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Thank you, Ntare School
Ntare School has risen from the ravages of Uganda’s turbulent past to reclaim its place among the country’s leading schools, with its 70th-anniversary celebrations showcasing remarkable discipline, restored infrastructure and a renewed sense of pride.
Stephen Kamuhanda. (Courtesy)
By: Admin ., Journalist @New Vision
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OPINION
By Stephen Kamuhanda
I had the honour of attending Ntare School’s platinum anniversary celebrations on Saturday, 25th July. I feel obliged to comment about what I saw. The big, colourful function, which was held at the new playground, was graced by the attendance of many dignitaries, parents, distinguished old boys (fondly called OBS, BATABANI) and the public of Mbarara City. Thank you, Ntare School, for staging such an impressive ceremony. The guest of honour was Her Excellency Maj. (Rtd) Jessica Alupo, who represented President Yoweri Museveni (OB).
Looking back thirty-six years ago now, when I reported at Ntare School as its headmaster, I did not know then what kind of school I was going to face. All I knew was that it was one of Uganda’s leading secondary schools. However, from my briefing at the ministry of education and sports and as a resident of the area, I was vaguely aware that the school had suffered gravely during Uganda’s recent troubled past.
Ntare, a highly successful school, was relatively new compared to the old missionary-founded schools like Namilyango College (1902), Gayaza High School (1905), King’s College, Budo (1906) and several others. Starting in January, 1956, as one of the first government-founded schools, Ntare quickly rose to prominence and caught up with the old schools to become one of the leading schools in Uganda and in East Africa.
So successful was Ntare that within three years of existence it was selected as one of the first four schools to start an ‘A’ Level (H.S.C, Cambridge Higher School Certificate) programme, our current UACE (Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education) in Uganda in 1960. The school’s initial Cambridge School Certificate results had exceeded normal expectations.
However, from 1971, when Ntare’s legendary founder Headmaster, an Irishman, William Crichton, retired and left Uganda after fifteen years of remarkable record of service, the country’s first independence Government led by Apollo Milton Obote had been toppled by the Ugandan Army led by an illiterate (British-appointed) Maj. General Idd Amin Dada. This was the boiling point of Uganda’s tragic post-independence history. Cracks had, however, become visible soon after independence in October 1962.
Amin’s eight years of misrule ushered in one of the most brutal regimes on the African continent. The Pearl of Africa, as Winston Churchill described Uganda, was thrown into instability and anarchy never seen since the country was created by British Colonialists at the turn of the twentieth century. During the internal wars of the 1970’s-1980’s to dislodge Amin and succeeding similar regimes, Ntare School was so badly affected that no part of its system was left functioning normally. It was no longer the proud school Crichton founded and left at the peak of its success in 1971. It was just a shadow of its former self.
Lucky are Ugandan youth who never witnessed what happened to our country from independence to 1986. We can never appreciate enough the struggle that has been waged by the National Resistance Movement led by President Yoweri Museveni and the people of Uganda to restore current peace and progress for the last forty years. It is this struggle that has restored Ntare School, among others, to what we are witnessing today.
The School we witnessed on Saturday simply fascinated me. It was a clear demonstration that Ntare had indeed fully recovered from the ravages of the wars of 1972, 1978-1979, and 1981-1986. The discipline I observed from our boys was very impressive. ‘O’ Level boys wore khaki shorts, white shirts with their school badges well tucked in, and stockings were pulled up. ‘A’ Level boys wore their grown trousers, white shirts with their smart school ties and beautiful blazers with Ntare badges. I pleasantly recalled that these ties, original school emblems, and blazers were no longer seen and had to be hunted for from old boys of Crichton years only thirty years ago.
So successful was Ntare that within three years of existence it was selected as one of the first four schools to start an ‘A’ Level (H.S.C, Cambridge Higher School Certificate) programme, our current UACE (Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education) in Uganda in 1960. The school’s initial Cambridge School Certificate results had exceeded normal expectations.
However, from 1971, when Ntare’s legendary founder Headmaster, an Irishman, William Crichton, retired and left Uganda after fifteen years of remarkable record of service, the country’s first independence Government led by Apollo Milton Obote had been toppled by the Ugandan Army led by an illiterate (British-appointed) Maj. General Idd Amin Dada. This was the boiling point of Uganda’s tragic post-independence history. Cracks had, however, become visible soon after independence in October 1962.
Amin’s eight years of misrule ushered in one of the most brutal regimes on the African continent. The Pearl of Africa, as Winston Churchill described Uganda, was thrown into instability and anarchy never seen since the country was created by British Colonialists at the turn of the twentieth century. During the internal wars of the 1970’s-1980’s to dislodge Amin and succeeding similar regimes, Ntare School was so badly affected that no part of its system was left functioning normally. It was no longer the proud school Crichton founded and left at the peak of its success in 1971. It was just a shadow of its former self.
Lucky are Ugandan youth who never witnessed what happened to our country from independence to 1986. We can never appreciate enough the struggle that has been waged by the National Resistance Movement led by President Yoweri Museveni and the people of Uganda to restore current peace and progress for the last forty years. It is this struggle that has restored Ntare School, among others, to what we are witnessing today.
The School we witnessed on Saturday simply fascinated me. It was a clear demonstration that Ntare had indeed fully recovered from the ravages of the wars of 1972, 1978-1979, and 1981-1986. The discipline I observed from our boys was very impressive. ‘O’ Level boys wore khaki shorts, white shirts with their school badges well tucked in, and stockings were pulled up. ‘A’ Level boys wore their grown trousers, white shirts with their smart school ties and beautiful blazers with Ntare badges. I pleasantly recalled that these ties, original school emblems, and blazers were no longer seen and had to be hunted for from old boys of Crichton years only thirty years ago.
The school presently, with an enrolment of well over 2,000 boys, sat quietly in their large tents. It was a good, strategic arrangement to separate the school so that students could properly face the public to be observed clearly.
For a school of this size to be well controlled for long speeches, one could not fail to realise that this was indeed an outstanding school. Such displays of discipline cannot be taken for granted at several Ugandan secondary schools. I also observed the new spacious playground (recall that the old one is at Kakyeka), the infrastructure with the new gate and the new “LION ROARING” fiercely. This indeed is Ntare, the school with a destiny as always. Thank you, Ntare School.
Thank you, Mr Salu Rwampororo, the Headmaster, your staff, the Board of Governors, the parents, our special old boys (BATABANI), the government and everybody concerned and involved in Ntare School’s welfare and progress.
NTARE SCHOOL BETTER YOUR BEST.
LET THE LION ROAR FOREVER!
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY
For a school of this size to be well controlled for long speeches, one could not fail to realise that this was indeed an outstanding school. Such displays of discipline cannot be taken for granted at several Ugandan secondary schools. I also observed the new spacious playground (recall that the old one is at Kakyeka), the infrastructure with the new gate and the new “LION ROARING” fiercely. This indeed is Ntare, the school with a destiny as always. Thank you, Ntare School.
Thank you, Mr Salu Rwampororo, the Headmaster, your staff, the Board of Governors, the parents, our special old boys (BATABANI), the government and everybody concerned and involved in Ntare School’s welfare and progress.
NTARE SCHOOL BETTER YOUR BEST.
LET THE LION ROAR FOREVER!
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY