The Humanist Schools in Uganda have made huge progress in the past two years. They are beginning to turn in very respectable results in national examinations, such that both Isaac Newton and Mustard Seed School are among the top 5 schools in their districts and, as a result of this success, are becoming schools of choice for local families. There is huge pressure to get local children into the schools, which are recognised as having high standards of welfare as well as good educational performance. Children leaving the schools are get good jobs, which boost their family incomes, many go on to vocational courses to gain craft skills, nursing and primary and secondary teaching qualifications and a growing number go on to degree and postgraduate study in good universities.
In 5 years the number of children in each school has increased from about 150 to over 500. This is a welcome development because it shows a growing acceptance of secular humanist education in highly religious communities. The growth, however, puts huge pressure on infrastructure and learning resources. We are very grateful to all our supporters for sticking with us to develop the schools and we are receiving help from Humanists in the United States, in particular from St. Louis Ethical Society members, who have raised large additional sums to help the schools.
In 2017 we awarded grants of over £140,000. This is a record for a single year. This included money for 129 full boarding scholarships of £300, to enable children who gain a grade 1 in their primary leaving certificate and who are orphaned or come from very poor homes to attend a Humanist school. We have increased spending on books, learning materials, science practical equipment and chemicals, and computers. We feel that developing the ability of students to learn independently is the essence of a humanist education, so we are committed to maintaining a book rich environment in the schools. In the period 2016-8 we have made great strides with improving infrastructure. At Isaac Newton School we have funded: a second girls’ hostel, a new teaching block with 3 classrooms and a science lab, and connected the school and neighbouring communities to mains electricity. Mustard Seed School has received funds for: a new teaching block with 4 classrooms and staff rooms, connection of the school to high pressure mains water from a pumping and purification station on the River Nile, and we are about to embark on a new school hall that will be used for meetings, concerts and examinations.
Thanks to your ongoing support the schools are being gradually transformed so that they stand out among rural schools for the quality of their facilities and for offering educational and welfare standards that approach the standards of the best urban schools.
Since our charity began in November 2008, with your help, we have built up these schools from small, struggling entities to organisations we can all feel proud to be associated with. Making them self-sustaining and beacons of secular humanism is still our goal and we are getting closer, but they will need our help for some time yet. Please stay with us on the journey.
In 2016 Isaac Newton High School set up a Humanist Association to promote humanist values and put them into practice by working in the local community. They decided to offer practical help to some of the poorest members of the nearby village and chose to focus particularly on hygiene and sanitation. The projects they have helped with include repairing old pit latrines, making racks for drying utensils to keep them off the ground and giving soap to these poor families.
To celebrate their efforts the School Director and the teacher who runs the Humanist Association arranged for them to have a day trip to nearby Lake Nabagabo so they could discuss Humanist ideas and relax together.
There is a small beach resort there with a café and some basic accommodation. Unlike most lakes in Uganda, it is considered safe to swim in because the high copper content of the water makes it unsuitable for the small water snail that harbours the human parasite Schistosomawhich causes much morbidity in Africa. These are blood flukes which live in the vessels surrounding the bladder or the intestine.
The young humanists enjoyed games of football and volley ball and going for a boat ride. Some of them even braved the water to try swimming. They also enjoyed a meal and a soft drink, a welcome change from school meals. Here are two descriptions of their day, written by Thembo Paul and Bwambale Robert, two students who attended the Kasase Humanist Primary School and have UHST scholarships to enable them to attend Isaac Newton High.
The pictures show Mustard Seed School’s star student, Joan Mukisa, being congratulated for her outstanding A-level performance when the results, two Bs and a C, were released last week.
Joan, or Joanex as she prefers to be known, stood out as an exceptional student when she joined the school. She is a single orphan, who has been supported on a UHST scholarship throughout her secondary schooling. When her father died, her mother, a market trader, was left to bring up Joan with her 2 brothers and 3 sisters. Their home is near Iganga, 2 hour’s drive from the school, so she has lived in the boarding hostel. In Senior 3 Joan set her sights on becoming a lawyer, so she could fight injustice. Joan has always displayed considerable leadership and communication skills. She chaired the school Disciplinary Committee and brought considerable acclaim to the school as the scout troop leader. She took them to triumph in Jamborees at District and National Level, and gained third position in the East African Scouting Competitions in Rwanda. She was prominent in the debating society, which should be good training if she achieves her ambition to be a lawyer. In March 2016 Joan gained a division 1 grade in her National School Certificate (O-level) exams, and in the sixth form she has studied History, Economics, Divinity, Subsidiary Mathematics and General Studies and served the school as Head Prefect. She is a delightful girl who has been a role model throughout her schooling. We all expect great things of her as she moves on next to a place in a good university.
Mustard Seed entered 25 students for A-levels in 2017 and every one of them obtained the minimum pass grades. The three lowest achieving students gained two A-levels at Grade D level. The majority of students gained averages of C/D
Congratulations from History and Head teachers
grades with a few grade Bs.
