General
H.E Hatem İdris, Saudi Ministry of Education Delegation Visits Mak
On Tuesday 26th November 2019, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe together with the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Dr. Umar Kakumba received a high level delegation from the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education led by Minister Plenipotentiary H.E Hatem İdris. The delegation was accompanied by H.E Mr. Bandar Al Faifi, The Chargé d'Affaires of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Uganda.
Prof. Nawangwe welcomed H.E Hatem İdris and his delegation to Makerere and thanked him for including the University on his Ugandan itinerary. He noted that the Uganda has had a long and fruitful relationship with Saudi Arabia dating back to precolonial times and thanked the Minister for support extended to Makerere University staff that pursue their graduate studies in the Royal Kingdom.
“Makerere as a premier University in Africa tries to develop strong links with as many cultures in the world as possible. We have got the Korea Corner and French Corner in the Main Library as well as the Campus France Antenna. We are also home to the Confucius Institute which promotes both Chinese language and culture” he added.
The Vice Chancellor therefore appealed to H.E. Hatem Idris to champion the establishment of a Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies at Makerere University. The Centre, he noted would promote not only the teaching of Arabic but also other aspects of cultural significance such as architecture, music and art.
In his remarks, Dr. Umar Kakumba reiterated the need to establish a Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies at Makerere University, noting that the former Ambassador H.E Dr. Jamal Rafah had also recognized the proposed centre as an avenue to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s relationship with Makerere University beyond support to Arabic language studies. He wished the delegation fruitful discussions with the Ministry of Education and Sports, noting that deliberations between the Governments of Uganda and Saudi Arabia would set the pace for collaborations with Makerere University.
The Coordinator of Arabic Language at Makerere University, Dr. Ssali Ebraheem thanked H.E. Hatem Idris and the Saudi Arabian Government for the support extended to teaching the language since the collaboration officially started in 2002.
“In particular, I would like to thank His Excellency for the USD 90,000 grant from King Abdalla Bin Abdul Aziiz International Centre for Arabic Language to enable students to study Arabic language for a period of three years. This has boosted teaching of the subject in the Department of European and Oriental Language and we have close to 70 students where we previously had only 20 to 25” added Dr. Ssali.
In his remarks H.E Mr. Bandar Al Faifi thanked H.E. Hatem Idris for including Makerere University on his itinerary, adding that the visit would put face to the long collaboration in scholarship between Saudi Arabia and Uganda. He added that Makerere is the most famous University in Africa and therefore gladly announced the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s renewal of the three year grant to enable students in the Department of European and Oriental to study the Arabic language.
The representative of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, Saudi Arabia in his remarks thanked the Vice Chancellor and Members of Management for sparing time to meet the delegation. He added that the visit would strengthen discussions on the Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies’s proposed establishment at Makerere University. The representative added that the delegation would use the same visit to discuss with the Ministry of Education and Sports the establishment of an independent National Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies.
Present at the discussions were the University Librarian-Dr. Helen Byamugisha, Dean of Students-Mr. Cyriaco Kabagambe, Director Research and Graduate Training-Prof. Mukadasi Buyinza, Director Internal Audit-Mr. Walter Yorac Nono and staff from the Department of European and Oriental Languages. The discussions were moderated Acting Manager, Communication and International Relations-Dr. Muhammad Kiggundu Musoke who also doubled as translator from Arabic to English and vice versa.
Article by Public Relations Office
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Mak Students Receive USD 90,000 from Saudi Arabia
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
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