Before the start of the new school year, staff at each of the Humanist Schools currently supported by UHST, came together for Humanist Ethos workshops. These convivial workshops reminded staff of the Humanist principles underpinning the schools and the implications for teaching, learning and general conduct.

Since Covid struck in February 2020 schooling has been disrupted. When the focus is on survival, it is easy to forget the longer-term aims of a school. Our plans to bring together representatives from all 15 Humanist schools in Uganda in a 3^rd Humanist School Conference in January had to be postponed again. This time by an Ebola outbreak which closed schools and led to movement restrictions. Many schools had lost staff during Covid and new staff had to be recruited who knew nothing of Humanism and its implications for schooling. 

At the workshop teachers were reminded of the Guidance not Violence approach to school behaviour management. Physical and verbal violence are not tolerated among students and staff in Humanist schools. Yet, teachers need to be made aware of alternative ways to ensure appropriate conduct. Each school operates a democratic system of consultation through class prefects, house representatives and a student-staff council. Grievances can be aired and dealt with through discussion, empathy and counselling. Each school has a Humanist Counsellor, who plays a pivotal role and parents and families are consulted in particularly difficult cases.

A fundamental aim of Humanist Schools is to empower children to become questioning and free-thinking individuals. This has implications for teaching and learning. The new Uganda national curriculum has brought a very welcome shift away from knowledge-based examinations, which encouraged learning by rôte. The new competency-based curriculum requires children to conduct enquiries in groups and to evaluate and synthesise information from different sources. This change fits in well with the Humanist Schools, which do their best to encourage children to be sceptical of received wisdom, to have a questioning approach, to make up their own minds in the light of the current state of knowledge and to be prepared to change their minds when contradictory evidence comes to light.

To support this approach, UHST is supporting teachers and learners by increasing book provision, creating Library & Information Centres and learning spaces, and expanding computer provision and access to the internet. The schools are set to become even more vibrant places as the new curriculum moves up the schools from Senior 1.

Towards the end of her life, Lily van Haelen charged her children with the task of finding a worthy Humanist project in Africa, to be the recipient of a legacy from her will. The family worked hard to find a fitting tribute to their mother. They approached and rejected several orphanages and schools in South Africa, concerned that money might leak into private pockets. Eventually, they came to Uganda Humanist Schools Trust. I was invited to the home of her son, Laurence Paltiel, in Bedfordshire. After many searching questions, Laurence was keen to explore the possibility of supporting a project at Isaac Newton Humanist High School. The school fitted the family’s needs perfectly. Its mission was to provide inclusive education based on reason, compassion and tolerance to children in the impoverished rural community of Kateera village, in Masaka District. The school was a registered not-for-profit organisation, had ring-fenced bank accounts and published transparent, audited accounts. What is more, it had an urgent project that coincided with the wishes of the family. 

This was in 2010 when the HIV/AIDS epidemic was raging. Working-age people were dying and leaving single and double orphan children, many of whom became victims of forced labour. Orphan girls were prey to sexual abuse. Peter Kisirinya, the school’s Director, identified an urgent need to build a girls’ hostel to provide a safe place for orphan and other girls from destitute families to live and learn in the safety of a caring school community. As soon as Lily van Haelen’s family learned of the situation, they asked us to prepare plans and cost estimates for a hostel to house the girls. I made another trip to Bedfordshire to show them the plans. A younger family member flew to Uganda to visit the school, meet Peter Kisirinya and see the site of the hostel. Thoroughly reassured, they gave a green light to proceed.

Peter asked an architect friend to draw up plans. However, there were hardly any builders in the area with experience of constructing a building of this size and it proved impossible to obtain competitive quotations. Peter went to the one local builder, reached an understanding with him and gave him the job. Work started in February 2011 and was finished by the end of the year. The final cost was £24,000. This was 15% over budget, but the building was bigger than the original plans. It has 8 family rooms, each with 9 girls, a room for the matron, washrooms, 2 showers, toilets and an ironing room. 

At the formal opening in 2012 the hostel was named the “Lily van Haelen Hostel”. In the 11 years since it was built, the hostel has transformed the lives of many girls. They have escaped the challenges of life in the rural homesteads with long walks to school. They have been given a safe place to sleep, been well fed, given access to health care and facilities for study and leisure in the evenings and at weekends. Time has demonstrated that these girls from destitute backgrounds, once given the right conditions, can outperform their better off peers, who attend the school as day students. The hostel has been a huge success*, both socially and educationally, and it has been a fitting and lasting memorial to the life of the benefactor, Lily van Haelen. The school and the girls are enormously grateful for the bequest that made this possible. If you think you might be interested in leaving your own life-enhancing bequest, then you can find information here: https://ugandahumanistschoolstrust.org/donate/making-a-bequest/.

