(This article was first published in the New Vision on June 22, 2022)
By Patrick Okino
When Simon Okeng was posted to Acaba Secondary School in Oyam town council, Oyam district in 2014 as the acting headteacher, the school was struggling with low enrolment and poor academic performance.
The institution had become a source of worry. The parents were taking their children out of the school as its students repeatedly raided the neighbours’ gardens and stole their food.
The morale was low among teachers and there was no teamwork. There were only 255 students in the 28-year-old school located in an urban setting, with some sleeping on the floor as there were no sufficient accommodation facilities.
Clearly, the task before Okeng to revive the school was intimidating, but that did not deter him from taking it on.
Working together with the board of governors, Okeng said he called a parents’ meeting to chart ways of reviving Acaba. The strategy included attracting students back to the school, restoring student discipline, boosting the teachers’ morale and winning back the confidence of the community.
Just a year after he was posted to the school, the enrolment had increased to 458 in 2015 and 660 in 2016, according to the school records. The student population grew to 820 in 2017; 909 in 2018 and 1,036 in 2019. In 2020, the population reached 1,218.
However, increasing numbers presented another challenge for Okeng as they threatened to overwhelm the school without adequate infrastructure. In order to deal with this challenge, Okeng mobilised the parents to make contributions towards the revival of the school through the parent- teacher association (PTA).
“Through the contribution of the PTA, we were able to build an administration block, four staff houses and four dormitories for both boys and girls,” he said.
Although this has not solved the challenge of inadequate infrastructure as some of the school’s over 1,000 learners still study under trees, it represents a significant improvement.
In 2020, six years after Okeng was posted to Acaba, two of the school’s Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) candidates passed in division one, four in division two and 10 in division three. Okeng said the school had never had candidates in division one in many years before he was posted there.
“We started from zero,” he said adding that he and his 49-strong teaching staff worked tirelessly to get students in division one. This is motivating and our relations with the community have improved,” he said.
Online Classes
The outbreak of COVID-19 threatened to reverse the academic gains of Acaba as schools were closed to contain the spread of the virus. To avoid this, Okeng said he organised online classes to allow students to continue learning during the pandemic, especially those who did not live too far from the school.
When the Government re-opened the schools, Okeng said he noticed that some of the students had not reported back to school.
He said he placed announcements on radios urging students to return to school and encouraged parents in meetings to send their children back. And when the learners returned to school. Okeng said he embarked on sensitising them about the value of education.
He said he recently started offering teachers supper so as to keep them motivated. The school also gives some teachers money to rent houses near the school.
Okeng has promoted co-curricular activities and his school participated in the national football tournament in 2016 and 2017. He has also promoted debating and initiated a goat rearing project at the school.
Advice To Other School Heads
Okeng urges school heads to always keep in touch with their teachers, offer students constant counselling and motivation and treat teaching and non-teaching staff equally.
“Sometimes the staff call me Abaa, which means father because of the way I handle them,” he said.
Okeng’s Journey….
- Okeng went to Adwari Secondary School in Otuke and Comboni College in Lira city.
- He then joined National Teachers’ College Ngetta, where he pursued a diploma in education between 1992 and 1994.
- Okeng pursued a bachelor’s of arts degree in education at Makerere University between 1996 and 1999 and a master’s degree in education and development studies at Uganda Martyrs University between 2007 and 2010.
- Okeng launched his teaching career at Adwari Secondary School, where he taught between 1994 and 2012, before he was transferred to Aloi Fatima Secondary School and later Acaba Secondary School.
What Others Say
Solomon Odyek, resident in Oyam town council
Acaba was on the verge of collapse due to student misconduct when Okeng took it over. The community around the school had a tough time as they lost their property to students. There is now an improvement in enrolment, student discipline and performance.
Geoffrey Opio, Director Of Studies, who has been at the school since 2004
The community had lost hope in the school due to the low morale of teachers and cases of student misconduct. Parents who were passionate about the education of their children decided to take them to other schools. Okeng instilled a culture of teamwork among the teachers who were divided after losing morale. Okeng’s management skills were the game-changer. This gave parents a sense of ownership of the school and allowed them to pave a way out of the crisis it was struggling with.
Steven Ocara, Resident Of Awelobutoryeo Village
Okeng fixed the problems his predecessors had ignored to revamp the school.
Francis Oleke, District Education Officer
Acaba is one of the top performing schools in Oyam due to good management and learning environment.
Benedicto Okello, PTA Chairperson
Acaba is reaping from Okeng’s good leadership. The fact that the school had 10 candidates in division one and 33 in division two in the last UCE exams attests to the good leadership. There was only one dormitory when he was transferred to the school, but by working closely with parents, we have built three more dormitories. Twenty three teachers are on the government payroll, while 26 are taken care of by PTA.
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