Funds for St Mary’s School, Kanungu

Why I started this campaign

In July 2017, I spent some time working with teachers a St. Mary's School, Kanungu. It is a remarkable school in a remote and challenging area of Uganda. With incredibly limited resources, but enormous passion and astounding dedication, the teachers of this small, but ambitious school are devoted to making a difference for their students. The school is part of several programmes to enhance the quality of their teaching and learning, but what is desperately and urgently needed is physical resources; building structures, an exam hall, text books, beds for residential students, fees for students who are unable to pay for themselves. There is no government support of any kind given to the school. The school depends entirely on the small school fees collections. The school has two aims; to promote education and fight illiteracy in society. That is why I began this campaign.

Background on the school

St. Mary's started in 2010 in southern ward Kanungu town council, Kanungu district (Uganda) and it is now in its 7th year. It was set up with the aim of providing holistic education to the needy children from this same community that, at that time, had no secondary school, a factor that used to force children to walk very long distance to acquire secondary education from the nearest neighbouring expensive schools. This led to the children from poor families having no option other than to stay home and miss out entirely on secondary education. Now students and their parents have got hope of having their children access secondary education near their homes and cheaply, though still there are some who can't afford it. St .Mary's college school is the only secondary school in southern ward of Kanungu town and without it many students would have remained at home uneducated.

Challenges

The school is a mixed day and boarding school and at the moment has 62 students enrolled. As a school, we are experiencing the following challenges:

* paying of teachers' salaries

* inadequate laboratory equipment

* lack of a separate library room

* inadequate text books

* lack of computers and computer lab

* lack of printing and photocopying machines for the processing of students examinations (teachers write exams on chalk boards at the moment)

* high rate of school drop outs due to mainly inability to pay school fees

* limited number of classrooms for students (senior two students lack a class room, so use a temporary construction)

* limited dormitories for both boys and girls in boarding section

* lack of examination hall for national examinations

* lack of transport means for transporting students during study tours

Costs and how your donations will be used

Funding a student for a term costs 230,000 Ugandan Shillings for boarding students. This is less than £50 UK.

Funding a day student would costs just 145,000 shilling per term, just £30.36.

That's 690,000 shillings or £145 a year for boarding students and 435,000 shillings or £91 a year for day scholars.

The school runs at a cost of 10,200,000 Ugandan Shillings per term - approximately, £2135.50.

To build a much needed classroom would cost sh.15,000,000 shillings, this is approximately £3140.

To build examination Hall for national examinations to completion would cost around 40,000,000 shillings, less than £8400.

Whether you are able to give a little, or a lot, your contributions can make a huge difference and everyone at St Mary's is optimistic and hopeful that their school's situation will improve drastically with your generous support to this needy and deserving school.