General
Amb. ZhuQiang Pays Courtesy Call, Pledges Stronger Relations
The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the Republic of Uganda, H.E. Zheng ZhuQiang has today 19th January 2017 paid his first courtesy call on the Vice Chancellor Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentamu. Accompanied by the Director of the Confucius Institute (CI) at Makerere University, Prof. Oswald Ndoleriire, his co-Directors and Chinese Embassy Staff, Amb. Zheng ZhuQiang commended Makerere University for grooming a lot of famous statesmen and women who have gone on to shape world affairs.
Earlier on in the day, Amb. ZhuQiang had visited the Confucius Institute at Makerere University and commended the work done by the Director and his co-Directors in teaching Chinese language and culture in Uganda.
“The Confucius Institute at Makerere University has received full support from the Management and I hope that it grows from strength to strength,” remarked Amb. Zheng ZhuQiang.
On the national front, the Ambassador shared that the past 15 years have played witness to further growth of China-Uganda relations, with a lot of fruit especially in the education sector. “The Chinese Government has provided a lot of scholarships to the Ugandan Government and as a result, a lot of Ugandans are studying in China.”
Amb. Zheng ZhuQiang however applauded the Confucius Institute as “a new way of study,” further noting that “now China sends teachers and volunteers to Uganda which makes learning closer and more meaningful.”
In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentamu on behalf of the Management warmly welcomed the Ambassador on his maiden official visit to Makerere University. He shared a brief history of the University and the University’s core functions as; teaching and learning, research and innovations, and knowledge transfer partnerships.
“I am happy to note that the Chinese Government has played a crucial role in assisting Makerere University to achieve her core functions and the Confucius Institute (CI) as an example has done a great job,” remarked the Vice Chancellor.
Inaugurated on 19th December 2014, the Confucius Institute at Makerere University is the 443rd in the world and was initiated as part of collaboration between Makerere University and Xiangtan University under the “China-Uganda Africa Universities 20+20 Cooperation Project” framework. The framework was initialized in 2010 and sponsored by the Ministry of Education, China.
The Vice Chancellor once again thanked Amb. Zheng ZhuQiang for visiting Makerere University and hoped that as relations between Uganda and China continued to grow, the Confucius Institute (CI) at Makerere University would achieve the standards boasted of by similar institutions worldwide.
Article by Public Relations Office
By Agnes Namaganda
On July 22nd 2022, Makerere University–Child Health and Development Centre (Mak–CHDC) launched a draft manual for the National Parenting Standards. The Centre has been working together with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) with funding from UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund), to develop standards that are agreeable to all organisations in the country that are involved in parenting work. The draft manual was being presented to members of a consortium that brings together all these organisations together, called the Parenting Agenda Consortium.
“We produce many documents and they are shelved,” Irene Ayot Chono, who was speaking on behalf of UNICEF said. “We hope that this document will not be one of them,” she emphasized.
Dr. Godfrey Siu, the Principal Investigator from Mak-CHDC who presented the draft manual to participants, emphasized that if any organization is doing parenting work, there should be a minimum package that they should offer.
Draft Manual Content
The manual which will have several modules. These modules will be delivered face-to-face in 1.5 hour sessions. Some of these include; Module 6 which will focus on “understanding responsible masculinity and fatherhood” and on “understanding the concept of head of family.”The draft manual also proposed that Module 11 focuses on Parenting in the 21st Century. Some of the sessions in this module will include Children and Technology, Contemporary Influence on Children and Modernity, Culture and Morality.Module 9 will focus on Parenting for Adolescents and some of the suggested sessions within this module are Needs for Adolescents and The Art of Communicating with Adolescents. Module 5 will focus on Preventing Violent Parenting and Promoting Alternative Discipline Strategies while Module 10 will be about Parenting to Address the Mental Health for Children and Adults.
Participants’ suggestions
After the presentation, participants raised several suggestions for discussion and consideration. These included whether there should be a module on spirituality since Uganda is a strongly religious nation. There was also the concern of how children in remand homes should be parented. Another concern raised by a participant was as to whether teachers who make an undeniable contribution to parenting, should be taken through the parenting manual.
In her closing remarks, Ms. Juliana Naumo Akoryo, the Director of Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) said that the manual is for the parenting organisations to utilize and not for MGLSD.
Ms. Chono also adjured the team behind the manual to use picture illustrations in the manual that can be relatable by the Ugandan parents.
Contact: Agnes Namaganda – agnesvioletnamaganda@gmail.com
-
General2 weeks agoGovernment Sponsorship Admissions Lists 2022/2023
-
General2 weeks agoMak Private Sponsorship Undergraduate Admission Lists 2022/23
-
General2 weeks agoUganda’s policymakers implored to address forest loss, plastic & water pollution
-
General2 weeks agoMature Age Entry Scheme Admissions List 2022/2023
-
General2 weeks agoApplication for Mature Age Entry Admission 2023/2024