The History
of Uukwiyoongwe Combined School
Uukwiyoongwe Combined School was first opened somewhere around the
year 1947. At that time the school consisted of several straw huts
for shade and protection from the sun. Classes were held under these
huts and also under the shade of trees. A Mr. Simon Shikesho opened
and ran the school along with the help of three assistant teachers.
Initially, only about thirty-two students attended the school. In
the mid-nineties the student population of the school became a lot
bigger and in fact the school was over crowded.
Due to overcrowding, some learners left
and went to school elsewhere while those that remained had to
struggle through school due to the lack of space and the lack of
resources. Eventually the school was slightly expanded; however,
educational resources were still in short supply. As the performance
of the school continued to decline, fewer and fewer families had
their children return to Uukwiyoongwe the following year. Enrollment
and performance remained rather low through the rest of the
nineties.
In April 2005, Mr. Linus Munembo was hired
on as the new school principal. Gradually, improvements were made to
both the management of the school as well as the performance of the
learners whom attended. At the time of Mr. Munembo’s employment,
only 180 learners attended the school.
As of today, about 220 learners attend
Uukwiyoongwe Combined School. The learner’s performance has improved
remarkably. At the end of the 2006 school year, 80% of the Grade 10
learners passed their Final Exams. That being said, there is still
much room for improvement. A learner is considered ‘passing’ if they
earn at least 24 points out of a total 42 points possible. That
means they must at least get a 57% (F) and they have passed.
While passing rates of Grade 10 learners
seem to fluctuate from year to year, we are at least working in the
right direction. Today, teachers are teaching according to their
specialization and have all of the appropriate qualifications.
Furthermore, about half of the staff is comprised of teachers that
have been teaching for less than ten years and they are very
motivated about their futures as educators.
Our school is blessed with a motivated
staff and a community that is becoming more and more supportive of
school functions and needs as each year passes. At this juncture,
the greatest need of Uukwiyoongwe Combined School simply lies in
resources. There is a great lack of resources available to both the
teachers and the learners. The library lacks sufficient and updated
reference books, in some cases 3-4 learners share a single, tattered
textbook, and the teachers have virtually no reference books to turn
to in order to guide them in their lesson planning.
Improving the library of the school by
making resource books available will help the performance of the
school ten-fold. However, if Uukwiyoongwe Combined School hopes to
match the excellence of other schools throughout the country and the
world, we must also consider our lack of technologically advanced
resources to be a dire set back. Without computers, access to the
internet, a TV and DVD player, and other advanced equipment,
Uukwiyoongwe, along with the teachers and learners whom attend, will
be left in the dust by neighboring institutions.
It is important to understand the dynamics
of Uukwiyoongwe village itself. Most of the learners that attend
this school will forever have ties to this village. Hopefully, most
will go on to pursue careers as professionals in other parts of the
country, but even those learners will always call this village home.
They will most likely come back to Uukwiyoongwe, settle here, start
a family here, visit relatives, or at least share in the ownership
of their family’s homestead. In this way, success that is achieved
in the school is extended out into the community. Our learners are
the Uukwiyoongwe community leaders of tomorrow. If they leave school
proficient in English and career driven, so will be their own
children someday. With the correct guidance and access to resources,
the learners presently attending this school truly have the
opportunity to be great role models to the later generations of this
community.
