The Mustard Seed Humanist Primary and Secondary Schools are in a very poor area which has become marginal for cultivation due to climate change. Local farmers are now only getting one crop a year, instead of two and even that can fail in a dry year. Family savings have been used up during the covid debacle and they will not have crops to harvest for at least another month.
Families were finding it very difficult to send their children back to school. Many could not afford shoes and they certainly lack money for the other school essentials like uniforms and scholastic materials.
Mustard Seed Children returning to school
After January 10th, when schools reopened, children were drifting back to school very slowly. At the secondary school, which had 600 students before the pandemic, only 140 returned in the first 2 weeks. The new primary school is starting from scratch. Most of the Muslim children who were there before are not being allowed by their parents to join a secular school, though some have. So, a school with a capacity of 400 is operating with 60 children – again others are drifting in slowly.
Moses Kamya, the schools’ Director, approached us for specific help. Moses had the idea that it would help if the school could provide returning and new students with:
– School uniforms
– scholastic materials such as exercise books, pens, mathematical sets, reams of paper, colours, uniforms, calculators,etc.
Providing the requisites to 300 children would cost £2,000. This, he felt, would greatly relieve family finances and enable many more children to return.
UHST funds were stretched but to help us one of our regular supporters agreed to donate the proceeds from his birthday Facebook fundraiser to help meet this challenge.
The success had been almost immediate. Almost 300 extra children have returned to the high school in the past 2 weeks, pushing enrolment towards 450 and there are now 200 in the primary school. The school and children are delighted to have received this really targeted assistance at a critical time.
Mustard Seed School teachers ready for the restart
School recruitment crisis averted
Posted: February 3, 2022 by Steve Hurd
The Mustard Seed Humanist Primary and Secondary Schools are in a very poor area which has become marginal for cultivation due to climate change. Local farmers are now only getting one crop a year, instead of two and even that can fail in a dry year. Family savings have been used up during the covid debacle and they will not have crops to harvest for at least another month.
Families were finding it very difficult to send their children back to school. Many could not afford shoes and they certainly lack money for the other school essentials like uniforms and scholastic materials.
After January 10th, when schools reopened, children were drifting back to school very slowly. At the secondary school, which had 600 students before the pandemic, only 140 returned in the first 2 weeks. The new primary school is starting from scratch. Most of the Muslim children who were there before are not being allowed by their parents to join a secular school, though some have. So, a school with a capacity of 400 is operating with 60 children – again others are drifting in slowly.
Moses Kamya, the schools’ Director, approached us for specific help. Moses had the idea that it would help if the school could provide returning and new students with:
– School uniforms
– scholastic materials such as exercise books, pens, mathematical sets, reams of paper, colours, uniforms, calculators,etc.
Providing the requisites to 300 children would cost £2,000. This, he felt, would greatly relieve family finances and enable many more children to return.
UHST funds were stretched but to help us one of our regular supporters agreed to donate the proceeds from his birthday Facebook fundraiser to help meet this challenge.
The success had been almost immediate. Almost 300 extra children have returned to the high school in the past 2 weeks, pushing enrolment towards 450 and there are now 200 in the primary school. The school and children are delighted to have received this really targeted assistance at a critical time.
Category: News