Prime
There will never be enough money, just plan well with what you earn
Maria Teopista Ndagire. The long serving teacher thanks Mugwanya Preparatory School, Kabojja for giving her a condusive environment to do what she loves. PHOTO/EDGAR R. BATTE.
What you need to know:
After spending more than four decades shaping young minds, Maria Ndagire has planned a smooth transition into retirement writes, Edgar R. Batte.
Teaching was never her initial calling but destiny had it that Maria Teopista Ndagire was to end up in a classroom. Her journey as a teacher started in 1976 and after 44 years of teaching, she retired in 2016. She is a teacher of English, reading and Luganda language. In 2016, she clocked 60, the official retirement age for Ugandan public servants.
On receiving her pension package, she decided to build her retirement home and also invest in piggery and poultry farming projects.
But Mugwanya Preparatory School, Kabojja where she has been teaching since 1990, was not ready to let this gem just disappear into the night, so the administration asked her to keep serving until she felt tired and fully ready to retire from service.
Stumbling into piggery
To keep herself both busy and fending for her evening years, Ndagire has started doing subsistence farming which she learned from her brother.
“One time I had gone to visit my brother and found when he had constructed some impressive pigsties which I admired very much. He also had two sows that had given birth, one had 12 piglets and the other one had eight. Although I had gone to spend a night, I ended up spending three nights in order to observe, and learn everything to do with piggery because I made up my mind to start my own farm,” she recounts.
Although she is new to piggery, she is optimistic that with her preparation for the project, she will do well. Her motivation is that with piggery, she can choose to sell piglets or the fully grown pigs.
Either way, she is assured of money. She rears chicken too. “During the Covid-19 lockdown, I decided to start planting food crops. I have had a banana plantation for some time now. I asked the school administration to let me plant some sweet potatoes and maize on part of the school land, which they accepted.
Preparing for retirement
“When I had one year left to reach retirement age, I wrote a letter to public service to alert them of my approaching retirement. I also wrote other letters, one to my employer, the headmaster and another to Wakiso District. When I retired, I received my pension and went on to build a retirement home,” she says.
Ndagire had already acquired a piece of land on which she built. She had also been saving and buying construction items which she kept at relatives’ homes close to Bukalango, 25 kilometres from Kampala, where she eventually put up her home.
Ndagire observes that despite meagre earnings teachers get, they need to save and plan for their savings. “Covid-19 has been a big lesson. I have learnt to think outside the box and keep my ears open to opportunities. I was in Kyabadaaza and observed and asked fellow teachers who had gone into farming. They encouraged me and I started embracing it. It is lucrative. I can sell my produce and get income to deal with some expenses at home,” she explains.
Education
After sitting her Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) at St. Tereza Bwanda Primary School, run by Catholic nuns, Ndagire’s heart was drawn towards studying to become a nurse.
That did not happen. A series of events led her into the teaching profession, starting out as a Grade II teacher. In 1985, she joined Canon Apollo Teachers College in Fort Portal but she was unable to complete the training due to the National Resistance Army (NRA) war.
She applied at Gaba Teachers Training Institute where she was taken on. She graduated as a Grade III teacher and specialised in methods of lower primary classes.
She taught in Lutengo Primary School in Mukono then moved to St.Elizabeth in Namasuba and St. Jude Primary School. “Mugwanya Preparatory School, Kabojja was looking for a teacher. I had gone to school with some of the teachers there, so they encouraged me to apply. One day, I was picked and started teaching at Kabojja in January 1990,” she recalls.
The teacher says her career has been a rewarding and fulfilling. “Kabojja has treated me well. It is a place with good people. They still see value in my service although I am in my bonus years. Because of this steady employment, I have been able to support my children through school. Two of them are medical doctors,” the teacher says.
She also observes: “Teaching is a job and career. When you get the job, see to it that you do it with determination, passion and excellence. A parent invests school fees in anticipation of their child getting a good education, it is up to the teacher to make sure that this investment is worthwhile. My observation is that some younger teachers nowadays are not committed to their teaching jobs. This comes up due to teachers not committed to their profession.
They prefer to engage in other side hustles in order to make ends meet, which takes away the time needed for proper lesson preparation and teaching.”
Advice
“Building is a journey and I am still touching up and finishing this and that. My advice to teachers in regards to retirement is to keep it in mind that they need to work towards a comfortable or worthy retirement. There are eventualities in life such as losing a job voluntarily or involuntarily, you might fall sick and not be able to continue serving, just plan well,” she advises.
