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Let’s Go! 2024 Uganda National Debate Competition
John Paul Secondary Students are invited to attend the 3rd Edition Uganda National Secondary Schools’ Debate, Poetry & Public Speech Championship 2024! We’re so excited for the JPSS Debate Team! They were named a semi-finalist at the District-level Competition which qualified them to attend the National Debate Competitions at Holy Cross Secondary School in Jinja. This is a very prestigious event and quite an honor for our students to be invited. Many of the other schools that were invited have a considerably larger enrollment and are in metropolitan cities throughout Uganda making the competition challenging. The National Competition began on August 25, 2024. JPSS was represented by 3 debaters, 1…
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John Paul Secondary School Board of Governors
We are very excited to announce the induction of the new Board of Governors for John Paul Secondary School! We welcome these twelve talented individuals who will actively help guide JPSS to enable its vision: to produce citizens to be the light of the world. Mr. Okuma John Francis, the Chairperson of the Board, holds a Masters Degree in Education Policy Planning and Management, and spent his career teaching and then as Headteacher, finally serving as the Director of Education for the Pallisa district. In fact, many of the individuals on the board have prior teaching experience, as well as school administration experience. Others bring a mix of financial and…
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Terrific Test Results!
UCE – Uganda Certificate of Education Taken by all S.4. students across the country Quoting our JPSS Director Fr. John, we are “over the moon” with excitement over our S4 students’ just-released 2023 UCE testing results! They once again ranked #1 in the Pallisa District and, based on their average scores, the school is now in the top 20% in the whole country in UCE results! Many thanks and congratulations to our wonderful teachers and staff for making this happen! The exams that these students take last for several days. Students take 10 subject exams, each of which is typically 2.5 hours. Each exam results in a score for…
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Local Community Impact
A core part of the Friends of John Paul School mission is that all development efforts for the school include a positive impact for the local Chelekura and broader Pallisa communities. We hope to accomplish this by utilizing local labor workers for construction and campus development, employing locals for non-teaching staff and where qualified, as teachers, assisting with local business development, purchasing locally as much as possible, and by the inclusion of the community in all water access and distribution projects. of the non teaching staff are locals of the food supplies for the entire campus are sourced locally Locals can now easily retrieve their daily water from a 4…
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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…
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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…
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Bridging the Gap . . . A Plan
How do you regain an entire year of learning lost to closed schools with no capability for long-distance or virtual learning? It’s a challenge! The Ugandan government has put in place a three-year educational plan that will ultimately get students back into a regular school schedule by 2024. This plan utilizes shorter terms, fewer holidays and use of normal exam time for intensified studies. The new education schedule looks like this: School Year First Term Second Term Third Term 2021:Terms of 12 Weeks August 9, 2021 to October 29, 2021 November 15, 2021 to February 4, 2022 February 22, 2022 to May 2, 2022 2022:Terms of 12 weeks May 16,…
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Francis Akol . . . Teacher. Mentor. Technology Guru.
In talking to Francis Akol, it is clear that he is passionate about computer technology and its importance to his students. “In the 21st century, computer technology is applicable in all aspects of society – education, business, health, etc. It is important that JPSS students, like other African students, become computer literate to meet the life-after-school challenges that preside in this era of computer technology dominance.” Francis intended to pursue a career in business, but just before he entered university, he held a job which made him “fall in love with computers.” He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from Busoga University – especially difficult as he did not…
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JPSS Update – Finally, Good News
Photo of JPSS Headmaster Bwayo Moses The COVID pandemic has had a tremendous impact on students and parents here in the USA . . . but for the students of Uganda, it has been devastating! The government’s extreme shutdown did keep the virus from spreading and the death rate has been kept low but has had catastrophic effects on schools and students. Ugandan students have missed an entire year of studies. They don’t have the option of virtual or distance learning. Most do not have computers or internet at home; many don’t even have electricity. Finally, some Good News! As of October 15th, the government has given permission for three…
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Covid-19 Update . . . never a greater need for your support
For all of us, Covid-19 has been difficult and disruptive . . . but for the school children of Uganda, it has become disastrous. In Uganda, which has minimal provision for health care, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to show increased cases as well as rising deaths. Thus, the government has taken rigorous steps . . . from closing all borders to governing transportation, to restricting travel between villages and regions to closing ALL schools. All schools have been closed since March with almost no opportunities for distance or online learning. An opening of ALL schools, planned for September 21, has now been delayed until October 15 and ONLY P7, S4,…
