Week of Official Visitors

This has been a very busy week in Timothy Centre and Kibaale with official visitors who had promised to come for some time now.  It happened they all showed up the same week!

We had a team of eight people from the Directorate for Ethics and Integrity visiting in Kibaale for 3 days. They had asked us for help in planning workshops to train CCTs (Coordinating Centre Tutors) in the integration of values in the primary school curriculum. The CCTs are government teacher trainers who work in the field, providing support and instruction for in-service teachers. 

Values integration has been a part of the government curriculum (on paper) but teachers have generally been ineffective in this area, partly due to lack of instruction in the teacher colleges. 

Peter, our director in Kibaale, has done volunteer work with the directorate for over a year now helping to train tutors in the primary teachers’ colleges and they have been very pleased with his insights and contributions.  What God has helped us to develop in terms of biblical values integration in Kibaale is what other schools, the government and teachers’ colleges are now asking for.  We are happy to share!  It is amazing the way God has opened doors for our Kibaale schools to influence many other schools through avenues like this.

Touring the school compound

We have also been in discussions with Uganda Christian University regarding our teacher training course at the Timothy Centre.  On Thursday the Dean of Education made a visit to the Timothy Centre and Kibaale—also to see how we have approached biblical values integration.  The university wants to take a more intentional approach in integrating the biblical worldview in all of its courses, and is interested in what we have done.  He talked with several of the Kibaale teachers and administrators, and gleaned practical ideas from them.  We were also able to share some of the workshop materials that we have used with our teachers over the past few years.  He was very receptive and appreciative, and encouraged us very much in what we are doing.  This is the beginning of a partnership and sharing of ideas with UCU Faculty of Education. 

 

 The dean meeting with some Kibaale staff members

It was a real encouragement to our Kibaale teachers to see their efforts acknowledged and appreciated by both the Directorate for Ethics and Integrity and the Dean of Education.  Many have worked with us for several years, knowing the call of God on their lives, working sacrificially in a remote area when they could have been working in more central, prestigious government schools. 

We are pleased that the dean is also planning to spend some time in January with us at the Timothy Centre to observe the first module of our Certificate in Christian Education course.