-
Teacher Degree Policy
Teachers facing government mandated degrees… The extended shutdown of the education system in Uganda for Covid-19 was devastating for students and teachers alike. Many students were forced to find jobs to help with family finances and never returned to the schoolroom, many others got married and were forbidden to return to the classroom. Those that did were automatically promoted to the next grade regardless of how well they performed, how much they learned, or how many days they were in school. They are hopelessly far behind. Teachers experienced a lot of the same issues. They had to find a way to feed their families and with no income, they were…
-
Inflation Hits Uganda
Just as we are feeling the effects of inflation here in the USA, people in Uganda are struggling with similar challenges… Ugandan schools reopened in February this year after a 22-month hiatus, the longest shutdown of schools anywhere. The inflation rate had just spiked 1/2 point to 3.2%. But the ever-upward rise in energy prices is driving inflation to alarming levels. Today the rate of inflation in Uganda is 6.8% and is expected to increase again in July. In addition, the price of all goods and services has risen dramatically. Food prices have nearly doubled in just four months (100 kgs of flour were $41.60 – now $70.00, a ream…
-
Multi-Purpose Building & Kitchen Update
Construction Is moving along at a good pace and it’s very exciting to see the progress that is being made. Be sure to read the following update and view the photos…… Despite the many challenges facing the school over the next few years, we continue to develop and grow the campus. We broke ground two months ago for our most ambitious project yet. . . a massive Multi-Purpose Building and a large, modern kitchen. When completed (scheduled for late 2022) it will accommodate 500 students at a time for lunches and dinners. It will also have a raised stage for performances with room to seat 750 guests and will be…
-
Join us at the 2022 Annual FOJPS Wine Tasting
Once again, we will be holding our annual Charity Wine Tasting at the chic Silver Spoon Ristorante in Rochester, Michigan. For your enjoyment, five premier wines will be paired with a like number of gourmet tastings. Register for individual tickets or purchase a table and invite your friends. We have a limited number of tickets that we expect to sell out quickly. Please join us on Thursday, October 6th!
-
5K 2022 Video Summary and Wrap-up
Thank you to all of the wonderful participants, donors and supporters of our second annual Virtual 5K to support John Paul Secondary School in Uganda. Please watch our wrap-up video below (and keep an eye out for folks you know) to enjoy this fun event!
-
2022 FOJPS 5K Results and Winners
Thank you so much to everyone who participated in or donated to our second annual virtual 5K – benefiting the students and teachers at John Paul Secondary School in Uganda! The 5K week was a huge success: we had 185 participants from all around the world, we received tons of great photos of people walking, running, rolling for the kids and we earned over $22,250 which will go toward construction of a much needed multi-purpose building and kitchen. And congratulations to all of our photo winners!
-
Technology: A Path for All
In today’s world, the role of computer experience cannot be overstated. This is especially true in countries where only a select portion of the population has this experience, as it can be the deciding factor between success and stagnation. Uganda is one such country. Many of the students at John Paul Secondary School will not have operated a computer before doing so in class – compare this with the widespread use of technology in the United States, where children as young as one or two years old have their own tablets. That does not make Ugandan students’ knowledge of computers less important, though: if a Ugandan student in secondary school…
-
Visitation Day March 2022
Welcome to Visitation Day at John Paul Secondary School! What a joyful day for the students…. this is the day they get to celebrate with a visit from their parents. Parents who are able, come from far and wide to participate in this important day, conducted once per each of the 3 terms in the school year. Visitation day serves multiple purposes. First, it offers the opportunity for the teachers to interact with the parents to evaluate student academic performance and discuss behavior and student acclimation to school. As you can image, that’s especially important this year after an almost 2-year hiatus. Secondly, Visitation Day allows the parents an opportunity…
-
Virtual 5K Year 2 – Let’s Go!
Please join us for our second annual Friends of John Paul School Virtual 5K to support the kids in Uganda at John Paul Secondary School. Again this year, our students and teachers in Uganda will be joining us for the Virtual 5K! Virtual means that you commit to walking, running, cycling, etc. for 3.1 miles some time during the week of June 4th through June 10th. You can pick your path, timing and people you want to do it with. Our phenomenal sponsor, Kim Dwyer of Thrivent, is donating custom race t-shirts for each participant so everything raised goes directly to support our students’ education. Prices are just $25 per…
-
Welcome the Students Back to JPSS
The Dream Continues…. After a very long 22 months of no education in Uganda, the students at John Paul Secondary School were finally able to return to the classroom on January 10, 2022! And, we are thrilled to report that the students returned in record numbers . . . over 600 of them! The most critical factor in a quality education is qualified, caring teachers who mentor as well as instruct. Throughout the pandemic, we continued to pay our valued teachers. We will continue this practice and increase their ranks to 41 teachers to narrow the student-teacher ratio in order to bridge the gap in their academic studies. The Faculty…
