African school joins Oban High clan system

AN AFRICAN school has adopted Oban High’s clan system, thanks to a link forged on What’sApp.

Mazozo Community Day Secondary School in Malawi now shares Oban’s four clans, named Ossian, Fingal, Diarmid and Somerled, which will also compete in its inter-clan sport contests.

Now, if a Malawian schoolpupil in Somerled wins a race 5,000 miles away in ‘the warm heart of Africa’, it will help that clan triumph in wintry Argyll, and vice versa.

Two teachers from Oban High School, Iain Fulton and David Duncan, visited Mazozo during the October holidays to forge cultural links between the two schools, partnered by the Connecting Classrooms education programme funded by the British Council, which helps teachers compare and share approaches.

Mr Fulton first established a link with Mazozo when the two schools began working on collaborative projects. It quickly became clear to Mr Fulton that the school roll in Mazozo was dropping significantly as a result of pupils being off owing to hunger. Mr Fulton was keen to help and his class took part in a feeding project which enabled them to raise enough money to feed all 129 pupils who attend the school. Since then, the link between the schools has gone from strength to strength.

Mr Fulton said: ‘Oban High has school clans which the pupils are all members of, and Mazozo has decided to adopt the same ones for its school. Each clan earns points from sports activities and we have decided that the points from the clans in both schools will be added up collectively.

‘This is just one of the many ways that we are building curricular links between the two schools and I am confident that our partnership will grow in the years ahead.’

Teachers from Oban High and Cardinal Hume Catholic School in Gateshead visited their partner schools, Mazozo Secondary School in northern Malawi and the Chihame II CDSS in Nkhata Bay on the shores of Lake Malawi.

The Nyasa Times reported that, at a conference in at Mzuzu International Academy, Mr Fulton said it was difficult to find a Malawian partner school that could effectively communicate with them in the UK, but later discovered WhatsApp made communication easier with Mazozo.

Jailos Mhango, of Mazozo Secondary School, commended the Connecting Classrooms programme, saying a lot has happened in the 11 months of partnership. Oban High donated MK826,000 (£850) to buy maize for porridge after discovering that students absconded from classes because of hunger. They are currently working on a zero hunger project with the children and the partnership has resulted in community engagement where parents are now stakeholders in the school work.