, the breakdown of family structure and general apathy on the part of students. I think our biggest challenge in Chicago is to change the culture of the schools.
ReplyDeleteWith all of the innovative strategies we use, we should see better grades, higher test scores and more enthusiastic students. Somehow, we have to find a way to change our school's culture and show our students the value of education. All of the strategies in the world won't help if we can't get them to visualize life beyond their neighborhoods. Rose