Isaac Newton High School’s A-level results are also remarkable for a rural school in a poor area, where almost all children are first generation educated. While the school gained few very high grades, almost all students gained the matriculation (minimum for university entry) requirement of 2 A-levels and there were many students who achieve C and D grades. This may seem modest, but Uganda has recently stiffened its standards and only the exceptional few students are awarded A and B grades. In National terms out of 2600 A-level centres, Isaac Newton came 124th. The school was 40th in terms of lowest proportion of outright failures. It had the 3rd best results in Agriculture, and they were 113th in science performance (this seems surprising given the relatively low absolute grades in science). However, it is important to note that A-level grades in Uganda are criterion referenced rather than norm referenced. The U.K., which is norm referenced, allows roughly the same number of A, B, C grades – even when the actual standards in the exam fall. Whereas in Uganda they have national descriptors for the characteristics of A, B , C scripts and if no students reach that level then they award no A grades at all – and this has been the position for the last 3 years. A hard exam begets low grades. So getting all students through with C, D, E can put a school high up the league tables.
What is really great, is the position measured on a value added basis – the average percentage rise in the grades of individual students from O level to A level. On this statistic, Isaac Newton came 21st out of 2600 Centres. This shows just how effective the school is at raising achievement from O to A level of relatively poorly performing students at the earlier stage. Their value added from primary leaving is even more remarkable.
The Humanist Schools have defied expectations by matching and surpassing the A-level results of many more established schools. Both Mustard Seed and Isaac Newton Schools are in impoverished rural areas and, for most of their existence, they have had to get by with whatever casual and part-time teachers they could get to cover the secondary curriculum. After 12 years of operation, educational and welfare standards have improved and student numbers have risen from less than 100 to over 500 students. Furthermore, for the past two years they have increased the pay of teachers (though still below most other schools), given full and part time teachers contracts and enrolled them in the National Social Security
Scheme. Despite these improvement in conditions, the schools still rely on young, newly-trained and less-well qualified teachers. However, they make up for this by fostering a sense of belonging and commitment to the school, the community and
Local press at goat presentation
the students. Staff turnover is still a problem but has reduced hugely. Efforts to bring the teachers together to learn from each other through the Humanist Ethos Project and other initiatives has also played its part. UHST has also played a part in the improvement by flooding books, computers and other resources into the schools and supplementing the pay of teachers and directors through a salary bonus scheme funded using donations from our loyal supporters, many of whom have stuck with us through the early years of trials and tribulations. It goes without saying, that everyone involved with UHST is delighted with the schools’ outstanding progress.
Posted: May 14, 2018 by Steve Hurd
9th UHST Annual Report
The 9th Annual Report of Uganda Humanist Schools Trust
has just been published.
The Humanist Schools in Uganda have made huge progress in the past two years. They are beginning to turn in very respectable results in national examinations, such that both Isaac Newton and Mustard Seed School are among the top 5 schools in their districts and, as a result of this success, are becoming schools of choice for local families. There is huge pressure to get local children into the schools, which are recognised as having high standards of welfare as well as good educational performance. Children leaving the schools are get good jobs, which boost their family incomes, many go on to vocational courses to gain craft skills, nursing and primary and secondary teaching qualifications and a growing number go on to degree and postgraduate study in good universities.
In 5 years the number of children in each school has increased from about 150 to over 500. This is a welcome development because it shows a growing acceptance of secular humanist education in highly religious communities. The growth, however, puts huge pressure on infrastructure and learning resources. We are very grateful to all our supporters for sticking with us to develop the schools and we are receiving help from Humanists in the United States, in particular from St. Louis Ethical Society members, who have raised large additional sums to help the schools.
In 2017 we awarded grants of over £140,000. This is a record for a single year. This included money for 129 full boarding scholarships of £300, to enable children who gain a grade 1 in their primary leaving certificate and who are orphaned or come from very poor homes to attend a Humanist school. We have increased spending on books, learning materials, science practical equipment and chemicals, and computers. We feel that developing the ability of students to learn independently is the essence of a humanist education, so we are committed to maintaining a book rich environment in the schools. In the period 2016-8 we have made great strides with improving infrastructure. At Isaac Newton School we have funded: a second girls’ hostel, a new teaching block with 3 classrooms and a science lab, and connected the school and neighbouring communities to mains electricity. Mustard Seed School has received funds for: a new teaching block with 4 classrooms and staff rooms, connection of the school to high pressure mains water from a pumping and purification station on the River Nile, and we are about to embark on a new school hall that will be used for meetings, concerts and examinations.
Thanks to your ongoing support the schools are being gradually transformed so that they stand out among rural schools for the quality of their facilities and for offering educational and welfare standards that approach the standards of the best urban schools.
Since our charity began in November 2008, with your help, we have built up these schools from small, struggling entities to organisations we can all feel proud to be associated with. Making them self-sustaining and beacons of secular humanism is still our goal and we are getting closer, but they will need our help for some time yet. Please stay with us on the journey.
