A rural society, all be it; a fast urbanizing society in which the youngsters have equal and equitable opportunities to access the power of knowledge.
Buwagga Secondary School was established to respond to a need of assisting children in a poor rural area and their family’s access resources and educational opportunities to enable them achieve their full potentials.
Located in rural Uganda, Buwagga Senior Secondary School was established by the community members with the objective of being able to offer equal access to quality education right in their own village. In particular, the school is working towards building a progressive science and vocational studies program while still ensuring that this program, is accessible to all students in particular the rural poor and girls .Although this farming community is only about 20 km from the modern capital city, Kampala there is a significant difference in the standard of living outside the urban areas. The divide between the qualities of education directly impacts the development of the country .Rural schools are often forced to cut costs by limiting or omitting science education when you ask the rural students about their career goals, of course you will get the same ambitious responses as expected anywhere:"A doctor a nurse an engineer”. However without a complete education including all subjects, opportunities area lost .Students at the Ugandan university tend to be exclusively from the urban areas. In its rural setting, Buwagga School plans to develop an educational environment to encourage academic excellence and practical skills which will in turn give their young people a chance to improve their lives and community.
Through hard work and real sacrifice those responsible to develop the school have managed to purchase and expand the school grounds. Currently the school is on a campus of more than 20 ha or 50 acres of land. Some land is used to grow crops for food and plans to keep a few cows to enrich diet for students are advanced. A work /study program has enabled at least 10 percent of students finance part to full of the school cost and thus contributed mainly to production of some food items
The school is fully registered as a secondary school with at least its own O level uneb Examination Centre. When we completely finish constructing and equipping our two Laboratory rooms we should be given an Examination Centre for Advance level Secondary School status. At that stage we shall be sitting our students in science subjects as well and be in position to enter our students into universities and all higher institutions.
In the last few years we managed to connect to National Hydro Electricity Grid thus complimenting our solar supply which had limited capacity. With that move the computer classes started in honesty. (Thanks to the Canadian volunteers who initiated the training under difficult conditions).We expects to start internet and even open the facility to the community.
The school has hitherto been wholly dependant on water fetched from a public Borehole shared with many people in the village. This month Sept 2006 the school has finally managed to sink a deep borehole for its exclusive use. A second one is planned if funds can be mobilized that way we will be in position to have adequate water for the school.
The old Hall is being converted into a new laboratory with two small rooms attached. The small rooms shall be used as preparation room while the second will be a strong room to keep some apparatus and chemical safe. There will therefore be two main Labs when conversion is over. It is intended to schedule a practical period for every science subject each week for all classes at O level and more offering more for those in science in the last 2 years of secondary school (i.e. A level). This is part of our efforts to strengthen science teaching at Buwagga
In April 2006 we opened a new kitchen for the school totally designed on Energy saving principles .The saving in fuel is almost 50% needless to say it is clean and a practical lesson to the community many of who are buying the idea for their own use.
Our relationships with primary schools nearest us are very good. In particular the primary school next to us we have adopted it as part of us and consequently we are working closely even assist in many ways including assisting them with lab work. As we do not have our own primary school and the bulk of our first year secondary school intake come from Kijjude primary school; our neighbor we ensure the intake from there have the foundation that guarantee our quality improvement if we have to build our competitiveness in the region.
The Buwagga village and neighboring communities are eager to work with the school. Along with Buwagga School, there is a primary school adjacent and several villages in the surrounding area that also lack access to potable water and electricity. The school is promoting research with the community for the adoption of appropriate technical solutions which can be locally maintained, generating long-term benefits. Health and environmental problems are also in need of assistance. Buwagga School is an ideal location to branch out to the community to offer support. For instance, there are plans for a health clinic to be established near the school offering services to both students and the community.
Buwagga School has already come a long way; however, there are still many challenges restraining their progress. For example, the lack of educational tools such as basic textbooks and laboratory equipment are limiting school’s potential. Currently books are scarce with only one to two books per class. The school attains an appropriate education tool. Funds will go directly to the science program. which is a major cost for the school. Supporting basic science laboratories can enable the school to be able to offer science following the Ugandan curriculum. A future goal of the Buwagga School is to offer the advanced-level secondary school science, comparable to the UK’s A level, which is necessary for opening the door for students to various career choices.