Mr Abdul Nafi Musiitwa talks to some of his students at Mende Kalema SS in Wakiso District last week. PHOTO | OWEN
WAGABAZA
In 2021, Mr Abdul Nafi Musiitwa was appointed the head teacher of the newly founded Musiitwa Seed Secondary School in Kayunga District.
A born of the area, Mr Musiitwa had earlier been approached by the community leaders to lend his experience and expertise in education to the community by leading the soon-to-be-opened school. The School is named after his grandfather, Zachariah Mubi Musiitwa, who donated the land on which the school sits.
“Having taught in A-list schools like Nabisunsa Girls School, Kawempe Muslim and Kibuli SS, the elders had a strong belief that I was the right person to kick-start the school and grow it to the next level,” Mr Musiitwa says.
Willing to play a role in the development of his community, Mr Musiitwa, equipped with the necessary requirements, notably a Master’s degree and sufficient experience, accepted the offer and applied to the ministry for the job. In May 2021, Mr Musiitwa and his colleagues received their instruments of appointment.
“We started from scratch, and my immediate task was to set up the board, which, with support from the area leaders, we came up with one led by former minister Saida Bumba. We also, together with my team, came up with several policies to support the school,” Musiitwa explained.
However, Mr Musiitwa would soon realize that the job at hand was far bigger than anticipated.
“There was an immediate need for a mindset change of all the stakeholders, that is the parents, students and even staff,” Musiitwa says.
He said although parents love education, they do not know their rights, roles and responsibilities.
“Over 50 percent of students were, for example, reporting to school wearing non-school shoes like crocs (nigina). Another challenge was teenage pregnancy, which went on unabated, with a general belief in the community that girls don’t need to study beyond Senior Two,” Musiitwa remembers.
Other stakeholders like the students had no respect for rules, reporting to school at any time and leaving whenever they wished.
The staff would also report on duty only when they wished to.
To curb this, Mr Musiitwa organised a number of sensitisation meetings and workshops for each of these groups geared towards educating them on their roles and responsibilities and gradually, each group started taking their responsibilities seriously.
In his three years at the helm of the school, Mr Musiitwa has expanded the school by purchasing four more acres of land purposely for agriculture.
D“We used the four acres to grow maize and this enabled us to ably tackle the issue of feeding. I also secured running water for the school through a friend in the United Kingdom and we were able to connect the entire school to running water, as well as the mosque. In the same vein, with financial support from former minister Bumba and family, we were able to complete the A-Level block,” he says.
At the time he left, the school had grown to more than 450 students from the 150 that he started with, and the school was a regular in national sports competitions like post-primary football competitions.
Transfer to Mende Kalema
In October 2023, Mr Musiitwa was transferred to Mende Kalema SS in Wakiso District. He says Mende Kalema has a number of positives to build on, notably the expansive land, proximity to the city centre, good teachers, reasonable enrollment and the will to support school programmes by parents. In the same vein, the school has its fair share of challenges, notably inadequate facilities and dilapidated structures, with the school having been in existence for the last 42 years.
Mr Mohammed Kibirige Mayanja, a two time presidential candidate and board chairperson of the school, says Mr Musiitwa is energetic, committed to his work and has in the short time demonstrated hard work.
“He is very cooperative with all the stakeholders and we have a lot of hope in him and we are prepared to support him in all possible ways. We also call upon all those who have the means to support the school to come and join hands in all possible ways,” Mr Mayanja says.
Mr Joseph Masaba, the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) chairperson, says Mr Musiitwa has improved the enrollment, is strict on discipline and the image of the school has improved.
“He has also rescued our school land, which had been grabbed by squatters, this was an important milestone because we spent a lot of time and resources in courts with no success,” he says.
The deputy head teacher, Ms Najjum Kyofa Mukasa, is full of praise for the current head teacher.
“Mr Musiitwa is an achiever, a visionary, dynamic, innovative, brilliant, hardworking, frugal man. He is very good at time management and a strong believer in team work,” she says.
She adds: “In just one year of service, Mr Musiitwa has rehabilitated the boarding facilities, redesigned the compound, rescued up to five acres of school land that had been encroached upon, and is utilising this land by growing maize to save on school costs. He has also worked on the water challenge that has been disturbing us for years by pumping our own water and currently all corners of the school are connected to water,” she adds.
Mr Godfrey Ssansaga, the director of studies, says the head teacher has strengthened technical support supervision, ensuring teachers are in class and are doing what ought to be done.
“In this regard, for the first time, all our candidates this year sat the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) exams after we had completed the syllabus,” he says.
“He is also good at identifying talent and grooming it. We are really proud of him,” he adds.
Teaching experience
Prior to being appointed head teacher, Mr Musiitwa taught at Kajansi Progressive Secondary School, Nabisunsa Girls School, Kawempe Muslim and Kibuli SS.
“Young, energetic and result-driven, I spent most of my time focusing on quality teaching for excellent results. At Nabisunsa, for example, I was one of the pioneer teachers to start teaching beyond the designated time. Unlike now when these extra lessons are paid for, it was our initiative then with no pay with the motivation being excellent performance, which came with pride and prestige,” Mr Musiitwa says.
“I would also give learners work and push them into the library to conduct research on their own. I particularly had a policy of introducing a topic and telling them to go and do research about it. After that, I would ask the class what they researched about the topic we were to embark on and what they didn’t understand during the research. This not only promoted the spirit of hard work as a value, but also helped them to develop research skills as a basis for excellent performance. With research, learners are able to read and get wider examples, and can understand things their own way, with a wider perspective,” he says .
