Tutoring Camp for Girls

An opportunity to complete the last two years of high school isn’t really an opportunity if you can’t pass the qualifying exam! This is the challenge KUSP faced with its new Girls Scholarship Program. To make this KUSP opportunity a reality, we introduced a new program in 2020 that has resulted in quadrupling the pass scores for girls attending Kobulubulu’s secondary school. 

A little history:

Our first year, we were so pleased at how many girls signed up to apply for our scholarship as they finished their 10th grade (S-4) at Kobulubulu Secondary School. They wrote their essays, submitted teachers’ recommendations, and studied for the national qualifying exam. But none of the girls passed with scores high enough to be admitted to a quality boarding school! We were so disappointed, and of course so were the girls and their families. While we were able to persuade a good school to admit two of the girls, on condition we would fund remedial support, we didn’t want to repeat this outcome.  

Tutoring Camp was launched

In late 2020 we launched a pilot “Tutoring Camp,” similar to SAT training, except geared towards the exam qualifying for entrance to schools providing the last two years of high school (upper secondary).

We asked our Education Consultant, Susan Kituyi Rose, a very experienced secondary school teacher from a nearby District, to design a program for the 12 scholarship applicants with the following goals: 

• Intensive all-day small-group tutoring of girls competing for the KOB-SS Girls Scholarship in tested academic areas

•  Provide girls a venue to practice sample tests in a non-pressured environment

•  Encourage and teach girls study strategies to use on their own to prepare for the national exams

The results were amazing! 

Nine girls passed and we awarded 4 scholarships. One of these girls, Irene, had taken the exam the previous year and failed. We were all so proud of her perseverance in repeating her final year, and attending Tutoring Camp. She passed with such high scores, she deservedly received one of the two-year scholarships! 

In order to expand this program, we have now received a small grant from AWIU which we have begun implementing with 20 girls attending after having been out of school for most of the past 18 months. Stay tuned for updates on this exciting strategy to raise the threshold for girls wanting to pursue their educational goals.