Aga Khan Foundation tips schools on innovations

The Aga Khan Country Manager, Mr Paschal Mandhawun, said they are collaborating with the government to co-design low-cost innovations, practices, and tools to drive system-wide changes in education.

“We are building evidence-based works that are intended to improve quality learning outcomes from the bottom-up rather than from top-down. This will be done by the school’s 2030 movement and network,” Mr Mandhawun said.

He was speaking last Friday at the schools 2030 second national showcase event, under the theme “Teacher leadership for innovative classroom practices and climate resilience”.

 Schools 2030 is a global movement that focuses on holistic learning and teacher leadership, bringing together educators, school leaders, civil society, researchers, international organisations, and governments across 10 countries and more than 1,000 schools.

The movement aims to improve teaching quality, foster resilient education systems, and support those in remote areas and marginalised communities.

A key focus of the movement is on empowering teachers as leaders, innovators, and active participants in education reform.

 Launched in 2020, Schools 2030 also operates in community learning centres across 10 countries, including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Brazil, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Portugal, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan.

Mr Mandhawun said once innovation is prioritised in the current curriculum, they shall fulfil the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

 “So today we are here, the adjudicators are here, we are going to look at these innovations, the 12 selected ones have come up with and from these, we will select the best two that will actually represent us next year in Nairobi,” he said.

The general secretary of Uganda National Teachers’ Union, Mr Filbert Baguma, asked government to address issues affecting teachers.

“The teachers being at the forefront must be supported, they play an important role in shaping the young people, they must be supported in all their work,” Mr Baguma said.

Capacity building

Ms Mary Frances Atima, the head of directorate of education standards at the Ministry of Education and Sports, who represented the Minister of State of Primary Education, Ms Joyce Kaducu, said teachers should be put first by ensuring continuous capacity building and finding solutions to learning problems.

“From my experience in inspection, this is lacking in most interventions and yet you cannot get the best from a teacher if you don’t build their capacity, especially in facilitating free thinking and showcasing their products,” Ms Atima said.

Mr Albert Kitutu, a teacher from Nakivubo Blue Primary School, highlighted the importance of fostering responsibility in learners through environmental awareness.  

“These items are not because of the new curriculum but we are cultivating a culture and we are instilling discipline and responsibility in learners because we can reuse items in our environment,” Mr Kitutu said.

Mr Sam Wadri, the mayor of Arua City, however, urged parents to be more involved in their children’s education, stating that education cannot be left solely to the government.

“The government is doing its part in providing the necessities, the parents are only producing children yet they are not providing scholastic materials for their children, what do we as parents contribute to our children?” he asked.

Participants

Twelve schools participated in the innovative challenge, where three schools were selected for the national completions slated to take place in Nairobi. The schools include Nakivubo Primary School and Macky Secondary School, which invented a cooling system. The schools exhibited innovations related to new classroom practices and climate resilience.

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