Uganda went into Covid lockdown in March 2020 and all schools were closed then. As many of you know, school closure meant no income for schools like Eden and the majority of “private” schools (over 50% of Uganda’s schools) terminated all of their staff contracts; school staff were left with no income.

However, Eden staff, all of them, teaching and non-teaching, continued to receive all or most of their salaries thanks to the generosity of Eden’s supporters here, many of them the staff at Herts and Essex High School which has been partnered with Eden since 2001.

Exam classes (O and A level) returned to Eden in October. However, many of the students' families were unable to cover their exam fees due to the economic consequences of the pandemic. 

Throughout lockdown, government support for people in Uganda has been minimal or non existent therefore the parents of Eden students have had no income, hence the exam fees debt. In many schools those students would have been denied access to their exams but the Eden directors chose in favour of the students.

We would therefore like to raise funds to cover the cost of these fees (£1500). 

Moses Sizomu (one of the four Eden founders and Directors) writes:

“Classes commenced in October last year with a total of 130 students. Operating the school with only two year groups was such a challenge in managing the costs coupled with the SOPs (standard operating procedures for Covid) . We are grateful to all our friends in the UK who made it possible for us to meet costs on food and salaries. Third term for the exam candidates commenced in January as they prepared to start national exams in March. These were joined by the semi candidate classes, S3 and S5 in March. This raised our school population to 270 and brought in some additional income from school fees. By April all the S4 (Y11) candidates, 88 of them, had finished their national exams very successfully and left the school with a huge fees debt as many parents could not afford to pay the exam fees. We decided we could not deny the students access to their exams over fees, the fees debt is 8 million UG shillings. (approx. £1500)
By the end of April all the S6 (Y13) candidates had completed their A levels and left the school, to be replaced by S1 (Y8) students. In total 90 S1 students have joined Eden from their primary schools. We are receiving S2 students back tomorrow and S3 and S5 students will go home for 2 weeks, then report back for 1 month to study their third term which will end in mid July when all will break off for a 2 week holiday.
In August all classes report together to start a new academic year!
Throughout, students are required to wear masks and to wash hands at all entry points and classes. It has been a nightmare!”