US professor teaching Mathematics in Gulu
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/30125-us-professor-teaching-mathematics-in-gulu.html
Publish Date: Nov 19, 2011
By Patience Aber and Alex Otto
IN 2009, when American Professor, Siong Ng offered to teach in Uganda, many thought it would be at a university. But the man with a doctorate from a US university, preferred to teach Mathematics at Gulu Public Primary School.
“I heard from the Ministry of Education and Sports that there was need for support in primary schools, so I offered to teach a P.7 class,’’ he says.
The professor is an experienced university lecturer and a chemical engineer with a background in teaching English, Science, Mathematics and Chinese Mandarin.
The headteacher of Gulu Public Primary School, Charles Odoki, says the first P.7 candidates who were taught by Prof Song sat in 2010 and for the first time in the history of the school, none of them got an F9.
‘‘Last year, students improved by 30%. We had no grade 3 and 4 since nobody failed maths,’’ Odoki says.
Siong said he unlocked the minds of the pupils by encouraging them that Mathematics is easy to pass.
Siong is an American of Chinese origin. He moved to the US in 1974, from China, and is currently pursuing a post-doctoral studies at the University of Arkansas in the US.
He lives in Gulu and rides a bicycle daily for 8km when going to lecture at Gulu PTC.
Early this year, he fractured his arm in a bicycle accident, but he has since recovered.
Siong also sponsors the needy students and has also secured a commercial baking oven to pioneer a baking class at the primary school.
