With sh11.8b, Jinja SS will restore its glory
Sep 28, 2011
THE terrorism scare has not spared schools. The alert security guard carries out a thorough body search before letting in anyone in this densely populated school.
By Frederick Womakoyu
THE terrorism scare has not spared schools. The alert security guard carries out a thorough body search before letting in anyone in this densely populated school.
After carefully searching my bag and body, he records my details in the visitors’ book. As I walk in the compound of Jinja Secondary School, a neat lawn welcomes me. A storeyed building, which I later learn will be a classroom block, stands out in isolation. Most of the buildings are dilapidated. The school administration has tried to renovate some, but many remain dirty, have broken windows and doors.
Seated inside her spacious office, the headmistress, Dinah Hope Tuhumwire Nyago, talks passionately about plans to revive the former academic giant.
She says the school needs sh11.8b to be revamped.
“When I came to this school three years ago, it was in a state of disrepair. Children were studying in dilapidated structures,†Nyago says.
She adds that the toilets had filled up and a stench welcomed visitors to the school. Classrooms had leaking roofs and algae had grown on the ceilings.
The school’s performance declined to less than five first grades in Senior Four at national examinations out of over 200 candidates, Nyago says.
The good old days
This is a far cry from the good days when the school was an academic powerhouse. With a population of about 6,000 students in the 1980s, the school was the biggest in the region, attracting students from as far as Kenya, Tanzania and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo).
According to records, between 1960 and 1980, the school often had 80 students out of 90 in first grade in Senior Four. It was a school that attracted Indians, Africans and Europeans.
Lands minister Daudi Migereko, an old boy of the 1970s, says Jinja SS was built on excellent leadership principles.
“We had a school administration that concentrated on the performance. We had enough textbooks, well equipped laboratories and libraries,†he says.
Migereko, who grieves that all traditional schools have gone down the drain, adds that the administrators often supervised the teaching and the students.
He says the school environment was well maintained, buildings renovated and this attracted academic performers, as well as quality teachers.
“Jinja SS was like a five–star hotel,†Migereko explains.
He adds that they also had a strong parents’ association, which supported the projects of the school like construction of the library, supervision of their children and they often attended all school meetings.
Little wonder, the school groomed prominent Ugandans like the deputy governor of Bank of Uganda, Dr. Louis Kasekende, Migereko and legislator Zaake Kibedi.
The beginning
Jinja SS started in 1948 as a school for Indian children only. By then, it had small classes ranging between 10 to about 40 students per class.
“The performance was very good. They had everything, including a well-equipped library and laboratories,†explains the deputy headmaster in charge of administration, Sannon Mwesigwa.
In 1963, the school started admitting Africans. Jinja was an industrial town, so there was demand for good education for the children of the industrial workers.
By then, the school admitted only boys. But in 1969, the school added the A’level section, and also admitted girls only at A’level.
But as more people moved to Jinja, the enrollment increased to 6,000 students. Due to the small size of the school and structures, the school started double shift teaching.
Mwesigwa says each class had an average of over 500 students and performance was good. The pass rate at O’level stood at 70% and at A’level over 100 students went to university annually.
Trouble begins
Mwesigwa says in the 1990s, private schools opened shop. They had attractive buildings, well remunerated teachers and were performing well. These attracted students and teachers from Jinja SS. The school population reduced from 6,000 to less than 3,500 students. The school had over 134 teachers.
“By then, teachers used to earn sh80,000 as PTA. We reduced it to sh60,000,†he adds.
Teachers left for private schools that paid better. Jinja town also ceased to be an industrial hub and parents moved their children to other towns where they could get jobs.
In order to increase enrolment, the O’level section, which was initially for boys only, was converted into a mixed one, pushing enrollment to 2,000.
“With the increased numbers, the PTA pay for teachers also increased to sh120,000. The welfare of teachers and the students improved and eventually the quality of teaching also improved,†explains Mwesigwa.
By 2002, the academic performance had gone up and this further pushed the enrolment to over 3,500 students. The school managed to get at least 70 students in first grade at O’level and 30 joined university on government sponsorship.
However, between 2004 and 2005, the school was hit by hard times again, culminating into a strike in 2006. In this period, the school had two strikes, and several attempted strikes which were nipped in the bud. By 2006, the school had accumulated a debt of sh500m due to inadequate government funding.
Hope restored
The school has since been servicing the debt. The new administration been renovating the administration block, the toilets and classrooms.
“I am using all the fees I get on the school. I want to leave it a better place than I found it,†Nyago says.
