Brother Godfrey Lutaaya lives his dream career in education

On Wednesday October 5, the  globe celebrated World Teacher’s Day under the theme, The Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers. 

The Rev Bro Godfrey Lutaaya, with more than 20 years’ experience in education,  is the head teacher of Mugwanya Preparatory School, Kabojja in Wakiso District who has made a mark in his dream career.

The 59-year-old has been head teacher at the school for 16 years. He likes to take one through his journey from childhood. 

The seventh of 18 children talks about how his parents could not raise his tuition when he was in Primary Five at Bujubi Primary School in Mityana District. That is the same time his 17 siblings also dropped out of school.

Lutaaya says, his father who was a manager at one of the Asian-run businesses, was not the poorest parent in their village.

“It defeats my understanding that he could not afford to pay for his children’s education. Maybe he did not value education… I don’t know why,” he says.

Unlike his siblings, Lutaaya later met lady luck, thanks to his  music talent.

“As a young boy, I often sang at different gatherings. I did songs ranging from gospel to secular ones. This earned me a lot of money because back in the day, people gave money to musicians who entertained them  as a token of thanks,” Lutaaya recollects.

He says it is either the money he used to get from these gigs or the talent that prompted his primary school head teacher  to offer him accommodation at his house, so that he completes his primary  school education.

The head teacher extended his olive branch to Lutaaya who  joined Senior One at Mengo Senior School. Unfortunately,  his guardian was killed and the student had to drop out of school.

He mentions that in their time, anyone who wanted to join a primary teachers’   college  would do so even after Primary Seven. Lutaaya in 1981 joined Namutamba Teachers’  Training College in the then, Mubende District.

“As a little boy my dream was to become a teacher because in our home village, there were only four cars and three of them belonged to teachers. So, I wanted to be a teacher to own one,” he  recounts with a smile.

Abandons dream

The early 1980s were turbulent in Uganda as NRA rebels were waging a war against the Obote II government and one of Lutaaya’s elder brothers happened to have joined the rebels.

And when his elder brother returned home and discovered that Lutaaya was pursuing a Grade II teacher’s certificate, he was unhappy and discouraged him from doing so.

“My brother told me that teachers were poor and he never wanted me to be like them,” Lutaaya says.

Lutaaya heeded his brother’s advice and abandoned the course.

He would later join Lubiri Secondary School to complete his O-Level. He would again in 1986, join Busuubizi Primary Teacher’s College, Mityana District to pursue his childhood dream.

The Rev brother and  teacher

After obtaining a Grade III teaching certificate, Lutaaya says he got a calling  to serve  God. However, his dilemma , he says  was choosing between becoming a reverend father and reverend brother. He reflected on it  and  eventually went to the formation house in Kisubi. There,  he studied for four years and was ordained one of the Brothers of Christian Instruction.

At this point,  he was torn between serving God and working as a primary school teacher.  With instinct at play, he prayed about it.  It was not before long that he taught in several schools among them, Kisubi  Boys and Ggoli Girls’  Primary School,  Mpigi  District.

Lutaaya did not abandon his talent and he taught music which exposed him to a wider world. In 1992, a professor at the Faculty of Music, Dance and Drama (MDD) at Makerere University, identified him and picked him for a mature age entry course at the university. Two years later, he graduated with a diploma in MDD together with the likes of Kato Lubwama, the former Lubaga South Member of Parliament, singer Mariam Ndagire and Abbey Mukiibi.

Later on, his lecturers wanted him to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in the same subject and concurrently work as assistant lecturer, an opportunity he declined. Another opportunity from Brothers of Christian Institution came up and was taken to Rome, Italy to study philosophy Theology for three years, obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

In 2001, Lutaaya was appointed head teacher of Kisubi Boy’s Primary School, a position he held for five years.

He was transferred to Mugwanya Preparatory School, Kabojja where he has been for 16 years, making him the longest serving head teacher at the education institution.

He was in 2018 nominated and awarded under the ‘Teachers Making a Difference’ competition.

What makes him tick?

While Immaculate Namugerwa, head caterer at Mugwanya describes Lutaaya as kind and a good listener to all, especially his subordibnated, Lutaaya says focusing on one thing at a time.

“Usually, I look for the weakest point of the institution and I concentrate on it , giving it  my best,” he says, adding, “My motto is Dream big, Start small, Start now”.

Lutaaya prides in balancing co-curricular activities and academic excellence.

Although Lutaaya will be retiring from active service next year when he clocks 60 years, he says he is contented with what he has achieved in his career.

“I have achieved almost what I wanted to as a teacher,” he says.

His  achievements

Besides educating and forming the young generation and serving God whole  heartedly,  Lutaaya says  as a cleric, who made vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, he does not go after  wealth or other worldly  pleasures.

The 59-year-old has enabled his  school  to win the national MDD trophy  three consecutive years from 2017, 2018 to 2019 and later having it for keeps.

This, Lutaaya says is no mean achievement.

“Some Wakiso District  officials have begged me to take a break from participating  in national MDD competitions so that other schools can win the trophy,” he says amid laughter.

Besides, Lutaaya has received many accolades as an individual and also as a school in various fields such as excellent academic performance of in Primary Leaving Examinations.

He also says in the 16 years he has been at the helm of his current school, Lutaaya has constructed a swimming pool, bought an ambulance and enhanced the school enrolment to the current 1,200 learners.

The enrolment, as it stands now, he says is  to the school’s full capacity.

Because of his good work, Lutaaya was elected by the Wakiso District to head the discipline and professional ethics committee which is mandated to address issues of indiscipline and professional ethics among teachers in the district.

Challenges 

Lutaaya says although his school is government-aided the funds government reimburses to the institution is too little to make any impact.

“Our term budget is in billions but government gives us less than Shs10m, so we  look elsewhere for some funds to be able to do all we have to do,” Lutaaya says.

On increasing third term school  fees 

Lutaaya also says although Mugwanya Preparatory school did not increased third term fees, he believes it is inevitable for some schools.

“Schools are forced increase fees because the cost of many goods has gone up. They either close or increase fees and remain operational,” he says.

“We are handling life at its most fragile stage and there are things that cannot wait such as eating, etc.”

Advice to teachers

He says teachers should know that it is not all about the  money they are paid.

“Life is not so much about lot money one gets. Let teachers concentrate on their work and be content with the little they get.,” he says.

The school

Mugwanya Preparatory School, Kabojja is one of the oldest all boys primary schools in Uganda. It was built in 1960 under the supervision of Brothers of Christian instruction Kisubi. It is located 3 kilometres off Masaka Road at Natete.
The land on which it was built was a generous gift from the late Stanislaus Mugwanya  and the school name is in the memory.
He was a staunch Catholic, the prime minister of Buganda during Kabaka Daudi Chwa’s reign and a regent, who nurtured the young king.