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Interview with Ugandan Teacher Kawooya Abel Njuki

Kawooya Abel Njuki, Teacher at the St. Mugagga Vocational Secondary School Kkindu in Uganda, attended the Online ENSA closing conference from 26 until 28th of November.  Afterwards we had the opportunity to talk to him about his impressions of the conference and the effects of Corona at his school.

You see several people sitting in a room in front of computers.
Mrs. Nakachwa Passy and Mr. Kawooya Abel Njuki and students during the ENSA online closing conference inside the Computer Laboratory. Photo: Kawooya Abel Njuki

For the first time, schools from the global south took part in our two Online Closing Conferences in November. Schools from Cameroon, South Africa, Tanzania, Colombia, Albania, Uganda and Namibia participated.

Kawooya Abel Njuki, Teacher at the St. Mugagga Vocational Secondary School Kkindu in Uganda, attended the Online ENSA closing conference from 26 until 28th of November. Afterwards we had the opportunity to talk to him about his impressions of the conference and the effects of Corona at his school.

ENSA: Please tell us something about your School.

Mr. Njuki: St. Mugagga Vocational Secondary School Kkindu is a mixed ‘O’ and ‘A’ level rural vocational secondary school founded by the Masaka Diocese Catholic Church. The school was started in 1991. The school is located at Kkindu Village, Kyantale Parish, Kyannamukaaka Sub-county, Bukoto County in Masaka District, Uganda.

There are two images. On the left is a purple book cover with the title „Dear Ijeawele or a Feminist Manifesto in fifteen Suggestions“ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. On the right is a group of teenagers sitting on school desks reading books.
Students of the St. Mugagga Vocational Secondary School Kkindu are having a book club with their german partnerschool.

ENSA: And you have a school partnership with a school from a small town in Hessen?

Mr. Njuki: Yes. Our school partnership with Limesschule Idstein started in 2014. Currently it is on a sound base and it involves many activities, including: Letter exchanges between the teachers and students of the partner schools. In 2017, we had a Book project on the novel ‘Dear Ijeawele, A Feminist manifesto in 15 suggestions’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Our partner school provided the novels while we read the novel and participated in the exchange. We have a German Club at St. Mugagga whose activities include a Limesschule Garden that trains students’ better methods of farming and environmental protection. We were also connected to the internet by our partner school to solve the communication challenges. Recently the internet was reconnected after the initial hard ware equipment was destroyed by a power surge. St. Mugagga pays the service provider for the internet connections rendered to our School.

A young man is standing in a field with large lettuce plants
A student in the school garden.

ENSA: Have you been able to visit each other?

Mr. Njuki: Our Head teachers have hosted each other already. Last year we hosted teachers from our partner school Limesschule Idstein and this year, plans were under way for 2 teachers and 10 students from St. Mugagga to visit Limesschule Idstein. However, the visit was not possible due to the Covid – 19 pandemic. We hope the exchange visit will be possible next year. During the just concluded Online Closing Conference, the Limes – UNESCO team reinstalled our internet connection by purchasing the destroyed hardware equipment, including web cams and headphones to facilitate the workshop. We paid the service provider for connection fees as well.

ENSA: How was the situation at your school these last months during the pandemic?

Mr. Njuki: Our schools were closed by the President on the 18th March 2020, sending all the teachers and students back to their homes. Later public transport was also halted effectively, stopping all movements in the country. The health crisis affected the daily life of the teachers, students as well as parents and the pandemic led to the cancellation of the planned Germany tour to our partner school by our teachers and students in September. The pandemic led to the closing of the school affecting the daily lessons and syllabus coverage for all learners. The closure of the school cut off the daily school income used to pay staff salaries, allowances and for school maintenance. This is because most students left before paying their school dues leaving the school with a huge debt.

ENSA: Where you able to continue teaching?

Mr. Njuki: The only teaching that took place was on local radios and televisions organized by the Ministry of Education. Hence, the few students who had radios and televisions at their respective homes could continue with learning, but the majority did not. However, the few students with radios and televisions could often not be allowed by their parents to attend the virtual lessons since they had to do house chores and gardening. Our teachers would have offered the virtual lessons using their smart phones but the students did not have any smart phones and the subject WhatsApp groups formed did not go ahead as planned.

ENSA: How is it now?

Mr. Njuki: The lock down was partially lifted on the 19th October 2020 and this has seen the opening of school for candidate classes only. A number of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) were put in place for all schools to adhere to such as, all students and teachers putting on a face mask, washing of hand frequently and having a hand sanitizer. These SOP’s have become very expensive for schools to implement because of reduced number of students in school while the overhead costs remained. At my school, we have 131 students only. Each has a facemask and a sanitizer. The Head teacher has put some hand washing points at strategic places in the school compound however, social distancing is mildly observed by the students. I still perceive the pandemic as threatening since I know people personally who have died of Covid 19.

Several people with face masks are standing in front of the entrance of a building.
Mrs. Nakachwa Passy and Mr. Kawooya Abel Njuki and other participants during the ENSA online closing conference outside the Computer Laboratory.

ENSA: How does the pandemic affect your daily life – also outside of school?

Mr. Njuki: Social distancing is a new phenomenon in our society. In our culture, social living is part of us. The pandemic has limited the way we relate with our families and friends. We cannot visit our relatives in fear of contacting the virus or infecting them. The curfew in place from 7 pm to 6:30 am also makes our movements difficult to and from school. Transport has become a challenge too. Public transport means have had their passengers reduced to four only. This has also increased the cost of transport.

ENSA: Unfortunately, your trip to Germany could not take place this year, but you were able to participate in the ENSA conference with your partner school. What did you think when you received the invitation?

Mr. Njuki: Initially we got information about the online conference from Mr. Max Shilling, teacher of our partner school, and we were extremely happy to be invited. The invitation was received during the period of the total lockdown and we had communicated that the teachers would attend and the students would not. However, with the partial lifting of the lockdown and the re-opening of schools it became possible that we would attend with some students. I was so thrilled and at the same time nervous. I imagined how it would work, to attend a virtual meeting, which I had never done before. The fact is this was the first virtual meeting I have ever attended in my life. Also my colleague Passy and the students were ecstatic to be granted an opportunity to attend the conference, for all being the first time too. Thank you Limes and ENSA team for granting us the opportunity and for the exposure. I was also looking forward to meet my colleague Mr. Max Shilling for the first time. I am happy this was possible too.

ENSA: Was it easy for you to participate?

Mr. Njuki: The participation in the Online Conference had both positive and negative elements as shown below: The Online Conference was via Cisco Webex, an app which made connection to the conference easy. It did not require so many steps to join the meeting. We had a challenge of interruptions in our internet connection. Sometimes the video system stalled and we relied on the audio only to communicate. In some instances both stalled requiring the user to re–log on into the meeting. Sometimes the video and audio did not relate that is the video would be seen and the sound would come a bit late. Some students lacked basic computer skills, which affected their participation. We had an abrupt power disconnection in our district for 2 days. This affected our participation in the on line conference especially on Saturday.

ENSA: Thank you for participating despite the technical difficulties. We all learned a lot about online communication this year and are happy that we could have our partners from the south with us at the next conference.

Mr. Njuki: We shall all be eagerly waiting to attend the next meeting in February, 2021.