Hostel Refurbishment with help from the Rationalist Union, Italy

To enable the Lily van Haelen Hostel to continue serving future generations of girls from Kateera it is now in need of refurbishment. After 11 years of continuous use, the Hostel is beginning to look shabby. Holes have developed in the concrete floors and damage to walls, windows and doors need to be repaired. Additionally, the school would like to fit ceilings in each family room to prevent mosquitoes from carrying pathogens, such as malaria, between girls in different rooms. The whole building needs repainting, using anti-mosquito paint on the interior surfaces.  

We are delighted to announce that our friends in the Union of Rational Atheists & Agnostics of Italy have come to the aid of the girls of Kateera. They have responded to the UHST 2022 Appeal with sufficient funds to cover the refurbishment of the hostel. The Funds have been transferred to the school and work will start immediately so that, when the girls return to school in February, it will be finished. The girls will be delighted to find a transformed hostel. They will appreciate this kind help from the Rationalist Union of Italy, which will extend the life of the original legacy for many years to come.

*An indicator of the success of boarding provision for girls was demonstrated during Covid. Schools in Uganda were closed for long periods and students sent home. During the time that Isaac Newton girls were at home, 4 became pregnant, yet pregnancies are almost unknown when the school is running. In contrast to religious schools, which blame the immorality of girls for pregnancy and expel them from school, Isaac Newton and our other Humanist Schools do their best to help the girls to return to school to complete their education once they have had their babies.

Jonan Arianda has written this report on his first year as Headteacher of Isaac Newton Humanist Primary School.

“Our school was created from the collapsed fundamentalist Pentecostal school, called His Grace Primary School. The former school proprietor forced all pupils to become Pentecostal Christians. This caused friction with community members who wanted freedom of conscience and they gradually withdrew their children from the school. With only 19 children remaining and teachers having gone unpaid for 4 months the school closed. 

Transformation

Since Isaac Newton Humanist High School took over, the school has recovered and gone from strength to strength. The new inclusive Humanist philosophy, which is friendly and welcoming to pupils from all backgrounds, has seen a growth in numbers from 19 to 259 pupils. The atmosphere in the school has become positive and vibrant.

School staff and children really appreciate the efforts of Peter Kisirinya, our new Director, and UHST supporters in saving the school and working to establish high standards of education and welfare. The staff appreciate the good working relationship with teaching colleagues from Isaac Newton High School since its takeover. We are delighted that the school is now run as a not-for profit organisation and all income is used to benefit the school, with none being taken by a proprietor. As staff our lives are greatly changed and we pledge to work hard to make the school a success.

The first year has been transformational. New and better qualified staff have been recruited. We have 15 staff members, 12 teachers and 3 non-teaching. Textbooks have been provided and the general school infrastructure transformed. We have acquired new learning materials, visual aids, a TV set and preparatory materials for teachers. 7 former pupils who had dropped out of school were allowed to return and enter for their primary leaving examinations.

School food has improved immensely. Children receive breakfast and lunch every day – and, for some children, from the poorest homes, the school provides their main meal of the day. 

Typical School Menu

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Embracing our new Humanist Ethos

Humanist is a new idea to many, but it has been in practice here without many of us realising. Many parents appreciate the need to have free will in deciding ones’ destiny and are particularly happy that in a humanist school there is no indoctrination. Pupils as young as four ask critical questions that deserve to be answered openly. Our teachers are learning that it is OK to say to children “I am not sure of the answer, what do you think?”. Teachers come into school with their personal beliefs, but they do not generally see a conflict with the humanist perspective on life. They are keen to learn more about the full implications of working in a school that embraces the Humanist ethos. For example, teachers who have come from schools where discipline is based on the rod are having to learn the positive benefits of moving from “violence to guidance”. We want our staff to understand and work within a Humanist Ethos. We need workshops on critical thinking, human rights, free speech, democracy, conflict resolution and other progressive policies. We require humanist literature and activities that are suitable for young children in Africa.”

Jonan Arinda, Headteacher, Isaac Newton Humanist Primary School

NOTE UHST and Uganda Humanist Schools Association have been trying to run a 3^rd Humanist Schools Conference for some time. Covid held it up for two years. Our plans to hold it in late January 2023 are now in jeopardy. Given the broader financial pressures we are going to find it difficult to find the £5,000 it will cost to bring together teachers from the different Humanist Schools in a 3-day residential workshop. If the current outbreak of Ebola lasts into the new year then that will force a further postponement.