A skilled student is one for the future

At only 15 years of age, Clifford Oyo, a Senior Three student, at the St Kizito High School can prepare a pond and rear fish. “We reared fish that we have eaten today in the school pond. We were allowed to prepare the pond from the very first stage. I am now capable of starting a fish farm when I leave school,” he said.

They would feed the fish twice a day; in the morning before going to class and in the evening after class. “For those who were dedicated to the fishing group, we have been given a chance to buy our own fish species and after harvesting sell it for our own benefit,” Oyo the chief of the fishing group said.

Gradually, secondary schools are starting to appreciate the benefits that vocational and technical skills come with. It has become common to find most of them introducing several hands-on training to their students and even though these are not examined, learners walk away with something they can use to supplement their education in future.

At St Kizito High School for instance, students grow vegetables, make briquettes, cookery and are introduced to fish farming. In fact recently, the students held a Fish Festival to celebrate smart farming.

At the festival, students harvested more than 500 mud fish, which they have been rearing in the school pond for more than six months, cleaned it, and fried it for their parents, teachers, guests and their fellow students free of charge.

In collaboration with the directorate of Ndejje University Agriculture department, the students were given the professional skills and best practices to rear the fish and were supervised by teachers.
“This is much better than just coming here and dancing or speaking words which students will forget the next day. Usually, I pass by the road and find people frying fish from which they earn a living. This is another skill we have acquired,” he asserts.

Unique standards
Furthermore, Diana Mbakire, a Senior Six student at the school, agrees that skilling is the way to go. “When I joined the school in Senior Five, I started learning fish farming and briquette making,” she says. This was a daily routine since it is part of the school timetable for students from Senior Three to Five. So, she specialised in briquette making which she was most interested in.

Mbakire believes that away from academics, students should have a skill because you never know when they will need it. “Our parents bring us to school to learn not just academics but also other skills, you just need to balance the two,” she says.
A tour around the school exposes you to a plot of land dedicated to these activities. The gardens where smart/urban farming consists of a fish pond, a garden where yams and green pepper are grown on one side of the pond.

On the other side of the pond is a vegetable garden with onions and tomatoes. Adjacent this one is a mushroom house built from plastic bottles and on top of it, more onions and strawberries are grown. Away from the garden is the store where briquettes are made and a solar drier on the next floor.

Moses Senfuma, the manager of the greening innovation who is also a former student of the school, says their hope is that students can acquire employable skills in future.
“I am pursuing a degree at Ndejje University but I do not ask my father for tuition. It comes from my work, but I got the skills here, while I was still in high school,” he explains.

Similar projects
In Mukono, New Horizon Secondary Vocational School, exposes students to vocational skills. In fact this term, not only have the candidate classes sat final exams but Senior Three students also sat competence level one certificate examinations. They worked on projects in automotive mechanical engineering, metal works, electrical installation, plumbing and carpentry. This is one of the schools where you will find students building houses as early as Senior Two, plumbing work, plan and install electricity, make school furniture, troubleshoot metal works problems for the school requirements, repair cars, play and compose music, make hair designs from the school salon, plan meals and look after fish, cattle and pigs. A portion of the school land has been earmarked for growing vegetables and other foodstuffs which students feed on.