Back to: Academic and Professional Writing Unit 1
From the West Coast of the United States to the mountains of Switzerland, educators worldwide are partnering with iServe Volunteer Programs to change the education sector in East Africa. People who are passionate about education are coming together to work on programs that are making a lasting impact on young minds.
The Need for Better Education in East Africa
Most schools in countries like Uganda emphasize memorization. This makes students focus on regurgitating information during their exams. This learning method is widespread and doesn’t develop critical thinking skills, analytical thinking, or innovative creativity.
Private schools in East Africa are places where students have access to state-of-the-art facilities and engage in extracurricular activities that range from sports to robotics, computer science, and even creative writing. The trouble is that these programs are limited to people with access to a lot of money, which ultimately leaves a large percentage of the population behind.
More schools need to know how to provide better-quality educational programs to give students the holistic training they need. With this, societies that lack innovation and creativity have held back will develop quickly in the next few decades.
How iServe Volunteer Programs are Impacting Education
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The founder of iServe is Dr. Gillian Kabatereine; she has a PhD in curriculum development and has worked as an education consultant for organizations like UN Women, UNESCO, and NCDC. Her passion for education has led her and her team to work with volunteers and consultants worldwide to develop programs that can impact education in different parts of East Africa.
iServe works with volunteers by providing their accommodation and covering their major living expenses to support them in their 3-6 month programs. With this, volunteers have the opportunity to focus on educating and creating new systems that could alter the way that children receive training in certain areas. There’s a combination of curriculum design, program management, and teaching. This combination ensures that the volunteers’ efforts continue to be implemented even after their time with the school ends.
Why should educators become a part of iServe?
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Most volunteer programs are exploitative and do not leave a lasting impact on communities. The rise of voluntourism has led to a booming industry to extract as much money from hopeful volunteers as possible. iServe is the antithesis of that, and the team goes out of their way to support the volunteers to make their stays less expensive and more peaceful.
Most of all, the programs are designed to have a lasting impact on young minds and East African communities at large. If you are passionate about education and believe you can help schools in East Africa improve their methods of teaching for the better, then this program could be great for you. You can become a part of the education revolution sweeping the region and be a part of work that truly matters.
