Teachers and students from UK and Ugandan schools held a sports festival in July to introduce the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms initiative to the rural area of Katine. The festival also put into practice the organisational skills that students had already learnt in the British Council’s Dreams + Teams programme.

All Saints Catholic High School, from Sheffield in England, was represented at the event along with several secondary schools in the Soroti district of Uganda. Katine Primary School and St Francis Secondary School for the Blind, also in the district, were there too as new participants in Connecting Classrooms.  This programme links schools in the UK with schools in Africa to help develop understanding between young people in different societies.  

The Sheffield school had partnered with Soroti Secondary in Dreams + Teams, developing leadership skills which came into play in organising the sports day. The students had only a few hours to prepare for the event.

They arranged various games and activities for the children who attended.

Project delivery coordinator Katasi Kironde says the festival benefited the community of Katine as well as the students. ‘Young people in the community came out in numbers, and the students who had been trained shared their skills with others. The community also got to see students from St Francis School for the Blind in a different light.

‘I think the community also saw another side to the British Council and realised that they can also give something to the UK,’ Kironde says.

She says the main aim was to put the skills learnt in the Dreams + Teams initiative into practice.

‘Soroti Secondary and All Saints have previously worked together on a sports and leadership programme, and used their training skills to help new participants on Connecting Classrooms to develop ways of working with their partner schools,’ says the British Council’s global website.

Kironde says it’s important to do away with the donor-recipient mentality.

‘Young African people ought to be hands-on. It’s important for them to understand that they also have a lot to offer UK students.

‘Students need to dispel the myth that Africa is on the receiving end. They also need to know that they are on an equal footing. We are sitting on a lot of wealth.’

Kironde praises African teachers for their commitment to teaching and instilling discipline in their students.

‘When UK teachers come here they are amazed at how disciplined our students are. They always ask us how we do it. This is one of the areas where Africans are rich.

‘Ugandan students have a lot of skills - we just need to make funding available to train more students so that they can do more in their communities.’

While students enjoyed the day’s festivities and interacted with UK students, some teachers attended a partnership plan meeting.

‘The festival demonstrated that British Council programmes actually work and are able to sustain themselves; it showed the best of our work,’ says Kironde.

In future the British Council will give students from the schools in Uganda the opportunity to visit the UK and see how things are done there.

For more information about the Katine festival, click here. If you would like more information about the British Council and projects that are currently running, please visit their global page. If you are interested in learning more about upcoming and past events, please visit the events calendar.