The first donation that Uganda Humanist Schools Trust gave to a Humanist school was £400 to buy books.
Opening books from Kampala bookshop
In the 17 years of our existence, we have prioritised the provision of books in schools by giving each school a dedicated annual allowance to spend.
In the early days, a teacher in one school said, “Why are you buying us books? We can tell students all they need to know.” While the standard of exposition and didactic teaching in Uganda is very high, it is not sufficient. Education in Humanist schools must equip students to become self-confident individuals who are equipped to do well in the adult world and make informed decisions in all aspects of their lives. Being able to read well is crucial to this. Reading empowers young people. It enables them to research and understand complex information, to examine the voracity of arguments and test them by reference to the best available evidence. Without these abilities, young people may fall prey to charismatic and persuasive individuals who may not have their best interests at heart. We saw this at Kanungu, where 800 people came under the spell of a deranged Ten Commandments evangelical preacher who led them to their deaths by burning in a locked church.
The schools’ initial focus was on buying textbooks to enhance learning in individual subjects. Books were kept in storerooms. They were scarce and precious, and their use was carefully regulated by a school librarian. Students were only allowed to borrow one book at a time, and this required the deposit of their school id card, which was given only to students who had paid their school fees. Often teachers did not have access to the textbooks, and this made it difficult for them prescribe out-of-class reading tasks for students. Class sets of books are still rare. Yet unless there is at least one book between 2 or 3 students it is difficult to organise textbook-centred learning activities within a normal lesson.
With restricted access to books, it was difficult for students to develop fluency in reading. We tried to overcome this by instituting a Reading for Pleasure Programme. UHST provided schools with money to buy attractive, well-written fiction and non-fiction books. Students were invited to read a few books over time and to choose a favourite one to write and talk about to other students. We had hoped that this would spread the reading habit.
Annual competitions were held and students giving the best presentations were awarded dictionaries. This proved for a time to be highly motivating.
For a young man named Cornerious Matege at Mustard Seed school, winning the Reading for Pleasure competition was life changing. It turned him on to reading and fired his enthusiasm for study. He went on to get good grades in his examinations and went on to university to study English and Education. Since graduating he has returned to Mustard Seed School where he teaches English and is patron to the students’ “Debaters and Writers Club”.
Mustard Seed School’s “Debaters & Writers Club” with Headteacher, Owen Kafambe, and English teacher and patron Cornerious Matege
The long school shutdowns during the Covid pandemic put an end to many school activities, including the Reading for Pleasure Programme. Though one or two schools are trying to revive it. But there are problems. With over 4000 students in the Humanist schools supported by UHST we are finding it difficult to keep up with the demand for books. So far in 2025 UHST has given grants of £5000 in books – but this is little more that £1 per child/student per year. As student numbers have grown, we are starting to fail in our historic mission to flood the Humanist schools with books. Consequently, very few classes have sufficient textbooks to enable them to be used for learning tasks within lessons. Instead, children must compete for access to the limited stocks in the school library. Furthermore, the imperative to buy textbooks has tended to push out the purchase of attractive fiction and non-fiction reading books to support Reading for Pleasure.
We are determined to rectify this situation. Each school has been asked to formulate a Book use and Reading Strategy document (links to these are below). UHST undertakes to do all we can to raise the funds need to raise the status of reading, which needs to be a distinguishing characteristic of Humanist schools, which place so much emphasis upon critical thinking and rational enquiry.
If you or your group would like to support the book development programme in the Humanist schools we would welcome donations towards this. Long-term commitments as standing orders or repeating donations on PayPal would be particularly helpful. Full details of how to make donation can be found here: https://ugandahumanistschoolstrust.org/donate/make-a-donation/.
Please note: We direct funds to school accounts in Ugandan bookshops. This enables schools to buy books that are locally relevant and supports Uganda authors and publishers. Our experience is that books shipped into the schools from abroad are rarely appropriate and little used.
