"I believe if the computers were people they would give you a loud hand clap and so do we."
—Agnes Otto, CFA school graduate

Educational Capacity in a District

ICT clusters strengthen education in a district

A cluster of schools with strong ICT programs operating in a rural area strengthens the educational capacity of the whole district. Strong ICT programs:

• attract and keep good teachers in rural districts. Educators gain access to ICT training and educational resources to enhance their classes. They can stay in touch with colleagues and the larger educational community while living in an area where food and lodging cost less and traffic jams don't exist.
• increase the capacity of schools in rural districts. They run more efficiently with word processing and spreadsheet programs, save money producing their own exams and promotional materials, generate income from classes offered to villagers during school breaks, and multiply resources through collaboration with nearby schools.
• support advanced education for the students in rural districts. A computer lab and internet connection in a high school promotes integration of ICT into general education and enriches curriculum, increasing students' chances of passing national exams.** In college, ICT–savvy students have critical word-processing skills to produce quality papers and do on-line research, essential in institutions of higher education with very few, and often outdated books

**75% of the students in the Masaka CFA cluster are female. They were among the first students in Uganda to take national exams in computer training in 2005 and scored well.

"I write to share with you my joy of my first ever candidates for the National Exams in Computer studies ... In Kalungu, I had ten candidates of whom two passed with distinctions and the rest with good credits. In St. Aloysius S. S. Bwanda, I had 14 students of whom three passed with distinctions and the rest good credits..." Herbert Busiku 3/2004