Virtual Introductory Meeting to the School Gardening Project

As Uganda celebrated 36 years of her liberation by the National Resistance Army NRA, we conducted a virtual Introductory meeting to the SCHOOL GARDENING PROJECT SPG-2022 for over 40 teachers of Agriculture across the country. The School Gardening Project is focused on establishing demonstration and learning vegetable gardens in 100 schools across the five subregions of Uganda. The project is supported by Victoria Seeds (U) Limited (VSL), Holistic elearning Platform Schools (HeLP Schools), Youth Future Farmers of Africa-Uganda (YoFFA), individual volunteers, and participating schools. In Jan 2020, the government of Uganda through the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) and the National Curriculum Development Center NCDC rolled out the new lower secondary school curriculum that started with students in senior one class or 7th graders. Unfortunately, the implementation of this much-needed Competence Based Curriculum CBC was interrupted by the two-year closure of schools in Uganda due to COVID 19 pandemic. With the re-opening of schools this Jan 2022, YoFFA created the School Gardening Program to help support teachers of agriculture in the provision of hands-on or practical learning opportunities to senior one (7th grade) and senior two (8th grade) students who are studying the new lower secondary school curriculum this academic year. In addition to experiential learning, the project will provide the schools with organic and healthy vegetables to be used in their school meals, students will get the opportunity to learn vital 21st century employable skills, they will participate in leadership and career development activities, while participating teachers will be availed with opportunities for professional development. Victoria Seeds the major funder of the SPG 2022 project will supply schools with seeds of their choice and some gardening tools essential for the success of this project. According to Ms. Josephine Okot the Managing Director of Victoria Seeds, all schools will receive their seeds before the end of March since her team has received the necessary information from all the 100 schools. She encouraged teachers to start preparing the school gardens before the on-set of rains and endeavor to use every opportunity to teach their students. During the meeting, Mr. Ronald Ddungu the team Leader at Help Schools requested teachers to do their best to make sure the pilot project succeeds, use the established gardens as teaching laboratories for other curriculum subjects, develop practical lesson plans for teaching several agronomic practices and encouraged educators to work alongside students to make them as good as themselves. In his remarks Mr. Brian Kibirige the Co-founder and National Coordinator of YoFFA asked teachers to embrace the SPG 2022 project, devote time for practical instruction, use the opportunity to grow their school YoFFA chapters and implement program of activities that are centered around this project. The School Gardening Project SPG 2022 will be implemented in 87 secondary and 13 primary schools with a student population of more 25,000 students this academic year. At YoFFA, we are grateful to Victoria Seeds Limited, HeLP Schools, individual volunteers, agricultural teachers, and schools for all the support rendered to this project.