Click to Download Report
Posted: April 25, 2018 by Steve Hurd
Humanist students’ Away Day
To celebrate their efforts the School Director and the teacher who runs the Humanist Association arranged for them to have a day trip to nearby Lake Nabagabo so they could discuss Humanist ideas and relax together.
There is a small beach resort there with a café and some basic accommodation. Unlike most lakes in Uganda, it is considered safe to swim in because the high copper content of the water makes it unsuitable for the small water snail that harbours the human parasite Schistosoma which causes much morbidity in Africa. These are blood flukes which live in the vessels surrounding the bladder or the intestine.
The young humanists enjoyed games of football and volley ball and going for a boat ride. Some of them even braved the water to try swimming. They also enjoyed a meal and a soft drink, a welcome change from school meals. Here are two descriptions of their day, written by Thembo Paul and Bwambale Robert, two students who attended the Kasase Humanist Primary School and have UHST scholarships to enable them to attend Isaac Newton High.
Posted: February 28, 2018 by Steve Hurd
Humanist Schools defy expectations at A-level
The pictures show Mustard Seed School’s star student, Joan Mukisa, being congratulated for her outstanding A-level performance when the results, two Bs and a C, were released last week.
Joan, or Joanex as she prefers to be known, stood out as an exceptional student when she joined the school. She is a single orphan, who has been supported on a UHST scholarship throughout her secondary schooling. When her father died, her mother, a market trader, was left to bring up Joan with her 2 brothers and 3 sisters. Their home is near Iganga, 2 hour’s drive from the school, so she has lived in the boarding hostel. In Senior 3 Joan set her sights on becoming a lawyer, so she could fight injustice. Joan has always displayed considerable leadership and communication skills. She chaired the school Disciplinary Committee and brought considerable acclaim to the school as the scout troop leader. She took them to triumph in Jamborees at District and National Level, and gained third position in the East African Scouting Competitions in Rwanda. She was prominent in the debating society, which should be good training if she achieves her ambition to be a lawyer. In March 2016 Joan gained a division 1 grade in her National School Certificate (O-level) exams, and in the sixth form she has studied History, Economics, Divinity, Subsidiary Mathematics and General Studies and served the school as Head Prefect. She is a delightful girl who has been a role model throughout her schooling. We all expect great things of her as she moves on next to a place in a good university.
Mustard Seed entered 25 students for A-levels in 2017 and every one of them obtained the minimum pass grades. The three lowest achieving students gained two A-levels at Grade D level. The majority of students gained averages of C/D
grades with a few grade Bs.
Isaac Newton High School’s A-level results are also remarkable for a rural school in a poor area, where almost all children are first generation educated. While the school gained few very high grades, almost all students gained the matriculation (minimum for university entry) requirement of 2 A-levels and there were many students who achieve C and D grades. This may seem modest, but Uganda has recently stiffened its standards and only the exceptional few students are awarded A and B grades. In National terms out of 2600 A-level centres, Isaac Newton came 124th. The school was 40th in terms of lowest proportion of outright failures. It had the 3rd best results in Agriculture, and they were 113th in science performance (this seems surprising given the relatively low absolute grades in science). However, it is important to note that A-level grades in Uganda are criterion referenced rather than norm referenced. The U.K., which is norm referenced, allows roughly the same number of A, B, C grades – even when the actual standards in the exam fall. Whereas in Uganda they have national descriptors for the characteristics of A, B , C scripts and if no students reach that level then they award no A grades at all – and this has been the position for the last 3 years. A hard exam begets low grades. So getting all students through with C, D, E can put a school high up the league tables.
What is really great, is the position measured on a value added basis – the average percentage rise in the grades of individual students from O level to A level. On this statistic, Isaac Newton came 21st out of 2600 Centres. This shows just how effective the school is at raising achievement from O to A level of relatively poorly performing students at the earlier stage. Their value added from primary leaving is even more remarkable.
The Humanist Schools have defied expectations by matching and surpassing the A-level results of many more established schools. Both Mustard Seed and Isaac Newton Schools are in impoverished rural areas and, for most of their existence, they have had to get by with whatever casual and part-time teachers they could get to cover the secondary curriculum. After 12 years of operation, educational and welfare standards have improved and student numbers have risen from less than 100 to over 500 students. Furthermore, for the past two years they have increased the pay of teachers (though still below most other schools), given full and part time teachers contracts and enrolled them in the National Social Security
Scheme. Despite these improvement in conditions, the schools still rely on young, newly-trained and less-well qualified teachers. However, they make up for this by fostering a sense of belonging and commitment to the school, the community and
the students. Staff turnover is still a problem but has reduced hugely. Efforts to bring the teachers together to learn from each other through the Humanist Ethos Project and other initiatives has also played its part. UHST has also played a part in the improvement by flooding books, computers and other resources into the schools and supplementing the pay of teachers and directors through a salary bonus scheme funded using donations from our loyal supporters, many of whom have stuck with us through the early years of trials and tribulations. It goes without saying, that everyone involved with UHST is delighted with the schools’ outstanding progress.