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KIHIIHI SDA PRIMARY SCHOOL
P.O BOX 42, KIHIIHI ā KANUNGU
Website: https://kihiihi-sda-primary-school.business.site
E-mail: kihiihisdaprimary@gmail.com
Phone: 0782-503 985, 0706-111 093
WE ARE THE REAPERS
GUIDELINES FOR SCHOOL FAMILY INITIATIVE (SFI)
FOREWORD
Although Uganda was the first country to register a decline in HIV prevalence, the infection level among children and youth is on the rise and will be overwhelmingly high by 2025. Throughout Uganda, HIV continues to affect millions of children. Many have already become orphans or are caring for sick parents, grandparents, siblings or other relatives. Many more have had their school community life changed beyond recognition. Meanwhile other children are themselves infected with HIV and often have to cope with ill health combined with social stigma. In some cases, such children and youth experience the double trauma of coping with their own HIV status while also having lost their parents, brothers or sisters, therefore with no parental guidance and counseling and total lack of family.
Itās against this background that The Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports supported by the United States Government, has developed guidelines and would like to introduce āThe School Family Initiativeā, a trailed and tested intervention and an innovation by the Head Teacher Railway Children Primary School Nsambya. The initiative is meant to enhance Guidance and Counseling at school level with the aim of influencing positive behavioural change within the pupil body and development of good morals and values within the pupils whilst simultaneously developing their life skills. The initiative is also meant to result in improved pupilāteacher relationships and help identify pupilās individual strengths and weaknesses. The purpose of the intervention is to create and foster love among learner and create a supportive and caring environment where every learner is given a chance to achieve their full potential.
We trust that the schools will be a resource in building the learnersā self-esteem by providing psychological and emotional support while addressing HIV and AIDS issues.
BACKGROUND
Education of the youth is critical to the future of the nation, but in order for learners to be successful in school and later in life, there must be a sense of community and belonging, nurturing and support for them in both the school and home environment, and also the community at large.
The importance of family in life of a child cannot be overemphasized. Not only is it the initial place for contact for a child with planet earth, it also the first place of learning, guidance and counseling. The family continues to play these vital roles, in varying measures, throughout the life of a child.
Many parents in our community do not have and cannot give adequate time to their children to guide, counsel and/or help them acquire some of the important life skills that will enable them to survive or tame the environment.
Even some of the parents who are keen on being helpful to their children lack the appropriate skills for effective guidance and counseling.
WE ARE THE REAPERS
Some parents believe in āspare the rod and spoil the child,ā they think they can beat their children into submissiveness. This method is so excessively used in some cases, that many children have been subjected to violence and abuse with such consequent psychosocial effects which in some cases result in excessive passivity, aggressiveness or juvenile delinquency.
Further, inadequacy of guidance and counseling has had its toll on the character and future of our children with unwanted pregnancies, abortions, early marriages, higher rates of school dropout, drug abuse and uncontrollable behaviour.
Nearly every member of the family has been affected or infected with HIV/AIDS. The rampart pandemic and worrisome rate of infection remain a national, local and individual challenge to contend with. It is advisable that schools adopt a multiāsectoral multiāpronged approach to mitigate the spread of the scourge.
It is against this background that schools should take up the challenge and assist the role of parents and offer the type of guidance and counseling that would ordinarily be provided by the home. While school education is very important, it needs to be complemented by home/family education. For example, whereas to become a lawyer one needs to graduate from law school, to be a judge requires more than the knowledge of law. It requires character and integrity, ingredients that are a product of quality guidance and counseling that a child largely gets in the family during the formative years.
While our cultures, customs, languages and beliefs differ, we all have the same human needs. To stay alive on this planet, we need water, air, food and shelter. In addition to survival needs, we have other needs that contribute to our wellbeing and help us thrive. Some of these needs are; support, love, appreciation, understanding, honesty, autonomy, friendship, learning and fun. Children can best realize maturity and self-reliance when the worlds of home and school effectively play their complementary roles in providing guidance and counseling to a child.
We are living in an age of rapid changes, some of which have undermined the traditional socialization mechanisms at a family and community levels. These two used to collaboratively participate in a childās character formation. The present heroes and role models for a child are film stars, footballers and musicians. Some of these are frequently involved in scandals and reprehensible behaviour, much as acting, football and music are themselves respectable and gainful engagements that should be encouraged and promoted in schools. The breakdown of traditional interventions has deprived the young children of important sources of sustainable role models, moral redirection, information and a support system that is so essential to nurture them into disciplined and focused youth. This is all the more the reason why guidance and counseling should be strengthened in schools today.
