Although Uganda has made progress in reducing poverty, education quality, accessibility, and completion remain a challenge, particularly in rural areas. Just over half (52%) of school aged children complete primary school and only 35% of children who start primary school graduate through levels of education to complete primary school (World Development Indicators 2017).
In Ugandan schools, there are high rates of absenteeism, children dropping out of school and not transitioning through education cycles. Children are disengaged with learning and many teachers are under-qualified or lack the appropriate qualifications to teach. There is also a shortage of teachers in classrooms, furthering straining the education system and impacting the quality of teaching. Children with disabiltiies and girls face huge barriers in accessing education.
Children living in poverty and or rural areas, children with disabilities, and girls face great barriers to accessing education. Children with disabilities and girls, largely due to menstruation, experience stigmatisation and exclusion in education.
Children with disabilities: The most common difficulties are not visibly obvious, including difficulties with learning new things, hearing, and seeing. Children with functioning difficulties are more likely to drop out of school and less likely to attend school. Disability stigma also leads to discrimination and low participation in school life for children with disabilities. In schools there is a lack of education resources about disability and teachers lack the skills to effectively support disabled children’s learning at school.
Teaching quality is not enabling children attending deprived rural schools to gain foundation skills they need to become successful mathematics learners .Children are falling behind in their studies which negatively impacts and threatens their progression through education. Mathematics teachers in these schools lack access to high-quality teaching resources.
Girls are faced with period poverty and stigmatisation, preventing them from attending and enjoying school. Women and girls do not have access to menstrual supplies, forcing them to use replacement methods such as cloth, toilet paper, and even grass to mimic sanitary pads. Girls feel shame and many do not attend schools when they are menstruating.
Kabukye Trust was founded in 2011 by educators from Kamuli district in Uganda to address the declining teaching standards in rural schools.
The Trust co-creates services and experiences with children who are affected by disability, sexual abuse, and barriers to education, to improve the lives of children and young people living in poor and vulnerable rural communities. The team has over 40 years’ experience in teacher training, disability, safeguarding and project management.
Improve inclusion of disabled children and girls facing menstrual stigma in the benefits of improved maths teaching, learning, assessment and co-curricular activities designed at a newly-established Happy Maths Hub.
Strengthen skills of caregivers of disabled children for quality self/assisted care, sanitation and hygiene to facilitate effective participation in hub activities.
Improve skills of girls affected by menstrual poverty and stigma, their parents and teachers in managing menstrual hygiene at homes and schools creatively and prudently (within available resources).
This is an 18-month project funded by the British and Foreign School Society (BFSS) and the Government of the Faroe Islands, which started in March 2021. The budget for the project is £90,643. The Allan & Nesta Ferguson Trust has contributed an additional £17,500 to the Happy Maths Hub project.
