Yes, the sun will shine after the rain at Nyakasura
Aug 17, 2011
YEARS of struggle lie behind us.Ceaseless labour, little gain;Ever let those years remind us Sunshine follows after rain.â€
By Conan Businge
YEARS of struggle lie behind us.Ceaseless labour, little gain;Ever let those years remind us Sunshine follows after rain.â€
As its opening stanza goes, Nyakasura School stands proudly bold, hidden away from Fort Portal at the foot of Mountain Rwenzori; awaiting a resurrection prophesy of being the best school in the country, once again.
Hard days have paid this school a visit in the past years. But is it reason for them to give up? No! The school is confident that its pride, which is deeply rooted in its history and academic excellence, will cause the school o rise again?
Like their motto, “To minister and not to be ministered unto,†Nyakasura School, which was started in 1926 still has features and qualities you will not find in any school in western Uganda.
But a number of schools have overtaken Nyakasura over the years. Its structures, some still roofed with the condemned asbestos sheets are begging for immediate renovation. The school’s performance, enrolment and discipline, which years ago were sinking down the drain, are now sporadically improving. The school believes ‘there will be a sunrise, following the heavy downpour.’
Background
A British naval officer, Lt. Commander Ernest William Elborhard Callwell, founded Nyakasura School, after one of his students at King’s College Budo, Yosia Komwiswa, convinced him that he could take him to Toro and convince his King to give him land. Komwiswa took him to meet the Omukama (King) Daudi Kasagama, chiefs and the people of Toro Kingdom.
Having prematurely retired from the Navy due to poor health, Commander as he is popularly known and remembered, was advised by his doctors to spend his remaining days on earth in a warm country.
After spending some years in Kenya, Commander came to Uganda and settled at King’s College Budo as a teacher. Today, Commander Callwell lies in his grave, near one of the dormitories which was named after him.
Commander started a boy’s school with 38 students. It later became a mixed school. According to the current board of governors chairman, Prof Edward B. Rugumayo, the school was a paradise during the leadership of Commander.
It was the only school with tarmacked roads in the country and a swimming pool. Today, save for age that is eating through the school’s body, the junior and senior staff quarters, dormitories, class blocks and swimming pool; stand as a clear testimony that the school was one of the best the country has ever had.
Through Commander’s vision, Nyakasura became the only school in Uganda, and probably in Africa to have built a mini-hydroelectricity dam in 1940 on the stream running along the edge of the school compound. This great innovation was, however, decommissioned in 1958 when the colonial government outlawed the use of independent power sources, after the construction of Owen Falls Dam.
When I meet Prof. Rugumayo, the school’s board of governors chairman who is now in his mid-70s, I quickly ask: “King’s College Budo was a great school. Why did Commander Callwell go to the mountainous and cold villages of Kabarole to begin a school among the uneducated people?â€
He takes a pause, gazes at me, and politely answers: “Commander wanted to promote a combination of education and industrial art. Budo was all about excellence in education. It is one reason that Commander Callwell never used to take pride in people who excelled only in class work and failed in other fields.â€
The headmaster, Frank Manyindo, who is accompanying us on the school tour, adds that Commander believed in three things; “Fear of God, hard work, and playing games.†If one slackened in execution of his duties, he would be reminded of Commander’s phrase.
This probably explains the collection of trophies and awards in the headmaster’s office. Manyindo says the school produces all-round students.
Commander’s statue is stands tall and majestically near the administration block. According to a written speech by one of the old students, read at the 1951 Silver Jubilee celebrations, Commander told the natives in Toro: “Give me your boys and I will return them to you as chiefs and leaders.†Years later, he indeed made most of them chiefs and leaders.
When Commander died on October 12, 1947, his funeral service was held at the school chapel. Nyakasura School celebrates Founders’ day on July 24 every year.
Unique uniforms
If you claim you were at Nyakasura School for the first time, and you missed seeing boys wearing ‘skirts’, then you might have visited a wrong school.
