Obogubu Home Learning Centre (HLC) was established in 2013 in Obogubu Village, Liwa Parish, Gimara Subcounty, Obongi District, following sensitisation by a LABE Programme Officer. Parents were guided on the process and requirements for setting up an HLC, including organising themselves into a VSLA group to finance the centre.
The HLC was founded by 15 parents, who also became the pioneer members of the VSLA. They elected Mr Idda Francis as the first, and still current, chairperson of the HLC management committee. The home of Mr Issa Abdul was selected as the site for the centre, and he also served as the first Parent Educator.
The centre began under a large tree in Mr Issa’s compound, where it operated for three years before the community put up a grass-thatched structure. Five years later, with support from LABE, they upgraded it to a semi-permanent iron-roofed building.
Obogubu HLC started with 13 children and has grown steadily. Before its establishment, preschool-aged children were not attending any classes. Children in the village often waited until they were nine or ten years old to start school because the nearest primary school is about eight kilometres away. Roads were overgrown and especially difficult to navigate after heavy rain, making the journey hazardous for children under eight. This explains why the parents readily embraced LABE’s proposal to establish a home learning centre, and their enthusiasm has continued. As of 2025, enrollment has reached 47 children.
In 2023, some refugees from the Palorinya settlement settled temporarily in the village to farm. During their two-year stay, their children attended early learning at Obogubu HLC, resulting in an increase in enrollment to a peak of 60 learners.
Although children from the centre can now transition to primary school at the age of seven, distance remains a barrier. As a result, the community started a Primary One class at the centre, allowing transitioned learners to continue schooling until they are old enough to manage the long walk. Through lobbying and advocacy, the community has engaged stakeholders in civil society to support the establishment of a primary school that would serve five villages: Obogubu, Dongo, Majanji, Ngungu, and Meringwa. All of these villages currently depend on Liwa Primary School, with some being located up to 12 kilometres away.
Their advocacy efforts have yielded some support from the Obongi District Education Department, which provided chalk, the lower primary curriculum, and textbooks for the P.1 class. Since this is the first year of running the primary section, one Parent Educator has been supporting both the preschool and P.1 class. However, the community is working to recruit an additional PE to allow proper separation of roles.
The HLC’s progress has been significantly driven by the VSLA group, which now has 48 members contributing UGX 500 weekly. Parents of P.1 learners also contribute UGX 1,000 per month towards the teacher’s salary, which is currently UGX 70,000.
Future Plans
If external support delays, the community plans to mobilise resources to begin laying bricks for two classroom blocks for P.1 and P.2 in 2026. They intend to collect modest school fees to support teacher salaries and work with neighbouring villages to ensure that young children can continue learning without walking long distances.
This ongoing transformation has been inspired by LABE’s support and the establishment of a learning centre that opened the community’s eyes to the power of education-driven empowerment.
As of this year, several pioneer learners of Obogubu HLC are now in Senior One and Senior Two. Notably, two out of the four learners currently in Senior One were Young Facilitators (YFs) who were promoted directly from Primary Six to Primary Seven after assessment confirmed they were ready to sit for national exams.