Urgent Need for Books in Humanist Schools
Posted: July 23, 2025 by Steve Hurd
The first donation that Uganda Humanist Schools Trust gave to a Humanist school was £400 to buy books.
In the 17 years of our existence, we have prioritised the provision of books in schools by giving each school a dedicated annual allowance to spend.
In the early days, a teacher in one school said, “Why are you buying us books? We can tell students all they need to know.” While the standard of exposition and didactic teaching in Uganda is very high, it is not sufficient. Education in Humanist schools must equip students to become self-confident individuals who are equipped to do well in the adult world and make informed decisions in all aspects of their lives. Being able to read well is crucial to this. Reading empowers young people. It enables them to research and understand complex information, to examine the voracity of arguments and test them by reference to the best available evidence. Without these abilities, young people may fall prey to charismatic and persuasive individuals who may not have their best interests at heart. We saw this at Kanungu, where 800 people came under the spell of a deranged Ten Commandments evangelical preacher who led them to their deaths by burning in a locked church.
The schools’ initial focus was on buying textbooks to enhance learning in individual subjects. Books were kept in storerooms. They were scarce and precious, and their use was carefully regulated by a school librarian. Students were only allowed to borrow one book at a time, and this required the deposit of their school id card, which was given only to students who had paid their school fees. Often teachers did not have access to the textbooks, and this made it difficult for them prescribe out-of-class reading tasks for students. Class sets of books are still rare. Yet unless there is at least one book between 2 or 3 students it is difficult to organise textbook-centred learning activities within a normal lesson.
With restricted access to books, it was difficult for students to develop fluency in reading. We tried to overcome this by instituting a Reading for Pleasure Programme. UHST provided schools with money to buy attractive, well-written fiction and non-fiction books. Students were invited to read a few books over time and to choose a favourite one to write and talk about to other students. We had hoped that this would spread the reading habit.
Annual competitions were held and students giving the best presentations were awarded dictionaries. This proved for a time to be highly motivating.
For a young man named Cornerious Matege at Mustard Seed school, winning the Reading for Pleasure competition was life changing. It turned him on to reading and fired his enthusiasm for study. He went on to get good grades in his examinations and went on to university to study English and Education. Since graduating he has returned to Mustard Seed School where he teaches English and is patron to the students’ “Debaters and Writers Club”.
The long school shutdowns during the Covid pandemic put an end to many school activities, including the Reading for Pleasure Programme. Though one or two schools are trying to revive it. But there are problems. With over 4000 students in the Humanist schools supported by UHST we are finding it difficult to keep up with the demand for books. So far in 2025 UHST has given grants of £5000 in books – but this is little more that £1 per child/student per year. As student numbers have grown, we are starting to fail in our historic mission to flood the Humanist schools with books. Consequently, very few classes have sufficient textbooks to enable them to be used for learning tasks within lessons. Instead, children must compete for access to the limited stocks in the school library. Furthermore, the imperative to buy textbooks has tended to push out the purchase of attractive fiction and non-fiction reading books to support Reading for Pleasure.
We are determined to rectify this situation. Each school has been asked to formulate a Book use and Reading Strategy document (links to these are below). UHST undertakes to do all we can to raise the funds need to raise the status of reading, which needs to be a distinguishing characteristic of Humanist schools, which place so much emphasis upon critical thinking and rational enquiry.
School Reading Strategy Documents
Katumba Parents’ Humanist Primary School
Isaac Newton Humanist Schools
Kasese Humanist Schools
Eagle’s View Humanist Primary School
Mustard Seed Humanist Schools
Make a donation..
If you or your group would like to support the book development programme in the Humanist schools we would welcome donations towards this. Long-term commitments as standing orders or repeating donations on PayPal would be particularly helpful. Full details of how to make donation can be found here: https://ugandahumanistschoolstrust.org/donate/make-a-donation/.
Please note: We direct funds to school accounts in Ugandan bookshops. This enables schools to buy books that are locally relevant and supports Uganda authors and publishers. Our experience is that books shipped into the schools from abroad are rarely appropriate and little used.
Category: News