Celebrating Another Great Performance 

The Arlington Academy of Hope (AAH) is in another celebratory mood after receiving the 2011 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results which were released last week:

Here are some highlights:

• Of the 49 students at AAH who sat for the 2011 PLEs, there were 34 students in first division (69.4%, compared to 54% last year) and the remaining 15 students were in second division. Consider that the national pass rate in first division was 9.6%, and the Bududa district pass rate in first division was 3.2%.
• Eleven students achieved 8 aggregates or better, and qualify for 100% AAH scholarships from the Wamundu Scholarship Fund to attend secondary school. The remaining 38 students will also receive AAH scholarships, subject to a small parental contribution. AAH will also give 12 scholarships to top performing boys and girls from 5 schools in Bududa and Manafwa districts as part of its outreach efforts.
• There were no students in third or fourth division. In fact the weakest performing AAH student got 19 aggregates, which is a strong second division performance.
• According to AAH's Program Director in Uganda, Mr. Leonard Wamakote, AAH was among the best performing schools in Uganda, outshining popular schools across the country. This is a big achievement, considering the hundreds of well-established schools in cities like Kampala that have access to all kinds of resources.
• English was the best done subject with 43 out of the 49 pupils (87.8%) obtaining a distinction and the worst performance being a Credit 3, while Mathematics was the weakest subject. Mr. Wamakote attributes the good performance in English to the Arlington Traditonal School-sponsored Reading Challenge Program which promotes a reading culture early enough among AAH pupils. School staff want to borrow from this and  introduce a Math challenge this year to try and better the Math performance. The Teacher Professional Development program is also giving a lot of emphasis to skills of teaching Math.

One of the challenges the results exposed was the weaker performance among girls. Of the top eleven students, only 1 was a girl. While AAH has devoted significant resources to eliminating the gap between boys and girls, we continue to see a gap when results come out. This is a national challenge, and AAH will continue to do all it can to narrow the gap. Other stakeholders in Uganda have come forward to offer their help in addressing the challenges of Math education and girl parity.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Headmaster, Thomas Kitandwe and all the teachers and staff of Arlington Academy of Hope for this tremendous output. In no less measure, we wish to thank the AAH Board and all our generous Child Sponsors, donors, partners, supporters and well-wishers for the unwavering support which has enabled us to achieve such great results in a difficult year where most rural schools across Uganda struggled. In a year where inflation topped 30%, with scarcity of basic commodities like sugar, and with strikes that paralyzed many Uganda schools, our students and staff showed dedication and determination as they went about their duties. AAH teachers showed up at school each day, and only one student dropped out of school during the entire year.  The AAH student retention rate of 99.7%, and 100% teacher attendance rate, are unique in Uganda, but a goal that other schools must strive to achieve in order to get better results.

On behalf of all US Donors and Volunteers, Congratulations to the successful P7 class!!