Hill Prep grows amidst odds
SPEECH and language disability were the mother of Claire Wavamunno’s creation. Her daughter, Jacqueline Nakyanzi, now a graduate of hotel and institutional catering had a special learning need and there was no suitable school that could handle her problem.
By Geresom Musamali
SPEECH and language disability were the mother of Claire Wavamunno’s creation. Her daughter, Jacqueline Nakyanzi, now a graduate of hotel and institutional catering had a special learning need and there was no suitable school that could handle her problem.
With determination to see her child succeed, Wavamunno formed the Women’s Organisation for Special Education (WOSE). She curved out her living room into an informal school. Little did she know that the idea she initiated in 1988 would translate into the now famous Hill Preparatory School.
From five pupils, the school steadily gained enrolment and had to relocate from Mengo to its current home on Naguru hill. The enrolment stands at 120 today.
Wavamunno said the institution was the first integrated special school in Uganda. “Our mission is to provide a learning environment where children with learning disabilities are educated alongside their regular counterparts,†says Wavamunno.
The school came to the limelight in November last year when Simon Peter Mugoya, a dyslexic, successfully did his Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) by dictation. Dyslexia is a defect in which a person is unable to read and write properly, but remains bright.
The school last week held an open day, which also marked the official launch of the Prof. Mathias Mosha Memorial Scholarship Scheme.
The school has 29 specialised staff - both part-time and full-time.
The Uganda National Institute for Special Education (UNISE) also uses the school for its practical teacher training.
The classes are small, each with between 15-20 children. For every three pupils with ordinary learning abilities, the school takes one child with special learning needs.
While paying individualised attention to the learning difficulties, the school teaches the children alongside each other so that they learn to treat the difficulties as those that can be overcome.
It also provides a lot of opportunity for vocational studies such as agriculture, carpentry, and tailoring.
With funds from sympathizers and donors, the school expanded and also improved academically. Of the 13 pioneer PLE candidates in 1997, it had an impressive six in first grade. From then on it has never looked back.
Today, the students who passed through Hill Preparatory Schools are dotted across the famous schools including Mt. St. Mary’s Namagunga, Gayaza High, Makerere College, Nabisuna Girls’ School, Ntare School and Mary Hill High School.
However, the school has since 2002 run into financial difficulties when external donor assistance programmes expired. The external donors included Red Banner, an affiliate of Save the Children - Norway, which came in to assist in 1996.
The then European Economic Community (EEC) Micro Enterprises Project helped to put up the initial premises in Mengo and then the German and Japanese Governments also financed the establishment of some structures at the Naguru hill. But the programmes have now ended.
Wavamunno says although each normal pupil pays sh217,000 and those with learning difficulties additional sh120,000, they have failed to break even because the student population is only 120, below their estimated capacity of at least 200 pupils.
The Mosha family, which has already sponsored some children at the school, has come in as a partner to try to shore up the school’s financial woes.
Wavammuno said Matt Mosha, a human resource expert with Aikan Management Consultants, would pump in about sh40m and dedicate the school to the memory of their late father Prof. Matthias Mosha.
The late Mosha was a professor of education at Makerere University. He died on November 27, 1977 and his children led by Mat set up the fund in his memory.
Ends
SPEECH and language disability were the mother of Claire Wavamunno’s creation. Her daughter, Jacqueline Nakyanzi, now a graduate of hotel and institutional catering had a special learning need and there was no suitable school that could handle her problem.
With determination to see her child succeed, Wavamunno formed the Women’s Organisation for Special Education (WOSE). She curved out her living room into an informal school. Little did she know that the idea she initiated in 1988 would translate into the now famous Hill Preparatory School.
From five pupils, the school steadily gained enrolment and had to relocate from Mengo to its current home on Naguru hill. The enrolment stands at 120 today.
Wavamunno said the institution was the first integrated special school in Uganda. “Our mission is to provide a learning environment where children with learning disabilities are educated alongside their regular counterparts,†says Wavamunno.
The school came to the limelight in November last year when Simon Peter Mugoya, a dyslexic, successfully did his Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) by dictation. Dyslexia is a defect in which a person is unable to read and write properly, but remains bright.
The school last week held an open day, which also marked the official launch of the Prof. Mathias Mosha Memorial Scholarship Scheme.
The school has 29 specialised staff - both part-time and full-time.
The Uganda National Institute for Special Education (UNISE) also uses the school for its practical teacher training.
The classes are small, each with between 15-20 children. For every three pupils with ordinary learning abilities, the school takes one child with special learning needs.
While paying individualised attention to the learning difficulties, the school teaches the children alongside each other so that they learn to treat the difficulties as those that can be overcome.
It also provides a lot of opportunity for vocational studies such as agriculture, carpentry, and tailoring.
With funds from sympathizers and donors, the school expanded and also improved academically. Of the 13 pioneer PLE candidates in 1997, it had an impressive six in first grade. From then on it has never looked back.
Today, the students who passed through Hill Preparatory Schools are dotted across the famous schools including Mt. St. Mary’s Namagunga, Gayaza High, Makerere College, Nabisuna Girls’ School, Ntare School and Mary Hill High School.
However, the school has since 2002 run into financial difficulties when external donor assistance programmes expired. The external donors included Red Banner, an affiliate of Save the Children - Norway, which came in to assist in 1996.
The then European Economic Community (EEC) Micro Enterprises Project helped to put up the initial premises in Mengo and then the German and Japanese Governments also financed the establishment of some structures at the Naguru hill. But the programmes have now ended.
Wavamunno says although each normal pupil pays sh217,000 and those with learning difficulties additional sh120,000, they have failed to break even because the student population is only 120, below their estimated capacity of at least 200 pupils.
The Mosha family, which has already sponsored some children at the school, has come in as a partner to try to shore up the school’s financial woes.
Wavammuno said Matt Mosha, a human resource expert with Aikan Management Consultants, would pump in about sh40m and dedicate the school to the memory of their late father Prof. Matthias Mosha.
The late Mosha was a professor of education at Makerere University. He died on November 27, 1977 and his children led by Mat set up the fund in his memory.
Ends