(Photo by iStock/stellalevi)
Uganda’s education system is rife with problems. Nearly 25 percent of youth ages 13 to 18 have dropped out of school, largely due to poverty and sexism. Poor and low-income families cannot afford school fees, and child marriage, teenage pregnancy, and sexual abuse at school are major barriers to girls’ education.
With more than 75 percent of Uganda’s 47 million residents under age 30, these data alarm government officials and business owners in need of an educated population to buoy the economy. In the rural enclave of Kasasa, members of the community determined to change education outcomes for their collective good. In January, they launched the Tat Sat Community Academy (TaSCA), a school for local youth that provides an affordable education dedicated to enriching their cultural knowledge to preserve and take pride in their shared heritage.
The academy consists of a school and the Institute of Indigenous Cultures and Performing Arts (ICPA), which serves as a cultural learning center for both students and the general Kasasa community. The school is for children ages 12 through 18 and has the capacity for 500 students, who pay as little as 50 cents per day for attendance. Depending on 2023 student enrollment, the academy plans to hire approximately two dozen teachers this year. Staff hires will be based on enrollment figures with the aim of keeping the teacher-student ratio better than national norms. By 2025, they anticipate 500 students. Devised according to national education standards, the student curriculum also emphasizes practical job skills, financial literacy, and cultural knowledge.
In 2019, Kasasa residents reached out to Ronald Kibirige about their idea for a project that would promote education, finance, and culture in their community. Kibirige, a Ugandan with connections to the Kasasa community through nonprofit work, is the cofounder of the Denver-based InteRoots Initiative. A self-described noncolonial philanthropic organization, InteRoots believes that local communities are best capable of solving their own challenges and determining their future.
ICPA will dedicate a significant portion of its programming to documenting and archiving cultural knowledge, especially forms of music and dance. “Indigenous traditions in Uganda, like in many other African communities, are known to have been transmitted through traditional music and dances in local communities,” explains Kibirige, who has a background in practicing and researching African music and dance. “Traditional culture has been the anchor of most communal activities in Africa.”
Community members have participated in all aspects of the project, including attending community meetings, creating the project’s vision, and establishing its nine-member community board. The board manages a savings and credit cooperative organization (SACCO), which provides student financial aid and financial education.
According to InteRoots cofounder and executive director M. Scott Frank, the philanthropy is TaSCA’s sole funder, giving more than $550,000 to date. The InteRoots funding has constructed the academy’s buildings, fully funded the creation of SACCO, and has seeded its investment portfolio. InteRoots has also funded the construction of a local mill for maize and the machinery required for its operation.
In addition to receiving a subsidized education, students have an opportunity to apply for grant money through the Graduate Enterprise Fund. Grants from this fund, paid for by school fees, will be awarded to students who present a promising plan for their future goals—such as continuing their education or starting a business—upon graduation.
“The most exciting thing about TaSCA and InteRoots is the fact that the partnership is working,” Frank observes, noting that the support of local agencies and government, as well as community accountability, has contributed to the partnership’s effectiveness.
The challenge, Frank adds, will be ensuring that the standards set by the community are upheld through phases of rapid growth. To this end, InteRoots plans to support the project for the first two years of operation, which will require them to continue to fundraise on behalf of the project.
TaSCA’s success will be the barometer for two other community-based education projects envisioned by InteRoots: one in Atlanta, Georgia, and the other on tribal lands in the Four Corners area of the US Southwest to serve tribal peoples from across North America.
Read more stories by Kristi Eaton.