TOPIC:
SERVICE LEARNING AS BULUNGIBWANSI: ALIGNING CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING TO BUGANDA’S INDIGENOUS WISDOM FOR PROMOTING THE COMMON GOOD
There exists a neat intersection between the way Service Learning (SL), Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and Bulungibwansi (BB) approach societal challenges, and the pursuit of integral social transformation. Whether one draws inspiration and motivation to do good from the age-old wisdom of Bulungibwansi among the people of Buganda Kingdom in central Uganda; or from the proactive doctrine of the Catholic Church championed in its social teaching; or from Service Learning, a novel pedagogy through which the Church advocates transformative education by rendering service to humanity; the ultimate goal of all the three approaches is but one, namely, the achievement of the common good of society and the advancement of the dignity of the human person. In this presentation, we attempt an explanation, with vivid illustrations, of the key tenets of each of these philosophies, before highlighting the inherent points of convergence in their shared pursuit of the common good of humanity and of all of creation.
We therefore underscore, in this presentation, the fact that educational efforts in this time and age, and at all levels, ought to focus on those critical experiences that are essential to the inculcation of the values of responsibility and responsiveness to societal challenges, engaged citizenship, solidarity, concern for others and care for creation, service to community, and cultivation of a civic culture among its learners. Such are, precisely, the shared values that underpin the philosophies of the three approaches we are seeking to explore in this presentation, whose validity in the educational process is, indeed, interdisciplinary in nature; for, the sole purpose of education – integral education, worth its name, both in its broadest and truest senses – is to continually improve the human condition and make the world a better place to live in. That is exactly what Service Learning is all about, as a pedagogy of education; and so is the Catholic Social Teaching as well as the Bulungibwansi socio-cultural programmes in Buganda Kingdom. The presentation is structured in such a way as to capture the different perspectives of the three approaches that shape educational experiences to impact societal transformation, across the different disciplines offered at the University of Kisubi.
The Service Learning Programme at University of Kisubi has initiated efforts to enter into formal collaboration and partnership with close to ten (10) educational institutions at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, to mentor and support them so as to adopt and integrate the Service Learning pedagogy in their educational programming, as well as jointly undertake impactful Service Learning programmes, projects and activities within the community.
Our partnership with Buganda Kingdom on the Bulungibwansi programme will be the most ambitious collaboration this year. At University of Kisubi, we have come to the realization that Service Learning is an exact version of Bulungibwansi, locally understood and practiced. With this assurance, we are certain that this age-old wisdom will render Service Learning easily understandable to the ordinary people of our society and, building on its popularity, it will be easy to scale it up to all the different layers of society.
