Success for the Pupil’s Club at Paminyai Primary School!
November 6, 2015
African Revival, as part of a community empowerment project, started working with Paminyai Primary School in 2012, implementing amongst other projects the School Demonstration Garden. In June 2014, the project was taken over for six months by LEARN, before finishing in December 2014. The School Demonstration Garden at Paminyai was very well received by the students and parents and demonstrated some very positive outcomes. Find out more about the farming success of the Pupil’s club below!
In May 2014, the pupils’ club at Paminyai Primary school planted onions in a 10m by 10m plot and tomatoes in a 20m by 30m plot. The members had acquired the seeds with a 100,000 Uganda Shillings grant from us and they borrowed an additional 20,000 Ugandan Shillings from a village savings and loans scheme started by the parents. They used this money to buy pesticides to safeguard their crops. In October 2014, the pupils’ investment paid off when they harvested 94kg of onions and 767kg of tomatoes, which they sold at 2,500 Ugandan Shillings and 2,000 Ugandan Shillings per kg respectively. From a humble investment of 120,000 Ugandan Shillings the pupils earned 1.7 million Ugandan Shillings after 5 months of hard work! They split 50% of their earnings among themselves, placed 30% in their club savings account and gave the remaining 20% to compensate the school for contributing the land.
After the profits were in, African Revival staff conducted mentorship sessions with the parents of the club members, together with the focal teacher, and agreed on what each pupil wanted to spend the money on and how much to save. Most of the pupils spent the money on scholastic materials and exams/school fees .The pupils were very happy with their share of the profits and promised to work harder in the following year. And they have kept their word. This year, 2015, the club has planted more tomatoes and other classes have also joined – the Pupil’s Entrepreneurship Club is now leading the entire school in tomatoes production!