Nowadays, many schools have a big enrolment per class, in some cases the classroom is overcrowded and the teacher is overwhelmed. It is therefore difficult for the teacher to carry out effective guidance and counseling in such circumstances. The relationship between the teacher and the children and among the pupils themselves is largely impersonal. There is little sense of bonding and belonging. These are the reasons to come up with an arrangement of a smaller and more manageable unit known as School Family to enable a teacher to provide more meaningful guidance and counseling to children. Thus the rationale of the School Family Initiative intervention.
WE ARE THE REAPERS
e) Task description: The teachers should clearly know what is expected of them and from them. This will help in assessing each teacherās competence as a mother/father figure for the children. f) Teachers should mutually agree on some common family activities, they should however be careful to leave adequate room to each family to attend to the unique challenges of its members. g) Creating awareness of importance of the initiative to the entire school community is a crucial prerequisite for the success of the program. h) Starting families: Children are divided into smaller units (families) in as many groups as the number of the teachers in the school excluding the head teacher who assumes the role of a grandparent. The number of children in a parentās family is determined by the enrolment in the school divided by the number of teachers in the school. i) Children should write down anonymously, what they like and what they donāt like about their home/family, the type of problems and challenges they face so as to give the parent teachers the issues which need to be handled first. j) A parent teacher should have a record book/inventory with adequate space for each member of the family in which to record their observations e.g behaviour change, significant occurrences in their lives, and findings from their action research. k) A family is made up of children from across the classes. This arrangement enhances guidance in the school as children from lower classes get help and better care from their big brothers/sisters in higher classes (Child-to-Child). The older children also assume the roles of their āfathers/mothersā, when the teachers are not present to enhance sustainability of the initiative. l) Family Committees: Committees are set up to handle/manage different affairs of the family. They should be formed once the children are familiar with the objectives and basic operations of the family. Participation by the children in these committees enhances their sense of belonging and responsibility to the family and contributes greatly to the sustainability of the initiative. m) Decide on a suitable venue: It can be closed or open space depending on circumstances or the nature of the session. n) Design and structure of the School Family Initiative program depend on the needs of the school children. o) Prepare and display the time line for the various activities of the family. p) Together discuss the expectations of the parent teacher and those of the children. q) Collectively make roles to regulate the conduct of affairs of the family. Use general consensus as much as possible to arrive at the rules. r) Agree on penalties and sanctions for breach of rules. You may also agree on rewards for excellence. s) To enhance its identity and presence a family may have an anthem, common prayer, a flag, and emblem or other paraphernalia as long as they are not a financial strain.
5. GUIDING PRINCIPLES i) In order for the School Family Initiative to be effective the teachers must be able to establish a good relationship with the pupils. Broadly, that requires teachers to be responsible and personable to pupils. More especially teachers should have a reasonably
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well developed communication skills. Ideally teachers should be good listeners and also able to empathize with children. ii) Teachers must have an open-door policy that provides for free interaction at all times in the formal venues in the school for example within the school compound, classroom, staffroom but not teachersā houses so that they encourage pupils to talk to them when they have problems and questions of sensitive nature. iii) Always remember the overriding aim of School Family Initiative is to provide additional care and share the joys, fears, worries, challenges and other needs of an individual and to give that personal touch to a child which may not be given by the home for one reason or another. In School Family Initiative, the child should never simply be part of the crowd. iv) In School Family Initiative, teachers should create an atmosphere that helps children to affirm belief in themselves, and their competences. Emphasis should be placed on establishing positive relationships between pupils in and out of the classroom, whilst creating a positive school environment that allows pupils to feel safe holistically. v) In order to build the confidence of children, teachers should make decisions for the benefit of the children, whereby mistakes are treated as learning experiences. This will go a long way to build trust between pupils and teachers. vi) It is extremely important for parent teachers to emphasize to the children the importance of building community, establish rapport, create a sense of belonging and support others to do their personal best. This will help in creating a positive school climate that makes pupils feel socially and emotionally safe and enhance the feeling of family. vii) Teachers should aim at behaviour change through information education and communication including psychological support and protection of childrenās rights. viii) The School Family Initiative provides an opportunity to enhance the fight against HIV/AIDS as it avails the parent teachers and members more time to promote awareness and means of prevention of the pandemic. HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and