Gayaza High School has organized the 3rd Annual School Farm Camp to be held from 2nd to 6th September, 2016 at the school under the theme “Skilling Youths in Sustainable Agri-business for Self-reliance. This camp will bring together 450 students and teachers from over 30 schools across Uganda and the participants will “live a life of an entrepreneurial farmer” following the value chain starting from the fields to table
This is in support of the Ministry of Education and Sports programme of reviewing the Lower Secondary Curriculum which outlines Entrepreneurship as a major component of students’ learning. At Gayaza High School we are piloting the integration of farming activities within the formal curriculum as a whole school approach towards Youth Entrepreneurship. We have already engaged with many other schools onto this approach to learning and our experiences though basic at the moment, are progressive and can be scaled up. During the camp the teachers in attendance are expected to develop lesson plans in their various subjects that integrate farming activities which will form the pilot teaching resources for our schools.
We thank the various stakeholders within the Agricultural sector who have continued to support the training for the participants at the past camps and for the funding provided. In the past we have found valuable contribution from Food and Agriculture Organization-Uganda (FAOUG), National Animal Genetic Resources Centre & Data Bank (NAGRC&DB), National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO), Makerere University Agriculture Research Institute-Kabanyolo (MUARIK), Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI), Stanbic Bank, Crown Beverages Limited, Palle Moeller Foundation, EPSILON, JESA Dairies and Uganda Health Marketing Group(UHMG) among others.
This year we are happy to have the main sponsor of the camp as AVSI in partnership with the Kingdom of the Netherlands with whom we have signed a memorandum of Understanding to develop the Gayaza High School Farm into a model school Dairy Farm. AVSI is set to build similar model farms one in each of the regions in Uganda within the Skilling Youth in Agribusiness (SKY) programme.
FAO will host a pre-camp conference for the teachers on Friday 2nd September 2016 with a focus on developing up to a 12 acre wood-lot in schools so as to reduce on the expenditure on firewood as well as securing the sustainability of our forests. These school forest reserves will enable us develop laboratories for teaching Geography with a practical approach in topics like; Forestry, Soil formation and conservation, Tourism, Desertification and Climate Change and this will enhance practical learning in our schools which will develop the mind of sustainable development among the Youth.
At the opening ceremony on Saturday 3rd Sept.2016 at 11:00a.m, the chief guest is expected to be the Deputy Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. He will tour the fields where the students will be training and then we converge at 12noon for the speeches. The Permanent secretary Ministry of Education will also be present and she will come in earlier at 10:00a.m to mulch her banana plant she planted last year.
The closing ceremony of this camp will be on 5th September, 2016 at 2:00p.m.Our guests will begin by touring the exhibition stands where the students from several schools will be showcasing their projects. This is organised as a pilot towards setting up a competitive Schools’ Agricultural Challenge as a means of interesting and retaining youths in Agribusiness. The chief guest is expected to be the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries. Then later on at 5:00p.m we shall invite all our guests to a bull roasting time where we shall be celebrating with a tone of music from a renowned singer – Bebe Cool.