Mwangaza Education Centers - March 2010

April 21, 2010

Summary of project status and achievements:

A very successful Term I was completed in the month of March. Attendance has reached an all time high and the coordinator is thrilled with the way his teachers are progressing. Post tests were administered and the school was closed in preparation for teacher training in April.

Progress towards Coordinator’s goals/Trends from indicators:

Mwangaza is approaching its goal of 60 preschool students at each location, hopefully achieved in May 2010. Adult education continues to be poor and the SM and coordinator are looking for alternatives to the current programming.

Future activities and goals:

Mwangaza staff will participate in training in April in order to prepare themselves for the beginning of Term II. They are hoping to partner with a teacher from the Community School in ‘F’ who can share some different techniques with them.

In addition, Mwangaza staff are currently exploring the option of applying for a GNA Chicken Pass Along loan from Ministry of Agriculture. If the project makes financial sense, a proposal will be submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture in April.

Substantial problems or issues:

Boniface’s bicycle has completely deteriorated and is unrideable. The frame itself has cracked and is a sincere danger to his physical wellbeing. Through the generosity of his neighbors, he was able to borrow a bicycle to complete Term I, but he has made it clear that this is not an acceptable long term solution.

Wishes or requests:

A new bicycle is required for Boniface to continue to be a teacher in 74/75.

Mwangaza Education Centers Project Coordinator Blog - February 2010

April 2, 2010

The Mwangaza learning centres carried out the following activities in the previous month, February 2010.

Activities:

• Conducting of PTA meetings at both centres.
• Restructuring of the PTA commite members of both centres.
• Scurving around the school.
• Constructing shelters for the feeding programme.

Achievements:

• Above all, the feeding programme which just started at the Villege 74/75 on the 22nd of February 2010 has resulted into increasing of kids attendance.
• Also, the number of kids at 68 has also increased due to the issue of feeding programme.
• At least kids have started getting used with the learning especially that teaches have started introducing various teaching methods just to let kids learn fast.

Challenges:

• The issue of adult literacy has remained a big challenges, so far the attendance is greatly affected.
• The issue of the padlock at the office caused a scandal of missing 10 litres of cooking oil and roughly 3-4 medas of heps which were to be issued to the kids under the feeing programme.

Mwangaza Education Centers Project Coordinator Blog - January 2010

April 2, 2010

Activities:

There has been a number of activities carried out at the Mwangaza, the following are some of them:

• Routine class activities
• Field trip lessons for pre-school classes
• Pre-testing of pre-school pupils
• Routine adult iteracy and young adult classes

Challenges:

Mwangaza has had a number of challenges in the previous month, below are some of them:

• The biggest challenge we had was of starting all over again. 3 quarters of our pupils were made to start grade 1 (one) at the beginning of the year.
• Bad weather. This is a very big obstacle to both teachers and students.
• Starting with new pupils is like starting from zero.

Achievements:

Despite all of the challenges, we had a number of achievements as well. The following are some of them:

• After the matriculation of almost 3 quarters of our pupils to grade 1 (one) we managed to register almost the same number of pupils.
• Quickly getting the new kids adjusted to things.
• Adult literacy class students becoming able to express themselves in English.

Mwangaza Education Centers Project Coordinator Blog - November 2009

April 2, 2010

There has been a number of activities at both centres as the third and final term of the year cane to an end. The following are some of them:

• Evaluation of the would be grade one kids
• Giving of post tests for the end of the term
• Daily preschool activities
• Conduction of daily adult literacy classes

Challenges:

There has been a number of challenges at the Mwangaza Centres. Below are some of them:

• Deteorating attendance for the adult literacy class due to farming
• Exclusion of preschool kids from UNHCR school feeding program
• Difficulties in dealing with starving kids
• Insufficient time for the construction of a new learning structure at Centre 74 as the church which was being used collapsed due to the persisting heavy rains.

Achievements:

Despite all the challenges faced, there has been great deal of success scored in this first year of the existence of the Mwangaza project. Blow are some of them:

• 100% effective preparation of kids for their primary school
• Matriculation of 25% of kids of the total preschool kids to grade one
• The preschool kids outshining lower primary school pupils as witnessed by parents and guardians
• The ability by preschool kids to acquire the basic knowledge needed for their primary school

Mwangaza Education Centers Project Coordinator Blog - August 2009

April 2, 2010

Having gone on recess, very few activities took place at the Mwangaza learning centers, more over, a number of activities were carried out in preparation for the new term.

Activities:

Assessment of all the activities carried out in the previous term. Evaluation of the previous term. Enrollment of adults for the new adult literacy (English) class. A teacher training program organized by FORGE to equip the teachers with new ideas and techniques. Computer lessons for teachers at PECT which also involved Mwangaza Staff. Assignment of the young adult class to be introduced at center 74 Hiring of a new teacher to fill the gap due to resignation.

Challenges:

Getting a suitable replacement to fill the gap left due to resignation. Getting necessary materials for the adult advanced class which was lacking. Successfully hiring a new teacher to fill the vacancy left due a resignation.

Mwangaza Education Centers - February 2010

March 24, 2010

Summary of project status/future activities:

February was an exciting time for Mwangaza. Both locations embraced the school feeding program and saw a drastic increase in daily attendance as a result. Although the program is still rough around the edges, both the Coordinator and the SM are excited about the first results and can’t wait to see how attendance levels out over the next few weeks.

In addition, both Mwangaza locations restructured their PTAs to elect new executive boards. The hope is that new leadership in the PTA will assist in the strengthening of the ties between the community and the school. The PTA has succeeded in its first undertaking; building feeding shelters.

Substantial problems or issues:

None.

Wishes or requests:

None.