By William Kituuka Kiwanuka
SMACK OB
Consultant on the history of St. Mary’s College, Kisubi.
The Ministry of Education in Uganda has sent conditions to guide the Catholic Church (Kampala Archdiocese) required of a new Head Teacher for the 116 year old St. Mary’s College, Kisubi (SMACK).
Some of the conditions unfortunately are just ridiculous.
Before I get to discuss the two conditions which in the eyes of professionals make the Ministry’s agenda questionable or suspect later on put it into disrepute and possibly look unprofessional.
it is important for the policy makers in the Ministry of Education - Uganda to know that the school they now eye and see as a darling where the politicians and successful business people want their children to attend for Secondary education has been nurtured to where it is by its founders - the Catholic Church for 116 years. The fame the school enjoys today has been because of the role of its founders who wanted to groom among others, future leaders, men with good morals as well as good Catholics. The guidance by the Catholic Church for 116 years; the Teaching Community - the Brothers of Christian Instruction for 96 years and the Old Boys for 116 years are the major players in the success the school is proud of.
It disturbs to see the Ministry of Education & Sports of Uganda come up with impossible conditions for the Church (Archdiocese of Kampala) as the requisite qualifications for the new Head Teacher of the school which the Church has guided for 116 years.
There may not be other Government Aided Catholic Church Founded Secondary Schools with a student population of 1,820 as SMACK in 2022.
Secondly, on average the fees payable by each student at SMACK in 2022 was shs 2,254,000. So, a candidate for heading SMACK should be managing a school which realizes about Shs 4,102,280,000 a term and shs 12,306,840,000 a year.
I would love to see a staff of the Ministry of Education in Uganda who can come up with at least 5 Government Aided Catholic Church Founded Secondary schools with fees collection near to Shs 12.3bn a year.
My advice is: Uganda needs better. Let us stop running agenda’s under funny policy dictation to fulfill given ambitions. The Government has Seed Schools. It is not clear why it cannot upgrade some of those schools to be able to absorb children of the politicians and the business community, but instead come to create disharmony in schools that have been well organized and managed for decades.
Below is the article that carries the requirements to qualify to be nominated Head Teacher for SMACK.
SMACK ROW: MINISTRY SETS CONDITIONS, REQUEST CHURCH TO SUBMIT NEW NOMINEE.
The Kampala Archdiocese and Ministry of Education and Sports have struck a compromise on the appointment of a new head teacher for St. Mary College Kisubi- SMACK. The Education Ministry Permanent Secretary, Ketty Lamaro, says that they have given the Church three weeks to nominate a suitable replacement to Bro Deo Aganyira, who has been at the helm of the school for seven years.
“…that within a period of three weeks, Kampala Archdiocese submits a name of a substantive Head Teacher who meets the Ministry criteria,” Lamaro’s December 23rd letter to His Grace Paul Ssemogerere, Archbishop of Kampala reads in part. Lamaro added that in the meantime the outgoing Head Teacher can hand over the school to Justus Katatumba, one of the deputy Head Teachers in line with the Uganda public standing orders.
There has been a row between the Ministry and the Church revolving around the appointment of a new head of the 116-year-old school, which is ranked among the top-tier schools in the country.
Following the retirement of Bro. Aganyira, the Ministry appointed Bro Augustine Mugabo, the current Head Teacher of St. Henry College-Kitovu, which is a sister school to SMACK given the fact that both are headed by the Brothers of Christian Instruction and owned by the Archdiocese of Kampala.
The Church rejected the newly appointed headteacher, saying that the ministry had not consulted them. Archbishop Ssemogerere, specifically wrote to the Ministry saying the Church preferred Bro. Simon Mpanga, another deputy Head teacher at the school.
Sources from the Education Ministry said that the Archbishop’s letter not only came as a surprise but also threw the top management into anxiety. “Since then, meetings have been on to come up with a solution that could be acceptable to the Church, which had invoked Section 8 of the Education Act,” a source noted.
The said section 8 stipulates the responsibilities of the Government towards grant-aided education institutions which include among other things appointment and deployment of heads (Head Teachers and deputies). However, most importantly, the section stipulates that this must be done in consultation with foundation bodies – in this case, Kampala Archdiocese.
Looking at the criteria of who should be Head Teacher, the Ministry seemed to politely reject the Church’s preferred candidate and also ensured that he is not the one that is appointed as interim Head Teacher of the school.
The Ministry has listed five requirements that any nominee fronted by the Church must possess. The PS says these are the Ministry’s standards for any person to head a traditional school at the level of St Mary’s. The first requirement states that the nominee for the position must be a substantive Head Teacher.
This alone knocks out Mpanga (who had been fronted by the Church). Mpanga is a substantive deputy headteacher at the moment, even worse, the Ministry requires that one has held the position of Head Teacher for the previous three years.
In 2019, the same standard was used by the ministry to reject the Anglican church nominee at Gayaza High school. In that case, the church’s favorite, Agatha Nakisekka, was a substantive deputy head teacher (at Gayaza) while the ministry’s choice, Robinah Kizito, was a substantive headteacher (at Kitebi SS). Kizito was later appointed after discussions between the two parties.
Other conditions are that the applicant must be under 57 years of age, have a spotless work history, and led a school of comparable size in terms of enrollment, academic performance, staffing, budget, and infrastructure. Efforts to seek comment on the set conditions from the Archbishop and authorities within the education department at Kampala archdiocese weren’t successful by the time of publishing this story.
However, in the circles of old students where the issue has since generated debate, they noted that the ministry is attempting to softly pressure the church to accept their nominee, Bro. Augustine Mugabo.
-URN
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