Martin Luther King said 'The function of Education, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character is the goal of true education is at the top of all our community development programs and we believe that both formal and informal education, can give you the knowledge, skills and confidence to build a better future. In Uganda many people are competing for a limited number of good jobs, and without a decent education it is very hard to get one or have the confidence to initiate your own business instead. According to the World Bank, Uganda has 83% youth employment - one of the highest rates in the world. Access to Education. Getting access to education in the first place can be a huge challenge. In 1997 the Ugandan government introduced universal primary education (the idea that all children should be able to attend primary school for free) and in 2007 universal secondary education. Unfortunately, the demand for free education outstrips the availability of places at the free government schools. It is not uncommon for classes to have well over one hundred students, with very little in the way of facilities, and demotivated, over-worked teachers heading them. This means that for most of the population, especially those who want a higher quality education, the only other option is private school. In Uganda, private schools vary enormously in fees and quality.
Paying school fees is beyond many families, especially where they have a lot of children. This means that many children are left sitting at home, waiting for their relatives to try to scrape together enough money to send them back to school. However, matters are made worse by the fact that at all schools there are many extra school requirements to pay for on top of fees. From brooms to school books and uniform and smart shoes, each child must turn up at the gates with everything asked of them, or else risk being sent back home.
It is a seemingly impossible task for many children and their families to fund an education, and a lot of children only manage to pay part of their fees. This is a common occurrence, and however hard a child has worked at school, if they can't pay their fees in full they are not given their school reports or exam certificates. Their whole year of learning is effectively made worthless. Consequently, many children end up changing schools every term, building up debts wherever they go as they simply can't afford to pay them.
Primary Education. Children in Primary school take four main subjects, English, Maths, Science and SST. SST stands for Social Studies, a subject that includes Geography, History and Religious Studies. There is also the option of taking Agriculture as a fifth subject, depending on whether the school provides this option or not. They are examined at the end of every term in each of these subjects. Grade boundaries for primary school:(These may vary accordingly) Distinction = 100 - 80 %
Credit = 79 - 50%
Pass = 49 - 30%
Fail = 29 - 0%
Secondary Education
Children in secondary school take a wide variety of subjects with English, Maths and Science (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) as the key subjects.
For each subject, a child is given grades based on their exam performance:
Division 1 = 100-81 %
Division 2 = 81-72 %
Class 3 = 72-68 %
Class 4 = 68-61 %
Class 5 = 61-53 %
Class 6 (Fail) = 53-0 %
The Ugandan Education System.
The Ugandan school year starts in February and finishes in December. The first term runs from February to April, the second term from May until early August, and the third term from September to December. The Ugandan Education system follows a fairly similar pattern to that in Britain. Children are in primary school for seven years (Primary 1 to Primary 7), and then continue through secondary school for the next six years (Senior 1 to Senior 6). The three most important school years for a child in Uganda are: Primary 7: All students must take leaving exams which will determine which secondary school they go to.
The Ugandan school system is very competitive. There are so many children who want an education, that schools all over the country are able to pick and choose the best students in order to improve their grade average and national standing. Testing is relentless for students, as every term they have to take exams as well as having ongoing assessments of their performance; based on their results they are given a grade and a position in their class. If the child is successful, they can move in to the next school year in the New Year. However, if their performance is poor they may have to repeat the school year again.
Classes in Uganda are not based on age because a lot of children drop out and re-enter school based on whether or not they can afford to pay the school fees. This means that the children might be in classes with students who are a lot older or a lot younger than them. Whilst this may seem strange, it is of no consequence, as the most important factor is that they all want to learn! If you were to ask children in Uganda if they would prefer to go to boarding school or day school, the answer would almost always come back as boarding school. In Ugandan boarding schools, children are provided with a much better education, as students get to receive extra classes in the evenings. It is hard to be a teacher in Uganda, as you are generally faced with such large class sizes and poor resources that it is incredibly difficult for you to give one-to-one attention to those students who need it most. When the day-school pupils go home after classes, the teachers are at last able to work on a more individual basis with the boarders.
Improving Educational Opportunities
Schools in Uganda face huge challenges due to their lack of facilities. This makes it far harder for the children to learn and for the teachers to teach to a reasonable standard. Imagine schools that are often only half built, without textbooks or any kind of teaching aids beyond a blackboard to help stimulate the children's minds. If a school does improve its facilities, it also has to raise its fees in order to cover the improvement costs.
This is why we are keen to find ways we can partner with local schools and institutions to increase access and opportunities to improve educational standards. This has so far included people volunteering their skills and running extra curricular activities in schools and our trees for integration programme planting fruit trees for the poorest children to access.
Vocational Training
Vocational training is a very important option, especially for children who are more practical based learners or keen to enter a specific trade. There are many courses on offer; popular options include tailoring, hairdressing, catering, carpentry or becoming a mechanic. Many vocational courses have entry limits on them as to what academic level you must have reached to join them so this can also be a limiting factor, along with the expense of the courses (which vary and all require some level of funding to participate). It is clearer to see the link between a vocational course and a job at the end, though often people struggle to get the money they need to start up a small business or buy the tools needed to join a workshop.