The school got sh300m from the Government, which was used to build a new classroom block.
The performance has also improved from only seven students scoring division one in Senior Four
THE terrorism scare has not spared schools. The alert security guard carries out a thorough body search before letting in anyone in this densely populated school.
After carefully searching my bag and body, he records my details in the visitors’ book. As I walk in the compound of Jinja Secondary School, a neat lawn welcomes me. A storeyed building, which I later learn will be a classroom block, stands out in isolation. Most of the buildings are dilapidated. The school administration has tried to renovate some, but many remain dirty, have broken windows and doors.
Seated inside her spacious office, the headmistress, Dinah Hope Tuhumwire Nyago, talks passionately about plans to revive the former academic giant.
She says the school needs sh11.8b to be revamped.
“When I came to this school three years ago, it was in a state of disrepair. Children were studying in dilapidated structures,†Nyago says.
She adds that the toilets had filled up and a stench welcomed visitors to the school. Classrooms had leaking roofs and algae had grown on the ceilings.
The school’s performance declined to less than five first grades in Senior Four at national examinations out of over 200 candidates, Nyago says.
The good old days
This is a far cry from the good days when the school was an academic powerhouse. With a population of about 6,000 students in the 1980s, the school was the biggest in the region, attracting students from as far as Kenya, Tanzania and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo).
According to records, between 1960 and 1980, the school often had 80 students out of 90 in first grade in Senior Four. It was a school that attracted Indians, Africans and Europeans.
Lands minister Daudi Migereko, an old boy of the 1970s, says Jinja SS was built on excellent leadership principles.
“We had a school administration that concentrated on the performance. We had enough textbooks, well equipped laboratories and libraries,†he says.
Migereko, who grieves that all traditional schools have gone down the drain, adds that the administrators often supervised the teaching and the students.
He says the school environment was well maintained, buildings renovated and this attracted academic performers, as well as quality teachers.
“Jinja SS was like a five–star hotel,†Migereko explains.
He adds that they also had a strong parents’ association, which supported the projects of the school like construction of the library, supervision of their children and they often attended all school meetings.
Little wonder, the school groomed prominent Ugandans like the deputy governor of Bank of Uganda, Dr. Louis Kasekende, Migereko and legislator Zaake Kibedi.
The beginning
Jinja SS started in 1948 as a school for Indian children only. By then, it had small classes ranging between 10 to about 40 students per class.
“The performance was very good. They had everything, including a well-equipped library and laboratories,†explains the deputy headmaster in charge of administration, Sannon Mwesigwa.
In 1963, the school started admitting Africans. Jinja was an industrial town, so there was demand for good education for the children of the industrial workers.
By then, the school admitted only boys. But in 1969, the school added the A’level section, and also admitted girls only at A’level.
But as more people moved to Jinja, the enrollment increased to 6,000 students. Due to the small size of the school and structures, the school started double shift teaching.
Mwesigwa says each class had an average of over 500 students and performance was good. The pass rate at O’level stood at 70% and at A’level over 100 students went to university annually.
Trouble begins
Mwesigwa says in the 1990s, private schools opened shop. They had attractive buildings, well remunerated teachers and were performing well. These attracted students and teachers from Jinja SS. The school population reduced from 6,000 to less than 3,500 students. The school had over 134 teachers.
“By then, teachers used to earn sh80,000 as PTA. We reduced it to sh60,000,†he adds.
Teachers left for private schools that paid better. Jinja town also ceased to be an industrial hub and parents moved their children to other towns where they could get jobs.
In order to increase enrolment, the O’level section, which was initially for boys only, was converted into a mixed one, pushing enrollment to 2,000.
“With the increased numbers, the PTA pay for teachers also increased to sh120,000. The welfare of teachers and the students improved and eventually the quality of teaching also improved,†explains Mwesigwa.
By 2002, the academic performance had gone up and this further pushed the enrolment to over 3,500 students. The school managed to get at least 70 students in first grade at O’level and 30 joined university on government sponsorship.
However, between 2004 and 2005, the school was hit by hard times again, culminating into a strike in 2006. In this period, the school had two strikes, and several attempted strikes which were nipped in the bud. By 2006, the school had accumulated a debt of sh500m due to inadequate government funding.
Hope restored
The school has since been servicing the debt. The new administration been renovating the administration block, the toilets and classrooms.
“I am using all the fees I get on the school. I want to leave it a better place than I found it,†Nyago says.
The school got sh300m from the Government, which was used to build a new classroom block.
The performance has also improved from only seven students scoring division one in Senior Four