Recently, we had the privilege of speaking with Mayimunah, the secretary of the Brilliant Club at a primary school in Mukono, Uganda. This student-led club operates under the guidance of focal teachers who facilitate the “good schools” intervention as part of Children’s Rights and Violence Prevention Fund’s, (CRVPF) Prevention of Violence Against Children and Young People program (PVAC). The intervention’s primary goal is to cultivate safe school environments that are free from violence and allow a child to begin and complete their education. During our conversation, we delved into Mayimunah’s role in the club and explored the significant impact it has had on her school community.
“My name is Mayimunah, and I am 13 years old. I am in primary 6 and I am the secretary of Brilliant Club. As the secretary, my role is to take notes of everything we discuss and all the activities we do during our weekly meetings. Before the club was formed, there was a lot of bullying at school. Students bullied each other in different ways, but the most common kind of bullying was name-calling. Name calling was not limited to students; teachers would also call students by unkind names. There was also a lot of corporal punishment. When you did something wrong, or even when you didn’t, teachers would hit you in front of your classmates which was extremely embarrassing.
When Brilliant Club started, we held weekly sessions where we learnt about the various types of violence that occurred at school and even outside of school, such as when we walk home from school. We were taught not to participate in these types of violence like name-calling and the impact that this could have on someone, like making them unhappy and lowering their confidence. I also learned ways to avoid violence outside of school such as walking home with friends rather than alone.
At the start of each session, we were asked what we did differently the week after learning about something. For example, the week we learnt about bullying and were told a story about a student who was teased by his classmates, I realized that I occasionally made jokes about my friends that I thought were funny but were actually unkind. The following week, and even today, I try to say only nice things.
Violence in our school has reduced significantly through Brilliant Club, there is now a lot less name calling and bullying between students. Students speak up and tell someone to stop when they are being unpleasant to another student instead of ignoring it like before. When I see someone being mocked, I go over to them to see if they’re okay. Students feel comfortable talking to me because we are of the same age. When a student expresses concern such as being teased, I seek support from a focal teacher to address the issue.
There is also now less corporal punishment by the teachers. Instead of shouting or beating us like they did before, teachers speak to us kindly when we make a mistake. Also, if we arrive late for school, a teacher asks about the reason for our lateness and inquires if we are okay rather than immediately punishing us.”