Train 50 women teachers in Uganda to educate 1000s

It’s wonderful to see how Winfred and Benadet, student teachers from the Graduate Women International (GWI) project Teachers for Rural Futures, have grown in confidence. They have almost completed their first year studying a Bachelor of Education at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. Coming from Buyende, a small village in eastern Uganda, the girls have adjusted to university life and settled into their studies, with the support of a local mentor. The girls are now working hard to complete their end-of-year exams and will then go back to their families in Buyende for the vacation.  

The rural community where the girls are from, like many in Uganda, has a shortage of women secondary school teachers. This discourages many adolescent girls from attending school. Girls who do not complete their secondary education are more likely to marry early, suffer health issues to themselves or their children or even fatality through teenage pregnancy. Without education, girls’ ability to earn money and break the cycle of poverty is limited.

Through a competitive process, GWI is sponsoring rural girls like Winfred and Benadet to train as secondary teachers. On graduation they will go back to their rural communities to teach, uniquely positioned as role models of women who are professionally qualified and salaried, and at the same time able to provide encouragement and advice to other girls at critical stages of their lives.

GWI affiliate and project partner Uganda Association of University Women (UAUW) have met with parents, teenagers and key individuals to emphasise the benefits of secondary schooling and beyond for their girls. A UAUW member commented, ‘When the community heard we were coming to talk to them, they were intrigued. As this is a remote community many had planned to marry their girls off, but as a result of our visit they have decided to keep them in school. ‘

Thank you to all our donors who have supported this pioneering initiative! Individual donations provide funding for tuition and examinations, university accommodation, books, transport to and from home, living expenses and community engagement, to ensure that the young women will be sustained as teachers in their communities, and to raise support for girls’ education.

We have identified several more candidates for the next years’ academic intake. More support for women student teachers means 1000s more girls in rural communities can go to school. Please help us and continue to spread the word on this project!

Links:

• Teachers for Rural Futures web page

Winfred and Benadet are pioneers in GWI’s Teachers for Rural Futures project. They come from Buyende District in Eastern Uganda, a rural area where the majority of girls do not complete secondary school. Winfred and Benadet were amongst the few to complete school. Without the means to go to university, their studies were due to end there. Winfred and Benadet had ambitions to become school teachers and increase the number of children in Buyende, particularly girls, who go to secondary school. GWI’s Teachers for Rural Futures project has set them on the path to fulfilling their goals, as well as the dreams of thousands of other children who will benefit from an education once Winfred and Benadet qualify as teachers.

Benadet is the second child from a family of five children. Her mother is a primary teacher and her father is a tailor, and resources at home are stretched. As one of the few girls to complete secondary education in her area, Benadet’s dream was to go on to university to qualify as a much-needed woman secondary school teacher, but it looked like her dream would end there. Providing for Benadet to study at the top university in Uganda, Makerere University, and the additional expenses of accommodation, travel, and study materials would be impossible without help. After submitting her application form for sponsorship for teacher-training at Uganda’s Makerere University, Benadet waited patiently. In July 2015, she was contacted by the Uganda Association of University Women (UAUW) with the good news that she was a successful applicant. Benadet and her family were thrilled! She is now studying to be a teacher of science at Makerere University and, when she graduates, she will be able to return to inspire girls in her rural community as a financially independent, university-educated woman who is also breaking traditional stereotypes. Benadet says: “I am so proud to study a Bachelor’s degree at Makerere University. Because of your sponsorship, I am also working towards being a role model in my teaching career.”

Training young women from rural areas of Uganda to become teachers is only possible with the support and commitment of special individuals who contribute to this important project. Individual donations provide funding for tuition, university accommodation, books, transport to and from home, living expenses and community engagement, to ensure that the young women will be sustained as teachers in their communities, and to raise support for girls’ education. Thank you to all our donors who believe in this pioneering initiative.

While Winfred and Benadet will be a huge resource as qualified women teachers in Buyende, there are many more communities and girls we would like to reach. Please continue to spread the word on this project! As more support is raised and Benadet and Winfred progress in their studies, we will keep you updated!