Biryomumaisho gives prisoners new lease of life

May 08, 2013

HE had been sentenced to death by hanging, having been found guilty of murder, and thus awaited the hangman every other day. But, Pascas Munana’s life took an unexpected turn one day.


By Petride Mudoola

HE had been sentenced to death by hanging, having been found guilty of murder, and thus awaited the hangman every other day. But, Pascas Munana’s life took an unexpected turn one day.

Munana’s death penalty was overturned after he spent eight years in the Condemned Section, and he would spend the rest of his life in jail instead. The judge changed the penalty because Munana had acquired skills while schooling in prison.

Appearing at the Court of Appeal, Munana had presented his academic transcripts and appealed to the judge to consider them as mitigating factors to commute the death sentence.

In 2007, Munana sat the Uganda Certificate of Education examinations and scored Aggregate 30. In 2012, he sat the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education examinations and got 23 points.

He emerged the best candidate of Upper Prison Inmate’s Secondary School with 3ABBA in general paper, history, economics, geography and entrepreneurship respectively.

Munana, who had dropped out in Senior Three, now proudly says his prison term has been a blessing in disguise because it opened up opportunities for him to attain education, which would not have been possible outside jail.

Munana is currently pursuing a certificate course in small business enterprises management at Makerere University Business School.

Munana is just one of the imprisoned students, who have benefited immensely from the outstanding and humble service of Anatoli Biryomumaisho, a 44-year-old geography teacher at Luzira Maximum Security Prison and head teacher of Upper Prison Inmate’s School.

BIRYOMUMAISHO'S JOURNEY
Biryomumaisho is an extraordinary teacher, who tutors people who are not only in conflict with the law, but also scorned by the public.

Biryomumaisho’s love for others and his conviction that all people can always learn from their mistakes and later become better people in society, has inspired him to offer his teaching services to inmates.

“I enjoy seeing someone reform from criminal tendencies to civility. Their loyalty to education brings to mind the adage about life giving humans a second chance to pass in the lives of those who find themselves on the cusp of despair,” says Biryomumaisho.

But helping inmates to acquire life-long skills comes with challenges. But as the old adage goes, for Biryomumaisho and his fellow teachers in prison schools, when you do something you love most, you do not care about the pay.

Despite the challenges, his love for teaching adults, more so those in conflict with the law, keeps him going.

Biryomumaisho, who is a university graduate teacher and social worker, has worked for Uganda Prison Service for 17 years as a social welfare and rehabilitation officer in-charge of Upper Prison and heads Upper Prison inmate’s schools.

Biryomumaisho says he derived interest in teaching from his father, a former primary teacher. In 2009, he started teaching prisoners and has held the position as the pioneer head teacher of the inmates’ school to date.

“I love working with prisoners and do not look at them as captives. My aim is to ensure that the individual attains what he is supposed to achieve as a person, realising that he is someone who is in conflict with the law,” says Biryomumaisho.

Prison rules and regulations require that authorities engage inmates in various rehabilitation programmes to ensure that they reform so that they are accepted as responsible citizens, upon discharge.

CHALLENGES

Biryomumaisho points out that challenges affecting education behind bars include lack of enough scholastic materials, inadequate furniture, space and funding of the school’s activities.

He is grateful that the education and sports ministry took over responsibility for the secondary section. However, he notes that the primary school section is still supported by donations, leaving it prone to inadequate funding.

Biryomumaisho also notes that the unavoidable interference by court proceedings affects the teaching programmes.

He notes that the students (prisoners) usually fail to concentrate in class because they get stressed thinking about their fate.

Biryomumaisho, however,explains that inmates, who leave after their penalties, have turned out to be responsible citizens in society.

Some of them, he says, return to prison to give motivational skills to those still in detention.

According to a former prisoner, who is now pursuing a certificate course in small business enterprises management at Makerere University Business School, Biryomumaisho “is a great pillar of education in this country, much as he has not been recognised by so many people.”

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