Asadu Sserwanja is the co-founder of the Kyadondo Technical Institute, which provides young people with professional education leading to certification and a diploma. Sserwanja’s decision to establish a professional institute was inspired by his struggle to access higher education.
Raised by a mother who struggled to feed her family, Sserwanja found himself stuck after finishing high school.
“I did my Uganda Higher Education Certificate (UACE) in 2004 and spent a whole year at home because my mother (Mary Nalumansi) couldn’t raise my tuition fees,” Sserwanja says.
His mother had taken over responsibility for the family after the death of Sserwanja’s father during the 1981-1986 liberation war, leaving behind a young family.
Determined to give her son a higher education, Nalumansi applied for and was awarded a Kabaka Education Fund scholarship under the Buganda Kingdom.
The scholarship enabled him to obtain a degree in education at the University of Kampala, in 2006.
Grateful for the chance to return to school, Sserwanja excelled in the classroom so much that his grades won him another scholarship from Badru Kateregga, the owner of the university, to also pursue a degree in education.
Sserwanja started working with the university’s marketing department. Its role was to seek out students with good academic grades whose parents were unable to support them to access university education.
The job sent him traveling to different districts in Uganda where he came face to face with pupils and students who could not afford an education until the seventh or fourth year of the primary.
There were also students who wanted to take courses that the university he worked for did not offer. He contacted other institutes such as Royal Muteesa I University, Royal Buganda Institute of Business and Technology and Metropolitan International University.
Looking back, Sserwanja believed in helping pupils and students the same way he was helped as a scholarship recipient to continue his academic journey after sixth grade.
In 2013, he started Sas Education Consult with the aim of providing education to learners on a semi-scholarship basis. Together with two friends, they established the Kyadondo Technical Institute where learners could enroll in vocational certificate and diploma courses to learn skills that would give them a good start in life.
“We discovered that the world had changed and there was a growing need for technical jobs and practical skills at all levels. We started a professional institute focusing mainly on seventh and fourth primary school dropouts,” Sserwanja explains.
In 2016, Sserwanja and his colleagues undertook research and discovered that between 400,000 and 600,000 students take the Leaving Primary School (PLE) exams each year. Of these, between 250,000 and 300,000 enroll up to Senior Four, but only half or less pass the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exams.
“This means that in the fourth year, pupils who finish the seventh primary and join the first year, reduce by 25 to 30%. This could further mean that every four years, the number of children who drop out of school is between 100,000 and 200,000. If 300,000 students complete secondary 4, only 90,000 to 150,000 complete secondary 6” , Sserwanja observes.
And while institutes such as teacher training colleges, nursing schools and others, take in successful students, this is not a significant figure and as such the gap of those who do not find placement, remains high and one wonders where the others are going.
“Unfortunately, this age bracket is the most sensitive in terms of who will be productive for the country in the near future. If a country cannot move at least 80% of children from 7th to 4th and 6th year of primary school, there is still a big gap in the economy, that is one of the reasons why we started this institute, to bridge the gap,” says Sserwanja.
The institute takes care of needy students. “96% of our new arrivals are on scholarships. We survive thanks to the little money brought by the children to buy their school materials. We dream of reaching a level of connection with partners who will appreciate our philosophy of helping the many Ugandans who have no chance of furthering their education and adding value to their future. We envision adding value to children in need and that is the spirit of our presence here,” Sserwanja further explains.
Kyadondo Technical Institute is licensed by the Ministry of Education and Sports and registered with the National Council for Higher Education.
It offers training in hairdressing, fashion and design, plumbing, journalism, electricity, car mechanics, hotels and collective catering and IT.
Students are trained in carpentry at the institute.
“All Senior Four leavers who achieve at least three passes qualify to sit on the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB). Those who have less than three successes take the examinations of the Industrial Training Department (DIT).
The institute started with 450 students last year and had grown to 480 by the time schools were closed following the Covid-19 outbreak. When the government opened schools, only 150 students reported.
“When we called them back, the parents told us they had no money to bring the students back. Overall, Ugandans choose technical schools as a last resort and there is a huge perception that a student can only try technical education after failing elsewhere. Many parents still think that when a child gets a first year, he must go to secondary five and therefore go to university. Low enrollment in technical and vocational schools is attributed to negative parental perception,” notes Sserwanja. For him, vocational education is the answer to the contemporary challenges of the world.
He adds: “Currently, the government’s education policy focuses on technical training. The government aims that at least every child who completes any level of education is qualified in something. However, the government has not committed to help private actors in the field of education. It is our cry to the government to come to the aid of the private actors who have volunteered to teach Ugandans who cannot all enter government technical schools.
Sserwanja says the institute is struggling and has not yet reached an ideal level as students contribute enough to cover the basics to enable them to undertake the courses they apply for.
“We don’t have a standard pricing structure. We sit down with a parent and he tells us what he can afford. However, in principle, a private technical school would charge each student between 1.2m Shs and 1.5m Shs as a bare minimum per term, but due to the negative perception of parents, they cannot provide this amount, it is why we focus on what the parent is able to meet. If we put a standard rate, very many children will be completely locked up,” says Sserwanja.
On his wish list is the acquisition of land for the institute capable of graduating 3,000 students a year. For now, male students are drawn to auto mechanics, electrical and plumbing while females prefer fashion and catering.
In 2016, Sserwanja and his colleagues undertook research and discovered that between 400,000 and 600,000 students take the Leaving Primary School (PLE) exams each year. Of these, between 250,000 and 300,000 enroll up to Senior Four, but only half or less pass the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exams.
“This means that in the fourth year, pupils who finish the seventh primary and join the first year, reduce by 25 to 30%. This could further mean that every four years, the number of children who drop out of school is between 100,000 and 200,000. If 300,000 students complete secondary 4, only 90,000 to 150,000 complete secondary 6” , Sserwanja observes.
