Children advised on neighbourliness

Mr Lukwago, hands over certificates to pupils who successfully completed the 2011 Brights Hearts programme for primary schools. PHOTO BY Al-mahdi Ssenkabirwa

The Ministry of Education has given a green light to Joy For Humanity Uganda and their USA counterparts, Great Hearts Afire Foundation, who are non-profit nongovernmental organisations, to do training programmes in primary schools which reshape children’s attitude towards their neighbours.

The programme dubbed ‘Bright Hearts Programme,’ has been designed for primary schools and has been pioneered at Kyazanga Modern Primary School in Lwengo District.

The instructors of Bright Hearts programme are led by Mr Joseph Lukwago, a graduate of Information Communication Technology, Mr Richard Ssekitoleko, a graduate of Industrial Arts and Ms Goretti Nakaketo, a graduate with a bachelors degree in Education. Great Hearts Afire Foundation from Phoenix, Arizona in the USA, headed by Haydn Anthony, is the architect of the programme in Africa with its teachers acquiring training through the internet.

According to Ms Lukwago the programme which is well-received in the district will be rolled out to neighbouring schools in the near future. “The prime objective of this programme is to help prepare young children to live more valuable and successful lives and to contribute to a more peaceful world,” he said on October 27.

Since its commissioning in 2007, a total of 200 pupils have been graduated alongside their routine school curriculum at Kyazanga Modern Primary school. Locally, the Ministry of Education, is monitoring the progress of the programme that is still in its pioneer stage.

Education Minister, Jessica Alupo in a speech read on her behalf by the Senior Private Secretary for Literary Affairs in the Office of the Vice President, Mr Mathias Mulumba, said the crime rate among the youth in the country is increasing since the school curriculum has not co-opted moral ethics information which was a cornerstone for moulding youth in the past. The curriculum has been tagged for overhaul for some time now.

“The programme is timely and we hope that it will offer holistic education to children basing on the virtues of compassion, justice, freedom, peace, courage and growth,” she said.