After being postponed 5 months by the Pandemic, students (and one of the teachers) of our sewing school “Stitches” are sitting Government examinations in Tailoring later this month.

The exams are over 2 days and an invigilator is sent from Kampala to oversee the event. Day 1 is the Theory paper - 2 and a half hours, Day 2 is the 6 hour practical exam during which students have to make a garment, details of which are not announced until the start of the exam!

“Stitches” has achieved fame for achieving 100% success in the practical examination since it commenced entering students for the Department of Industrial Training (DIT)’s examination. Few schools have achieved this - so no pressure on this years students then!!

As the theory paper is set in English and our students come from less educated backgrounds and struggle to cope with reading in their own language, let alone English, we do not achieve such success with this section of the exam. Nevertheless, students do receive a certificate for passing each paper and it means a great deal to those less academically qualified to receive success in something.

This year it is particularly challenging as the school had to be closed for 8 months during 2020 and thus parts of the syllabus have not been covered in such detail as usual. The Government is trying hard to return to the normal school year programme and therefore has foreshortened the usual timescale. However for non-examination levels the whole academic year has been scraped.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR STUDENTS AS THEY PREPARE FOR AND SIT THESE EXAMINATIONS.

Pray for guidance and ability to understand the questions and answer accurately, both for the Theory papers and the Practical and that they all produce work to the best of their ability.
We ask for special prayers for Christine, the schools assistant teacher who has bravely requested to sit these examinations alongside her students. She was taken on to our staff in the full knowledge that she had no paper qualifications at this level, but her teaching abilities and general knowledge of sewing were recognised and she has proved to be a great asset and complimentary to the practical talent of our head teacher John Bosco.

Finally we give thanks for the fact that through the generosity of our supporters we have been able to continue with this important area of vocational training to some of the more needy people in the Gulu area.
In these difficult times our finances are in a fragile state, if you can support us in this and other work, please do visit our donation page and give what ever you can.

TEAMS UK is proud of the fact that almost 100% of all funds received are spent in Uganda through our sister organisation, TEAMS Uganda.