HOW CAN THE GLORY OF NAMUTAMBA SHINE AGAIN?

When St. Mary’s College Kisubi celebrated 100 years since the school started as St. Mary’s School which celebration took place in 2006, many people were surprised to see a Centenary Magazine that had been worked on without an editorial board; I had gathered the information, appealed to prospect advertisers and edited the work up to submission for type setting! The same can apply to the revival of Namutamba Glory. Some people may be aware that the 1st teachers to boost academics in primary school in Uganda were products of Namutamba and specifically Namutamba Teachers College; these teamed up at Mengo Primary School and later one of them Mr. Kasole was behind the innovation of Kampala Parents’ School. We need to remember people like the Late Jimmy Katumba who are old boys of Namutamba Teachers’ College and whose achievements in the field of music is common knowledge to all of us. Mr. Kibalama of the Escatos Brides is living testimony of the good repute some people initially at Namutamba have created which we need to emulate and take also learn from. I remember the Late Besuel Kiwanuka who took over the running of Namutamba Secondary School after my short involvement; he did the work of headship with no additional pay, and these are examples of people who have sacrificed for our betterment whose examples can help us as we struggle to see our school back to the map. It was more difficult to see Namutamba get the name, and now the children who benefited are in place and can through cooperative effort see it shine again. I wish to come up a strategy that may help in this revival effort.

WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF THE REVIVAL STRATEGY?

1) We need to appreciate the sacrifices made by the Lea Wilson’s to see the evolution of Namutamba Fame which we are all proud of. Probably, without Lea Wilson as a pole of growth in the area, many families which are big names as far as Namutamba is concerned would not be. Time is now to reciprocate by adding to efforts to see Namutamba shine again.

2) We must use community initiatives through community work to see joint effort in areas like gardening, and animal husbandry as well as construction of buildings. Those of us can remember efforts in the road construction that were meant to ease traveling to Namutamba which were a community initiative.

3) We need to see the locals have means of earning. This may not be a simple strategy but there is need to see that the locals in the area have sustainable income.

4) We need to reach out to friends local and international to help in funding the identified needs which may help in the revival of the glory of Namutamba.

5) There are ‘Calls for proposals’ (local and international) which when responded to can help in boosting the welfare of the people of Namutamba.

This type of Lighting can help the children to read at night.

6) We have old boys and girls of Namutamba Dem School who are in well established schools who can constantly feed Namutamba Dem School with examination papers and professional advice so that the children performance is uplifted as is in schools that are excelling.

7) There is need to have some of the old boys and girls of Namutamba to return to Namutamba and help the development initiatives.

8) There is need to have those in administration to ensure accountability which is a basic requirement to sustainable trust in such efforts.

9) Our children should not only be taught academics but also vocational skills and other skills that may help them later in life not as job seekers but also as job makers.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ABOVE STRATEGIES CALLS FOR:-

I. Getting in touch with the Lea Wilson family to help the external mobilization efforts fro the revival of Namutamba Glory.

II. Getting our brothers and sisters out of the country into the effort more so that many ought to have some savings given the economies where they work.

III. Having full participation of big family names of children and grand children of those well known Namutamba parents which among others include:
1. Nagenda
2. Jingo
3. Kazina
4. Sepiria Katumba
5. Kasansula
6. And many others who I don’t need to mention here.

IV. Have a committee in place for mobilization of the Community effort in the rehabilitation; this among others should see to it that children have food at school given the land resource. The committee should have among others those who are knowledgeable in:

a) Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
b) Communication
c) Business and Vocational skills
d) Innovations

V. Evolution of an Electronic Newsletter to keep members out of Namutamba updated with developments on ground.

VI. Putting in place a Bursary Scheme to help the badly needy children study.
VII. Mobilizing to get scholastic materials (including those for science practical lessons) to boost the academic performance of the children.

VIII. Boosting the morale of the teachers through schemes that may see their motivation to work increased.

IX. There is need to have a functional office for the revival of Namutamba Glory may be at the Demonstration School.

X. There is need to have an Educational Committee mostly constituted by those players in schools that are big names.

XI. There is need to have Internet Connectivity (mobile or the modem) by the Head teacher so that communication is eased with various players.

XII. The need to open a Namutamba Glory Account whose focus should be the rehabilitation of the Demonstration School.

XIII. Efforts to see Water Harvesting a reality at the school.

XIV. Getting strategies to boost music and drama by the children a reality as means of publicizing the school.

Thank you.

William Kituuka