TEACH – Targeting Educational Advancement for Children

Education is a powerful tool that can change the trajectory of a child’s life. It not only equips them with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life, but it also empowers them to break the cycle of poverty and improve their overall well-being. However, for many children living in hard-to-reach communities in Uganda, access to education is limited due to financial constraints and lack of resources. Our impact is focused on providing scholarships, school materials and equipment, food supply and all forms of welfare support to poor children. We believe that by providing these children with access to education, we can empower them to break the cycle of poverty and improve their overall well-being. Our education program provides financial assistance to children who are unable to afford the cost of education. We understand that education is not just about the cost of tuition, so we also provide school materials such as textbooks and uniforms to ensure that these children have everything they need to succeed in school. In addition, we also provide food supply, healthcare and other forms of welfare support to children and their families.

 Rural Initiative for Development and Empowerment (RIDE-UGANDA) was in 2022 requested to support  the management of a failing community primary  school known as Kayunga Junior School in Kisawo Village that provides affordable education to children from families with low and moderate incomes. This school is currently run entirely by volunteers who are passionate about making a positive impact in the lives of others but in this school we inherited inadequacy in most aspects that make learning and teaching easy and enjoyable.

The school has insufficient numbers of desks, teachers’ chairs and table, examination hall single Seater desks, cooking and serving utensils, play equipment among others. We believe that by working together, we can make a real difference in the lives of these children and the communities. We are committed to making education accessible to every less privileged child, and we believe that by working together, we can make a real difference in the lives of these children and their communities.

We are always looking for new volunteers and donations to help us provide access to quality education to less privileged children in underserved communities to enable them realize their potentials and enhance their chances at a better life. Much as there exists opportunities for free education in Uganda and Kayunga District in particular, the programme faces numerous shortcomings that consequently hinder its successful implementation. Public and Private Schools face challenges that include but not limited to: –

• Lack of Scholastic Materials (School Uniforms, Books, Pens, Pencils, School Bags, Files, Cups, Plates among others.
• In most schools poor parents cannot afford to provide their children with breakfast and lunch while at school.
• Inadequate access to clean and safe water for drinking, cooking and other purposes
• Very limited access to ICT Equipment yet, even basic services like Candidate registration for National Examinations are done online.
• Menstruating School Girls use unhygienic materials and in many instances miss classes for 5 days every month.
• Learner retention is a contentious issue
• Inadequate Menstrual Waste Disposal & Management furthers exposes learners to Urinary Tract Infections
• Infrastructural challenges especially as regards to Classrooms, laboratories, offices, etc
• Kitchen and Sanitation facilities are either non-existent or in a dire state.
• Teachers’ morale to teach is very low due to low remuneration and limited motivation
• Staff housing is still a very big challenge all over the district.

Under TEACH, RIDE-UGANDA engages such deprived schools to come up with own solutions to these local challenges and in situations where the magnitude of the challenge is beyond the communities’ capacity to be locally addressed, external assistance is sought. Furthermore RIDE- UGANDA offers capacity building in planning academic innovations, self-sustenance, strategic management, grant management among others