Prime
Nadene Migli and the miracle of first grades in a new village school
Author: Gawaya Tegulle. PHOTO/NMG
What you need to know:
- ‘‘Ordinary peasant kids, predestined by local history to fail, defied the odds”
Let’s begin by making corrections well before we get the pronunciation wrong. Nadene is “nay-din”: phonetically, there is a ‘y’ in the first syllable and the ‘e’ at the end is silent. Migli is as it sounds, so please don’t force a ‘u’ or ‘r’ anywhere, in typical Ugandan fashion.
Nadene’s story began with a little boy who, one morning, came to her compound in Kamonkoli, Budaka District, eastern Uganda and sat down, quietly. Through an interpreter, the little fellow said he was hungry. Touched, the American missionary welcomed the boy and fed him, but decided there would be no free lunch going forward. She began assigning chores just so he could earn his food.
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“My mom always told me ‘them what works, eats’,” she says in American slang. After a couple of days, the boy told other boys, and soon Nadene found herself with many little fellows. All of them were from poor families; but some had even no parents at all. Worse, some had been simply abandoned by their parents. Some were in school, but struggling and like thousands gone before them, were on their way to become mere statistics of high failure rates that our village had, over the years, gotten used to at every sitting of Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). One boy was doing well in P.4, but had no one to pay his fees; he was on the verge of dropping out, like thousands in the region have done over the years.
Nadene, who hails from North Carolina, in the US, then decided to embark on a school project, to provide quality education to local kids, as a way to eventually “kick poverty out of Kamonkoli through Christ First, work ethic and education” – as her vision reads.
That was the genesis of “HIS Primary School”, now two years old. Nadene sought to provide a school environment fairly similar to what American children enjoy back home. Using funds from her social security and friends in her church in North Carolina, she constructed what is, even from a distance, a beautiful learning environment. The buildings are properly constructed, and designed for children to concentrate. The school is nicely fenced off. Each classroom is equipped with soundproofing, a television screen, a computer or two and a mini library, plus access to internet. Teachers beam their notes from laptop to the screen. The school has both running water and electricity. Kids enjoy nutritious porridge at break time and a good meal at lunchtime. The teachers interact closely with the kids, and monitor the progress of each child. The day begins with morning prayers and kids – 150 now – are reminded of the school vision and mission. The investment has begun to pay dividends.
At the very first PLE, 2022, Nadene had 10 candidates. Five scored first grade, the best having Aggregate Seven. The rest were second grades between 13 (narrow miss) and 18. Given the background of our village, which is accustomed to mass failures, this is nothing less than a miracle. Ordinary peasant kids, predestined by local history to fail, defied the odds stacked against them, responded well to the intervention of Nadene and came out of national exams with their heads high!
Thing is, two years ago, most of them couldn’t even read. Nadene had to put them on an intense reading-comprehension programme. Part of her diagnosis was that while many village kids can read English, they don’t actually comprehend it and, therefore, cannot appreciate what the examiner wants.
“When kids are fluent in the language of instruction, they will generally do well. The reading programme has been the key. Just because they are village kids doesn’t mean they are daft – they are very smart,” she says.
Nadene’s success has lessons for Uganda. One is that village children can do well academically, if they are put in proper learning environments, with teachers who care about them, speak into their lives, and encourage them. Two, when teachers are properly motivated they give their very best and when that happens, children will pass exams, even in the deepest of villages. Three, when rigorous discipline and ethics are enforced in a school environment, kids will not be delinquent; they will focus on their books and do well.
Mr Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda [email protected]