sex education should feature prominently in the school family program. It should include recent knowledge on HIV/AIDS and help to consolidate the messages from other initiatives like the Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy for Communication to Youth (PIASCY). ix) It is extremely important that children are effectively enlightened about their rights and responsibilities. Not only may this knowledge help them to be more assertive, it should also help them to know when an act is an entitlement or a privilege and help adjust their expectations accordingly. x) Situations and activities that give opportunity to build trust with the teachers and other pupils in the family should be created. xi) Teachers should construct a community in the school for themselves as well as for the pupils by creating an environment that allows significant learning and interaction. xii) Family life or family setting is not a rigid regime. Whereas it operates on some rules, norms and expectations, its affairs should be handled with reasonable flexibility, respect and due consideration. However, the parent teacher should not hesitate to be firm in situations that call for firmness. xiii) Children normally want you to see them for what they are and what they can do. Recognition of their challenges and celebration of their accomplishments shows that you care, it strengthens the bond of trust between you. To understand what needs are foremost and pressing at each stage of their lives, it is helpful to be aware of the
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them and their parents. It is advisable therefore to empower the parents too by holding a parenting work for them. xxiii) Not everyone who volunteers to become a parent teacher will be suited for the role. As the program rolls on such teachers will lose steam and may undermine the process with lack lustra performance. It is the challenge of the supervisor to devise ways to keep such teachers motivated. Effective parent teachers are always those who are keen to make contribution and ready to be change agents. xxiv) When the entire society of people learns to pay attention to their needs as well as the needs of others, we will be on our way to creating a world that has the potential to work for everyone. The School Family Initiative can sow such seeds.
6. EVALUATION a) An evaluation plan for the School Family Initiative needs to contain goals, objectives, activities and child outcomes. b) The evaluation of School Family Initiative depends on what you set out to achieve i.e. the initial program objectives. Secondly, evaluation of the program is a continual process with only variations of focus, scope and intensity at different stages as the initiative progresses. c) The parent teacher keeps an assessment/evaluation inventory. This will help to establish a database which will in turn help in planning future guidance and counseling programs and other family activities. d) You need to develop different scales and instruments to help you assess particular attributes and skills e.g. open-ended questions, interview or focus group discussions. e) Observation comes in handy with regard to children outcomes. Desirable behaviour change normally reflects the degree of empowerment a child has attained. f) The teachers and the children need to be involved/participate in evaluation by answering structured questions or any other method the evaluator deems appropriate. 7. SCHOOL FAMILIES Five families have been organized at school, each family headed by two teachers. These families have been assigned a color, a name and a flag each, to make them diverse. The colors have been extracted from the School Badge to conserve the magnificence of our badge. Families meet every Sunday at school to discuss family issues, provide guidance and counseling and learn family traditions. A classroom has been set aside for each family to converge in its members and share their views. This instills in learners the spirit of loving their school and the ultimate discipline needed to display the pure and lovable culture of the Seventh Day Adventist Education. These families add a substance to the quality of the services the school offers to our community. We hope that the tidings of the School Family Initiative and the activities done in these families will attract to the school more learners. The head teacher, as the grandfather for all family members, monitors the organization and activities done in every family one Sunday. The head teacher also advises the family leaders where necessary, to ensure that family activities meet the needs of the school and, ultimately, the needs of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
The families are:
FAMILY TāSHIRT FLAG
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AMOS
(Green)
ISAIAH
(Ocean Blue)
JEREMIAH
(Orange)
MICAH
(Yellow)
SAMUEL
(Red)
8. ENGAGEMENTS OF FAMILIES IN ACTIVITIES
We propose to engage our pupils in various activities. These activities will alternate timely for each family, meant to develop economic capacities of our pupils and the school, in turn. We have found the family meetings as an opportunity to teach some vocational skills to our learners. Engaging learners in family activities will also give us a way to introduce holistic education. We have in fact changed the termly report cards to ensure that what children do in these activities earns them marks. We shall be promoting learners from one class to another basing on how they perform in these activities. Families will be contending on the days assigned for each activity, to ensure active participation of all family members. We have assigned days for these activities as: Sunday ā School Family Initiative Monday ā Chapel/General Assembly Tuesday ā Music Wednesday ā Games and Sports/Quiz Thursday ā Handwork. (a) For handwork activities, we plan to train our learners in skills of making artifacts from clay, wood, banana fibers and other locally available materials. One family can do modeling and curving while another family does weaving or sewing.
