Following a directive by the Government of Uganda, schools and colleges were authorised to re-open for candidate classes last month.

Primary Seven pupils are back at the primary, Senior 4 and 6 have returned to JJ Vocational Secondary School, and students in their final year of study are once again studying hard to catch up with the curriculum at JJ Excel College.

Educational Institutions have been given various Standard Operating Procedures to follow, including ensuring enough hand washing facilities, wearing masks and using temperature guns.  Institutions were inspected and certified to open by government officials.  Thankfully all three of JJ’s institutions were approved to re-open, and JJ Excel College excelled with a score of 92% in the assessment tool!

 Schools and college fees normally cover most of JJ’s payroll costs, and so when schools were closed in March, we were unable to continue to pay staff their normal salaries.  However we are thankful for generous supporters who have contributed towards “food support” for staff.  These donations, together with the monthly Changemakers support towards staff salaries provided through Hand in Hand, has enabled us to provide all our staff members with modest financial contributions towards the cost of food for their families since the schools were closed.

Now that the schools have re-opened funding from fees is again being received although this is significantly less than usual since only a minority of pupils and students have returned to school.  Thus the fees received are insufficient to cover the normal staff salaries.  However staff were greatly encouraged by the food support we have been able to provide, and have willingly resumed work at reduced pay, in order to ensure the children and young people are able to continue with their studies.  

Not all staff are back at work, especially at the primary school where only three of the teachers are involved in teaching Primary Seven pupils.  So we will continue to provide food support to those not yet back at work, as well as using donations to enhance the salaries covered by school fees, for the staff that are back at work.

In case you would like to contribute to the food support or to contribute on a regular basis through Hand in Hand’s Changemakers scheme, details of how to do this are provided on Hand in Hand’s website.  In the “Fund” section, choose “JJCT Nshumi” and specific allocations can be noted in the “Additional Comments” box.

Finally, in staff meetings in preparation for the re-opening of schools, members expressed heartfelt appreciation for the continued financial support that JJ was able to pass on to them.

Thus, on behalf of all of our staff members –

THANK YOU!

JJ Excel College staff with Peter from Hand in Hand in November 2019