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Uganda, South Korea partner on education
The Second Secretary of the Embassy of Republic of Korea Mr Seunghee YI (R) with Immaculate Heart Girls School students who won the South Korean Clubs for Uganda competitions on November 10, 2022. PHOTO/RAJAB MUKOMBOZI
What you need to know:
- Competing schools participated in poetry, quizzes, among others.
- Shs18m support: Every year, South Korea will inject $5,000 (about Shs18m) into the programme.
The National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) has partnered with the South Korean government to carry out comparative studies in schools.
The curriculum specialist for history and political science at NCDC, Mr Said Twine, who is coordinating the five-year programme, said their target is to influence social-economic transformation in Uganda.
He was on Tuesday speaking at Mbarara High School in Mbarara City during the official launch of the programme in western Uganda.
“By 1960, Uganda and South Korea were at the same level of development but as of today, South Korea is a donor, giving grants and loans when Uganda cannot give any grant or loan to any country. So what happened? These South Korean school clubs will help to make comparison studies between development strategies in the two countries,” Mr Twine said.
He said the comparative studies will be done through school clubs.
“We wanted to roll out a chapter in our curriculum about South Korea but we found the information will be too much to be added on, and in such situations to ensure critical information enters the grid of Ugandans, we form school clubs as we have done in this case,” he said.
The programme targets all regions.
Mr Twine explained that in these clubs, the students learn about South Korea’s transformative literature and development journey through competitions in essay and article writing, poems, speeches and quizzes, among others.
The Second Secretary at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Mr Seunghee Yi, said every year, they will inject $5,000 (about Shs18m) into the programme for a period of five years.
“We want these young people to learn by themselves how they can develop the economy of their country,” he said.
Mr Seunghee said they would embark on exchange visits and practical skills training in South Korea in future.
At the launch, there were competitions between 10 pioneer schools, which were won by Immaculate Girls High School, Nyakibare in Rukungiri District. The competitions involved literature on transformation and economic development of South Korea.
Competing schools participated in poetry, quizzes, among others.
Mr Richard Begura, the patron of South Korean Club at Immaculate Heart, said they are optimistic that the clubs would influence development in the country.
