Namirembe Hillside Turns Weak Students Into Stars

Mar 30, 2003

It started as a dream in 1995 and became a force to reckon with in education circles. Namirembe Hillside produced Andrew Nyombi, the third best Arts candidate in Wakiso district. He scored 4AAAA. <b>James Bakama</b> reports

In 1995 a school was started in the most awkward of settings. Namkirembe Hillside was born in a residential house on Mufunya road in Bakuli two kilometers from the city center.
The sitting room was the front office. The master bedroom served as a library while the other two sleeping rooms were a staffroom and headmaster’s office respectively.
The compound housed a wooden structure where the school’s two classrooms (S5 and S6) were.
Almost everyone who saw project hatch predicted failure. But two men knew better.
Hilary Kiiza and Robert Kyaligonza, who jointly started the school had a dream of a big successful project.
Eight years later there is all proof that their vision has crystallized. Namirembe Hillside is today an approximately sh1.6bn investment that is giving the traditional academic giants a scare.
Growth meant change of location to Gayaza Road in 1997. If space was a problem at the start, the school now has more than it needs on a 12-acre piece of land.
The school that until last year had only A level candidates, has grown from its initial population of 100 to 1,159 students.
Expansion of infrastructure at the site is in advanced stages. Prominent is a fast rising 120 square meter six-storey classroom block that will on completion further boost the school’s capacity.
Growth has not only been in quantity, but also quality. It has in classes of 200 students averaged an annual promotion of 80 entrants to Makerere University’s government sponsored scheme over the past three years. The same period has had the school sparkling on Kampala and Wakiso’s top five students list.
Andrew Nyombi,19, with 4AAAA, and a third position in Wakiso district’s arts list in the recent exams, is Namirembe Hillside’s latest star.
Such performances have made Namirembe Hillside a big attraction. The recent 615 S5 applications, from which only 50 had to be selected, for addition to the 300 already admitted says it all.
So, what makes the school tick? Kiiza says it is their ability to squeeze excellent performance from average students.
“The traditional giants take the cream, but we are still able to compete because of our teaching.”
Entrusted with this task is a force of 42 well-motivated graduate teachers.
Kiiza would rather be flogged than tell you how he motivates his staff. “That is top secret. It would be like giving our competitors a loaded gun.”
Kyaligonza and Kiiza, who are amongst the best divinity and literature teachers, know what it means leading by example. They are not only headmaster and deputy respectively, but also actively engage in teaching.
Teachers also regularly unleash the rod to ensure that students grasp what is taught. “If you decline, I reprimand you. And this is all amidst continuos assessment.” Reward for outstanding performance is another strategy.
The pioneer ‘O’ level class sat final exams last year getting 14 and 26 students in first and second grades respectively.
It is like you are listening to fiction when Kiiza tells you about the school’s rise from obscurity.
He recounts the hard days when classes had to be conducted in the ramshackled wooden shed. “If a storm came during an exam, we would postpone the paper.”
Things started changing in 1997. They bought three acres of land at their current Gayaza road site and laid the first brick of what Kizza describes as a Herculean task.
“I sold my eight cows. Kyaligonza did the same to 25 cows and a piece of land,” says Kiiza of the kind of investment they had to make.
Kizza, a Ugandan best seller of divinity text books, also diverted money from his sales to the school. “After putting up the initial two buildings, we were in a crisis without money to run the school.”
So, how have they managed to survive? Kiiza insists it’s all about sacrifice and good financial management. “We put parents’ money to proper use.”
A new student pays sh750,000 while a continuing one has to clear sh450,000. Quite expensive. But the figure quickly fades when you consider the dividends. Ends

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