She changed a doomed school's fortunes

  By Watuwa Timbiti

After over 30 years of teaching and heading schools, Petronella Lujwala is now in her retirement home, free from the bothers of office routine. “Retirement from the civil service after making 60 years, the required age limit, means I am out of responsibilities and demands from stakeholders,” she says.

Early this year, she handed over the headship of Parvatiben Muljibhai Madhvani (PMM) Girls’ School in Jinja. Lujwala says heading a school means being answerable to a pantheon of stakeholders; the education ministry, the board of governors, PTA, teachers, students and the community. She adds that relating with teachers and students is about struggling every day to give them a positive sense of direction. “As a head teacher, you need  to be knowledgeable ahead of your subordinates, so with this break, I feel a bit relaxed,” she explains.

Upon her departure after 11 years as the PMM head teacher, a monumental mark on the schools face is certainly the hallmark of her legacy  Achievements The school used to be known as ‘Bufumbo’ college due to its high dropout rate, high pregnancy cases and the loose joke that PMM stands for “Please Marry Me”.

However, Lujwala lifted the over 50-year-old institution from derogation to dignity. “The discipline has improved, earning the school a new image. It is no longer a reference point for school drop-outs and girls available for informal relationships,” Lujwala says. This strand of success, traces its roots in solid teamwork, constituting teachers and the line school management bodies.

The stakeholders’ conviction to metamorphose the school into an institution they can identify with made her change the administration strategies. Subsequently, a regime of subject roll-call to ensure students attended all the day’s lessons was instituted. In the same measure, the schools’ hostel facilities were relocated to within the school compound and the library was under construction. In 2007, a three-phase hostel construction commenced, with the third phase currently under construction.

With the help of benefactors, the library was furnished, and the largely dysfunctional laboratories with no flowing water, were renovated. Rich experience With 19 years of service as a head teacher, Lujwala, whose career dates back to 1980 at Trinity College Nabbingo, Wakiso district, has a lot that serving head teachers can learn from. She says negative members of staff are the most vocal and as such, usually carry others along with them

Lujwala advises that such people should be dealt with immediately, for instance, having them transferred to other schools. “Do they always have their schemes of work, set exams in time and deliver results? Do they attend mandatory meetings as required by the education ministry such as the beginning and end of term staff meetings?” she asks.

These, Lujwala argues, are some of the key performance indicators upon which the decision to transfer a teacher can be hinged. On the other hand, guiding the learners is central in effective learning and advising teachers never to be harsh. “For instance, caning does not only make a student frightened, but is also humiliating and puts the victim in an awkward situation.

How do you expect a student you have humiliated to understand your subject?” she wonders. Passion for teaching Lujwala says teaching is a passion whose experience she has nothing dreadful to talk about, except moments of joy. “Although most of my colleagues left the profession along the way, my joy has been more in seeing young girls grow into women,” she says.

She attributes her career success to the years at Nabbingo. They were eventful; for they set her rolling and ready for responsibility beyond the classroom. There were tasks the then head teacher, Margaret Nsereko, placed on her shoulders. Lujwala was incharge of Tereza House, while at Nabbingo. “Nsereko always sent me to high level meetings, for example, of Catholic-founded schools, where sometimes bishops would attend. This upped my confidence, although sometimes I could not make decisions until I returned to school and sought her opinion,” she recalls. From Nsereko, what Lujwata learnt later shaped and influenced her approach to teaching and administration.

“She told me never to make a negative comment about a child in the presence of a parent. What the child is could be what the parent is; and this might be an indirect abuse of the parent. She is one of the best supervisors I have had,” Lujwala recalls of her former boss.

Work experience From Nabbingo, Lujwala was in 1991 posted to Bukulula SSS in Masaka as a deputy head teacher. She worked there for five years before nursing a restless desire to move on. Determined to move, she was posted to Iganga High School as care-taker head teacher. Lujwala was later confirmed, first as head teacher, O’ level in 1998 and was in 2002 finally appointed a head teacher, A’ level of the same school.

Personal life

• Born in 1953 in Butema village, Bulugunyi sub-county in Bugiriri district
• She is married to Steven Lujwala, a retired head teacher and they have nine children.

Education journey

• Lujwala went to St Patrick Kigulu Girls Primary School from 1960 to 1965.
• She later joined St Francis Junior School, Iganga, from 1966 to 1967 before joining Mount St. Mary’s Namagunga between 1968 and 1973.
• Went to Kyambogo from 1978 to 1980 for a diploma in education.
• Pursued a bachelor’s degree from 1989 to 1991 at Makerere University. lShe later enrolled for a master’s degree in gender studies and completed in 2004.

WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT LUJWALA

Stephen Bewayo, the vice-chairperson of the PMM Board of Governors, calls her a performer. “She is a performer, team builder and PMM will miss her. She changed the school’s image to one worth identifying with. She built the hostel and in appreciation, as the board, we decided to name it after her,” he says.

Janet Nasemba, PMM’s deputy head teacher in charge of academics, speaks of Lujwala as a good leader; someone who inspires others to take on leadership roles beyond the classroom.