Lucia Alinda is a Director of St. Lucia Secondary School located in Kabarole district. Following the introduction of the STiR Education programme in 2020 by the Secondary Commissioner from the Ministry of Education, Lucia was able to embrace the programme after the Covid-19 lockdown. This was followed by attending the district training which ignited her consciousness towards improving the learning and teaching practice among her teachers.
The content in Lucia’s first term focused on growth mindset, and Lucia learned a lot from her team members who decided to start implementing the new practices at school, changing the school ambiance into a positive one. She mentioned that strategies have entirely elevated her administration skills:
“Because of growth mindset change, I can no longer talk to my staff but with my staff. Now that I take feedback from my teachers seriously, this has changed the atmosphere of my staff room into a positive and enthusiastic team.”
Lucia has encouraged her staff to work as a solid team. Additionally, she has encouraged the teachers to carry out peer-to-peer classroom observations. Teachers at St. Lucia Secondary School have become motivated and noticed that they started enjoying their lessons by using the multiple strategies shared through the STiR programme.
The impact of STiR Education in St. Lucia has inspired Lucia to dedicate resources to creating more awareness and publicity for all district government officials, teachers, learners and parents about the programme using Radio Jubilee 105.6FM in her region. Lucia has therefore marketed STiR Education in the Rwenzori region, and has sponsored the STiR programme by paying Jubilee radio in Fort Portal City for a full year weekly every Sunday for 1 hour to air content on the implementation of teaching strategies. The programme also gives an opportunity to headteachers and teachers to call in and respond to their queries about the strategies and programme content. The radio facilitation is mostly led by District and School Education Leaders.
Lucia added that the STiR programme has not only changed the teachers’ and learners’ attitudes, but also those of the parents. This is evidenced by the fact that parents are also calling in during the radio session to understand but also seek clarity on the strategies. The main objective of the radio programme is to encourage all teachers (both in private and government schools) to embrace the STiR programme so that the region can offer quality teaching and learning.
“Thank you to STiR Education for the innovation and the much-needed support to Kabarole district officials, teachers and learners by transforming lives through quality education.”
– Lucia Alinde