Byangwa, the brain behind nursery schools in Uganda
Apr 03, 2013
IT was in 1984 that Uganda started daycare centres, but few people know exactly how this trend started sweeping throughout the country. But credit should be given to Alice Byangwa, a retired teacher, much as she is still a tutor at Kibuli Primary Teachers’ Training College.
By Prossy Nandudu
IT was in 1984 that Uganda started daycare centres, but few people know exactly how this trend started sweeping throughout the country. But credit should be given to Alice Byangwa, a retired teacher, much as she is still a tutor at Kibuli Primary Teachers’ Training College.
The British-trained teacher in early childhood development opened the first day centre in Uganda in 1984.
Having started her teaching career at Kampala Parents Primary School, Byangwa’s desire for early childhood development, emanated from the continuous failure of interviews by toddlers.
The toddlers would always fail interviews to join Primary One. To her, this unearthed a need to prepare children, before they can join primary education.
“I requested to go for further studies from the then education officer at that time. He asked me to enrol for a diploma in upper primary at Makerere University but I preferred lower primary education which they told me was not being offered at the time,” she adds.
Byangwa insisted on studying a course in lower primary education specialising in early childhood education. But it was not anywhere in Uganda. She secured admission, through friends, to go and study in Britain. But as fate would have it, she could not afford the tuition.
Through her meagre earnings as a primary school teacher, Byangwa had acquired a sewing machine.
But this would also not be enough. As luck would have it, the Buganda government started a scholarship scheme from which she benefited. “I was lucky because my father was working for the kingdom so it became easy to get a scholarship,” Byangwa says.
She returned home after three years and conducted a survey and realised that there were no community based childhood development centres in the country.
“Mothers were carrying their babies to work. I felt that something had to be done,” she says.
This did not help solve matters since most of them continued failing entry examinations. Others would join primary school, and take long to understand what was being taught. It was at this point that Byangwa opened her own childhood development centre.
Byangwa believes that the greatest handicap in the economic productivity of women is burden of child birth and care.
Having started the centre, there was an advertisement in one of the local newspapers, in which Prof. Sentenza Kajubi (RIP) and Savio Wandera were calling for proposals to improve the education system.
“I presented my proposal explaining the need for a community child daycare centre.
Byangwa adds through Francis Babu, who was at the time the deputy education minister, the idea was approved and higher institutions of learning started taking on the training handling of children’s early childhood learning.
Currently, the course is being offered at YMCA, Kisugu, Primary Teachers’ Colleges, and vocational institutions which are affiliated to National Board of Nursery School Teachers, under the ministry of education and sports.
Byangwa’s Sanyu DayCare centre offers a proper training in all aspects of broad based early childhood education and care. Feb Ninsiima a pre-school teacher at a day care centre in Kalerwe is one of the teachers who received training in pre-nursery and nursery teaching under the supervision of Byangwa.
She says Byangwa makes sure children under her care are well attended to.