You will always be struck by the unusual dress code where boys wear kilts. Also girls used to wear kilts but the old girls from the school say it had started breeding indecency and the administration switched to skirts. Nyakasura is the only school in Uganda where boys wear kilts, a unique skirt-like dress that was derived from the saffron kilts of the Irish Guards.
The O’ level students wear light-brown khaki kilts and short-sleeved white shirts. Both O and A ’level students wear red and white-striped belts and a tanned leather sporran (bag) hanging down the front of the kilts from the waist. Under the kilt, boys wear shorts that are actually part of the uniform. They have red and white leg warmers — loose stockings that are worn on top of the regular socks.
Nyakasura today has 744 students, and about 50 teachers and 45 non-teaching staff. But of these teachers, only 32 are on the payroll.
With the help of friends based in the United Kingdom, comprising mainly staff who taught there, Nyakasura School is now in advanced preparatory stages of reconstructing a mini-hydroelectricity dam.
Why the school declined
The schools’ decline is deeply traced from the wars like the liberation war against the Obote II Government and the Allied Democratic Forces war against the current Government.
Also, the Kicwamba incident, in which many students lost their lives in a rebel attack, gravely affected the school’s enrolment. Most parents withdrew their children from the school.
Through a series of administrations, Prof. Rugumayo says, the school was mismanaged. “This gravely affected the schools’ discipline and academic performance.â€
Much as the school is not in the country’s cream of best performing schools, it was at its best between 1964 and 1972.
But, it is not the end of the road for the school. It plans to get a new bus, renovate its buildings, equip the laboratories, while the UK friends also plan to boost the school’s infrastructure and strengthen the school’s old students association.
Raising the enrolment to about 900 students next year, is also one of the school’s targets. Prof. Rugumayo says the school is still working hard to maintain the Christian values, on which the school was founded, as a way of boosting the students’ discipline.
Will Nyakasura School ever be the best school in the country again? Like in the school’s anthem, they believe that years of struggle lie behind them, and that sunshine will follow after rain.
YEARS of struggle lie behind us.Ceaseless labour, little gain;Ever let those years remind us Sunshine follows after rain.â€
As its opening stanza goes, Nyakasura School stands proudly bold, hidden away from Fort Portal at the foot of Mountain Rwenzori; awaiting a resurrection prophesy of being the best school in the country, once again.
Hard days have paid this school a visit in the past years. But is it reason for them to give up? No! The school is confident that its pride, which is deeply rooted in its history and academic excellence, will cause the school o rise again?
Like their motto, “To minister and not to be ministered unto,†Nyakasura School, which was started in 1926 still has features and qualities you will not find in any school in western Uganda.
But a number of schools have overtaken Nyakasura over the years. Its structures, some still roofed with the condemned asbestos sheets are begging for immediate renovation. The school’s performance, enrolment and discipline, which years ago were sinking down the drain, are now sporadically improving. The school believes ‘there will be a sunrise, following the heavy downpour.’
Background
A British naval officer, Lt. Commander Ernest William Elborhard Callwell, founded Nyakasura School, after one of his students at King’s College Budo, Yosia Komwiswa, convinced him that he could take him to Toro and convince his King to give him land. Komwiswa took him to meet the Omukama (King) Daudi Kasagama, chiefs and the people of Toro Kingdom.
Having prematurely retired from the Navy due to poor health, Commander as he is popularly known and remembered, was advised by his doctors to spend his remaining days on earth in a warm country.
After spending some years in Kenya, Commander came to Uganda and settled at King’s College Budo as a teacher. Today, Commander Callwell lies in his grave, near one of the dormitories which was named after him.
Commander started a boy’s school with 38 students. It later became a mixed school. According to the current board of governors chairman, Prof Edward B. Rugumayo, the school was a paradise during the leadership of Commander.
