CCFU conducted a 3-day capacity building training for 45 teachers who have been serving as volunteer patrons for heritage clubs from across the country. The training took place from the 5th to 7th of June 2024 at the Eureka Place Hotel in Kampala.
The aim of the training was to equip teachers with skills to establish (where the clubs are non-existent) and run heritage clubs in their schools.
The heritage clubs are interventions of CCFU’s Heritage Education Programme whose goal is to enhance young people’s appreciation of their cultural heritage. This done through different heritage club activities such as visiting cultural sites, drawing and sharing family trees, cultural exhibitions and participating in annual national competitions, among other activities.
In her opening remarks, Prof. Elizabeth Kyazike, the Dean of Students in the Department of History at Kyambogo University noted that there are so many opportunities in the heritage sector that are potential employment for young people and it is important to start preparing young people to take them.
Prof. Kyazike also highlighted that in partnership with CCFU, Kyambogo University is now teaching a Bachelor of Cultural Heritage Studies programme to strengthen efforts of heritage promotion and safeguarding by young people.
The training focused on concepts such as culture, mapping cultural heritage resources in communities, managing cultural diversity in clubs, using the heritage education toolkit to deliver sessions to young people and the introduction of culture in the new lower secondary school curriculum. Participants visited the Uganda National Museum to get a practical interaction with cultural heritage.
Mr. Xavier Sunday Nuwagaba from Ntale School in Mbarara said that the introduction of a heritage club in the school will serve as a moral campus for the students
Ms. Kasifa Kisa, the Heritage Education Programme Lead noted that CCFU introduced the programme in secondary schools to bridge the gap and disconnect between young people and their heritage. She added that the introduction of heritage studies in the lower secondary curriculum promises sustainability.