The usually-somber mood at Luzira Upper prison was, for a few inmates replaced with joy, as they celebrated a good performance in the O-level results unveiled by the Uganda National Examinations Board, last week.
The prison’s best student, 22-year-old Morrish Ogema, obtained aggregate 21 and could not hold back his joy at the feat. His colleagues carried him alongside their head teacher, Gilbert Niwamanya, in a small celebration of their good performance.
“I am very happy that I could perform like this, given our difficult conditions in here,” said Ogema. He explained that he had to revise from toilet every night, due of the 10pm lights out policy in the prison wards.
The ecstatic Ogema was full of praise for the opportunity to study while in prison and appealed to the ministry to provide facilities to study sciences at A-level.
“I would have wanted to do PCM [Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics] and become an engineer but since we don’t have sciences, I will do HEG [History Economics and Geography] and become the best teacher in this country,” said Ogema, who is in the seventh year of his 15-year jail term. Studying in prison is filled with unimaginable hardships, but Geoffrey Mawa, second-best in this school, obtained aggregate 30 to confirm that it is not insurmountable.
“I’m the happiest man in the world right now,” declared the 26-year-old Mawa, who is on remand for a case he preferred not to disclose.
“I first sat for UCE while outside prison and I failed, but when I came here, I got a lot of encouragement which pushed me to study hard.”
Mawa will also pursue HEG for his A-level studies as the school lacks a laboratory to conduct sciences at Luzira. Dennis Mujuni, the inmate head teacher, urged government to take over A-level and primary education in the prisons, while Niwamanya advocated for better learning conditions on the women’s side.
“Prison conditions are hard that when we get such performances, we are right to celebrate,” Niwamanya said.
Out of the candidates who registered for the examinations, four passed in the first division, ahead of five in second division. A further 10 passed in the third division and 21 students in the fourth division. None of the students were in the seventh grade while four students failed.
Only five of the students were female, three of whom failed while the two who passed were in the third and fourth grade.
pbaike@yahoo.com