It was the only school with tarmacked roads in the country and a swimming pool. Today, save for age that is eating through the school’s body, the junior and senior staff quarters, dormitories, class blocks and swimming pool; stand as a clear testimony that the school was one of the best the country has ever had.
Through Commander’s vision, Nyakasura became the only school in Uganda, and probably in Africa to have built a mini-hydroelectricity dam in 1940 on the stream running along the edge of the school compound. This great innovation was, however, decommissioned in 1958 when the colonial government outlawed the use of independent power sources, after the construction of Owen Falls Dam.
When I meet Prof. Rugumayo, the school’s board of governors chairman who is now in his mid-70s, I quickly ask: “King’s College Budo was a great school. Why did Commander Callwell go to the mountainous and cold villages of Kabarole to begin a school among the uneducated people?â€
He takes a pause, gazes at me, and politely answers: “Commander wanted to promote a combination of education and industrial art. Budo was all about excellence in education. It is one reason that Commander Callwell never used to take pride in people who excelled only in class work and failed in other fields.â€
The headmaster, Frank Manyindo, who is accompanying us on the school tour, adds that Commander believed in three things; “Fear of God, hard work, and playing games.†If one slackened in execution of his duties, he would be reminded of Commander’s phrase.
This probably explains the collection of trophies and awards in the headmaster’s office. Manyindo says the school produces all-round students.
Commander’s statue is stands tall and majestically near the administration block. According to a written speech by one of the old students, read at the 1951 Silver Jubilee celebrations, Commander told the natives in Toro: “Give me your boys and I will return them to you as chiefs and leaders.†Years later, he indeed made most of them chiefs and leaders.
When Commander died on October 12, 1947, his funeral service was held at the school chapel. Nyakasura School celebrates Founders’ day on July 24 every year.
Unique uniforms
If you claim you were at Nyakasura School for the first time, and you missed seeing boys wearing ‘skirts’, then you might have visited a wrong school.
You will always be struck by the unusual dress code where boys wear kilts. Also girls used to wear kilts but the old girls from the school say it had started breeding indecency and the administration switched to skirts. Nyakasura is the only school in Uganda where boys wear kilts, a unique skirt-like dress that was derived from the saffron kilts of the Irish Guards.
The O’ level students wear light-brown khaki kilts and short-sleeved white shirts. Both O and A ’level students wear red and white-striped belts and a tanned leather sporran (bag) hanging down the front of the kilts from the waist. Under the kilt, boys wear shorts that are actually part of the uniform. They have red and white leg warmers — loose stockings that are worn on top of the regular socks.
Nyakasura today has 744 students, and about 50 teachers and 45 non-teaching staff. But of these teachers, only 32 are on the payroll.
With the help of friends based in the United Kingdom, comprising mainly staff who taught there, Nyakasura School is now in advanced preparatory stages of reconstructing a mini-hydroelectricity dam.
Why the school declined
The schools’ decline is deeply traced from the wars like the liberation war against the Obote II Government and the Allied Democratic Forces war against the current Government.
Also, the Kicwamba incident, in which many students lost their lives in a rebel attack, gravely affected the school’s enrolment. Most parents withdrew their children from the school.
Through a series of administrations, Prof. Rugumayo says, the school was mismanaged. “This gravely affected the schools’ discipline and academic performance.â€
Much as the school is not in the country’s cream of best performing schools, it was at its best between 1964 and 1972.
But, it is not the end of the road for the school. It plans to get a new bus, renovate its buildings, equip the laboratories, while the UK friends also plan to boost the school’s infrastructure and strengthen the school’s old students association.
Raising the enrolment to about 900 students next year, is also one of the school’s targets. Prof. Rugumayo says the school is still working hard to maintain the Christian values, on which the school was founded, as a way of boosting the students’ discipline.
Will Nyakasura School ever be the best school in the country again? Like in the school’s anthem, they believe that years of struggle lie behind them, and that sunshine will follow after rain.