Further Education
Students who pass their secondary school A-levels may go on to university, where they can study for degrees, or to other institutions that award diplomas and certificates. The Ugandan government gives about 4,000 university scholarships each year, and sponsors thousands of other students in other tertiary institutions. But tens of thousands of students who do not get the competitive government scholarships depend on their relatives to pay their tuition and upkeep.
There are a growing number of universities and courses on offer in Uganda, but the cost of them prohibits many students from being able to consider going on to further education. There is a new student loan system available, but you need to come from a wealthy background to be able to access it, as you need guarantees for paying your loan back.
We at Youth Skilling Organization Uganda believe that education should be available to everyone in Uganda and we are using our community education programs to address this wherever we can. We express our pride and heartfelt gratitude to all our partners, volunteers who do everything with a loving spirit. We strongly invite all those who can support us with actions and kind words, with means and good ideas, and with social endeavor and/or experience to share to join us as we strive to continue to strengthen our work throughout the years to come.

"Historically, my fundraising efforts would at best be described as putting a few quid in a tin when walking down the high street of our local town. However, on three occasions in the last 5 years I have attempted to raise more significant sums of money for charities close to my heart.
To provide some much needed motivation I decided to try and raise some money to help the young people at the Youth Skilling Skilling Organization Uganda. The charity choice was not an accident: it was an organisation I have been associated with on a couple of occasions in the past and some good friends of mine have seen their work at first. I was keen to help a charity where I could see my money would not be used to simply fix an immediate problem but to provide long-term sustainable solutions to communities that can then go on and thrive by their own initiative.
I have been particularly taken by Youth Skilling Organization Uganda's Growing project, which provides support to young people in Uganda so they themselves can develop into successful entrepreneurs, responsible citizens who are in charge of their own future and help initiate, support and sustain a vibrant rural economy that will benefit many people for decades to come.
I wouldn't pretend it is easy to raise money and I don't necessarily enjoy asking people for money but Youth Skilling Organization Uganda's work makes the conversation much easier, as those you are asking for money from can see how their small donation can unlock huge long-term potential. Youth Skilling Organization Uganda received a substantial donation from our previous profit at Mukwaframe Limited, which I take great pride in playing a small part in their development programs.
Youth Skilling Organization Uganda is aiming to raise ￡2,000 for its Growing Futures appeal: enough to give 50 groups of young farmers high-quality seeds and agricultural training they need to change their lives not just one harvest but every harvest." I hope you will you join me in supporting Youth Skilling Organization Uganda! A gift of just ￡6 could provide a young couple with a training session, equipping them with the essential agricultural and business skills they need to make a profit not just once, but also years to come."
We are delighted that our community outreach program expanded to benefit 120 more young people. In addition to programmatic outputs, we also continued with our international volunteer placement program; This is aimed at improving and increasing YSOU'S human resource capacity to better serve the community.

The implementation year 2018/2019 marks yet another milestone for programs as we report the tremendous progress made in Educating young people and supporting community development project, care and support through investment in quite a number of charities but most importantly charities that really make a life times difference.
The first quarter of this implementation year under review marked the signing of the signing a partnership agreement with the World Youth Organization in The United Kingdom.
International Educational Aid programme signed Youth Skilling Organization Uganda as it's first programme partner. Lauren Duffy, International Relations Director at WYO said,
"Partnering with Youth Skilling Organization Uganda offers fantastic opportunities for the World Youth Organization and we are incredibly excited to start this journey with them. International Educational Aid will now officially get to work in delivering vital educational materials including books, pens and pencils to this wonderful organisation in Uganda".
"We hope our collaboration with World Youth Organization will raise much-needed, literacy through our education scheme which is skills oriented involving capacity building among young people, but also engage with new audiences, provide opportunities to inspire people to support the World Youth Organization in the long term, and helping them deliver lasting change. We want to build an on-going partnership with World Youth Organization which continues to deliver tangible benefits to communities across the world".
"This is a time we must join up and get connected. People living in poverty could do so much better if only someone gave them the tools, practicality, training, information and basic formal education". Serunyiigo Lameck, Communications and Advocacy Officer of YSOU said.
CEO from the World Youth Organization, Kieran Goodwin says, "This partnership is such an important step not only for the International Educational Aid program but an important step for Youth Skilling Organization Uganda. They rely on charity's like us to help them bring about change, improve education and young people's lives. I think it is important to note that, however much we love supporting our external partners, governments must recognise their responsibility. More funding must be pumped into failing education systems in remote locations within developing countries. Rural regions within Uganda and countries a like are suffering hard whereby children are just not getting the education they deserve, simply due to the lack of resources. Despite everything, of course - the World Youth Organization looks forward to working with Youth Skilling Organization Uganda."
To know more about the World Youth Organization and it's programs visit www.worldyo.org this where you can donate to support the youth all over the world, be sure that your donation will not solve an immediate problem but it will deliver lasting change into young people's lives now and years to come.