Vocational training is the answer to modern challenges - Sserwanja

“I sat for my Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) in 2004 and spent a whole year at home because my mother (Mary Nalumansi), could not raise my university tuition,” says Sserwanja. 

His mother had taken over the family responsibility after Sserwanja’s father died during the 1981-1986 liberation war, leaving behind a young family.  

Determined to get her son a tertiary education, Nalumansi sought and got a bursary from the Kabaka Education Fund under Buganda Kingdom. 

The bursary enabled him to pursue a diploma in education at Kampala University, in 2006. 

Rewarded for excellence

Grateful for the chance to go back to school, Sserwanja excelled in class so much that his grades earned him another bursary from Badru Kateregga, the proprietor of the university to also pursue a degree in education.

Sserwanja started working with the university’s marketing department. His role was to look out for   students with good academic grades whose parents were unable to support them to access university education. 

The work sent him journeying to different districts of Uganda where he came face-to-face with pupils and students who could not afford education up to Primary Seven or Senior Four.

There were also students who wanted to pursue courses that the university he worked for did not offer. He reached out to other institutes such as Muteesa I Royal University, Buganda Royal Institute of Business and Technical Studies and Metropolitan International University.

Giving back

In retrospect, Sserwanja had the conviction of helping pupils and students just the way he was helped as a beneficiary of a bursary in order to continue his education journey after Senior Six.

In 2013, he started Sas Education Consult intending to provide education to learners on a semi-bursary basis. With two friends, they established Kyadondo Technical Institute where learners could enroll for certificate and diploma vocational courses as a way of acquiring skills that would give them a start in life.

“We found out that the world had changed and there was a growing need for technical jobs and practical skills at all levels. We started a vocational intitute focusing mainly on school dropouts of Primary Seven and Senior Four,” Sserwanja explains.

Informative research

In 2016, Sserwanja and colleagues undertook research and discovered that between 400, 000 and 600,000 pupils sit for Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) every year. Of those, between 250, 000 and 300, 000 enroll up to Senior Four but only half or less sit for the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations. 

“That means that by Senior Four, the pupils who complete Primary Seven and join Senior One, reduce by between 25 and 30 per cent. This could further mean that in every four years, children who drop out of school are between 100, 000 and 200, 000. If 300, 000 students finish Senior Four, only between 90, 000 to 150, 000 complete Senior Six,” Sserwanja observes.

And whereas institutes such as teachers’ colleges, nursing schools and the like, take on successful students, it is not a significant figure and as such, the gap of those who do not find placement, remains high and one wonders where the rest go.

“Unfortunately, that age bracket is the most sensitive with regard to who will be productive for the country in the near future. If a country cannot push on at least 80 per cent of children from Primary Seven to Senior Four and to Senior Six, there remains a big gap in the economy. That is one of the reasons that inspired us to put up this institute, to bridge the gap,” says Sserwanja.

The institute takes on needy students. “96 per cent of our intakes are on bursary. We survive by the little money brought by children to buy their study materials. We have a dream that we shall reach a level of connecting with partners who will appreciate our philosophy of helping the many Ugandans with no open chance to further their education and add value to their future. We consider adding value to needy children and that is the spirit of our being here,” Sserwanja further explains.

Courses

Kyadondo Technical Institute is licensed under the Ministry of Education and Sports and registered under the National Council for Higher Education. 

It offers courses in hairdressing, fashion and design, plumbing, journalism, electricity, automotive mechanics, hotel management and institutional catering and computer studies. 

“All the Senior Four leavers who earn at least three passes qualify to sit for Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB). Those with less than three passes sit for the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT) examinations.”

Covid-19 effects

The institute began with 450 students last year and had grown to 480 by the  time schools were closed following the outbreak of Covid-19. When government opened schools, only 150 students reported back. 

“When we called them back, parents told us that they did not have money to bring the students back. Overall, Ugandans take technical schools as a last resort and there is a huge perception that a student can only try technical education after failing elsewhere. Many parents still think that when a child gets a first grade, they must go for Senior Five and consequently go to university. The low intakes in technical and vocational schools are attributed to the negative perception of parents,” Sserwanja notes. To him, vocational education is the answer to the contemporary challenges of the world. 

He adds, “Currently the government education policy is focusing on technical training. Government targets that at least every child who finishes any level of education is skilled in something. However, the government has not come up with a commitment to help private players in the field of education. It is our cry towards the government to come up and help private players that have volunteered to teach Ugandans who cannot all fit in government technical schools.”

Sserwanja says the institute is struggling and is yet to reach an ideal level since the students contribute  enough to cover the basics to enable them undertake the courses they apply for. 

“We do not have a standard fees structure. We sit with a parent and they tell us what they can afford. However, on principle, a private technical school would charge each student between Shs1.2m and Shs1.5m as bare minimum per term but because of the negative perception of parents, they cannot provide that amount so that is why we focus on what the parent is able to meet. If we put a standard rate, very many children will be locked out completely,” says Sserwanja.

On his wish list is acquisition of land for the institute capable of graduating 3, 000 students per year. For now, male students are drawn towards automotive mechanics, electricity and plumbing whereas girls prefer fashion and catering.

RESEARCH

Eye opening

In 2016, Sserwanja and colleagues  undertook research and discovered that between 400, 000 and 600,000 pupils sit for Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) every year. Of those, between 250, 000 and 300, 000 enroll up to Senior Four but only half or less sit for the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations. 

“That means that by Senior Four, the pupils who complete Primary Seven and join Senior One, reduce by between 25 and 30 per cent. This could further mean that in every four years, children who drop out of school are between 100, 000 and 200, 000. If 300, 000 students finish Senior Four, only between 90, 000 to 150, 000 complete Senior Six,” Sserwanja observes.