She recently turned heads by leaving the renowned Nabisunsa Girls School after 13 years of service to become head teacher at a private school. Yudaya Nangonzi sought out HAJJAT JANAT KAKUMBA on her new posting.
At 2:42pm on a hot Tuesday, I arrive at Mariam High school in Kisaasi, 1km off Bukoto-Ntinda road in Kawempe division, Kampala district.
As I make my way to the administration block, my eyes land on a lady walking from the school mosque. She is smartly-dressed in a long maroon dress and her head covered with a dark blue veil.
She only strikes a smile, says hello and later proceeds to an office inscribed; head teacher’s office. Hajjat Janat Kakumba is the office holder and she has been here for only two weeks, replacing Hajji Swaibu Mbaziira.
“When I saw you as I walked from the mosque, I suspected that you were my visitor,” Hajjat Kakumba says. “By the way, thanks for keeping time. I don’t like people who don’t keep time.” The interview was slated for 3pm.
Kakumba has been at Nabisunsa Girls Schools as deputy head teacher for at least 17 months, and as a teacher at various levels since 2004. Her responsibilities included head of Islamic religious education department and head of theology.
JOINS MARIAM HIGH SCHOOL
For starters, Kakumba did not ever think of leaving Nabisunsa this year. But when she learnt of a vacancy for the post of head teacher at Mariam HS, she applied to the Uganda Muslim Education Association (UMEA) for the position.
“We were four competitors for this post and during the oral interviews at UMEA, I beat them to the job. I just said Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah…,” she says, bursting into laughter.
Her confirmation came through a phone call from Hajj Abubaker Kakembo, the UMEA general secretary. So far, she has adjusted to the new environment in Kisaasi and is ready to pass on leadership and managerial skills she learnt from her former boss, Hajjat Aisha Lubega, then Nabisunsa head teacher and now deputy chairperson of the electoral commission.
“Hajjat [Lubega] taught me to be a multi-tasking person, handy; perfectionist and I don’t regret being like that. So, to my staff, students and parents of Mariam HS, expect nothing but the best, Insha Allah,” she says.
She adds that she has taken over the mantle to build achievements left by her predecessors, despite the declining academic performance over the recent past.
Top on her list of priorities is improving on the academic standards, ensuring time management, team work, student and staff welfare and raising disciplined and religious female students.
Last week, she started her first assignments by renovating the school mosque and ensured that students sit their beginning of term two exams unlike in other schools where the exams were completed last month.
“My students are very positive with the changes. I have also not seen any signs of rejection from the teaching and non-teaching staff. I am learning a lot from them as they also embrace what I introduce to them,” she says.
STAFF, STUDENTS SPEAK
Muhammed Sulaiman Wamala, the new deputy head teacher of the school, who joined the school at the same time as Kakumba, is optimistic about his boss.
“So far, everything is so perfect. Hajjat is from one of the strong schools academically and I think she will use that expertise to take Mariam High back to its golden days,” Wamala told The Observer. “It is true the performance declined but we are trying to make some changes.”
According to the 2016 Uneb results, the school had only 14 candidates in first division, out of the 84 candidates who sat exams at O-level. A further 24 passed in division two and 24 others in division three. Some 21 others obtained division four while one candidate was ungraded.
At A-level, the best two students got 16 points out of the 57 candidates. The maximum points attainable at this level are 20.
With last year’s not-so-pleasing results, Kakumba believes students “always need a small fine tuning through team work to get the best from them. I know we shall make it.”
The school’s head of the ICT department, Sulait Kidingidi Muhanguzi, agrees with Wamala that the school’s performance needs restoration after six years in decline.
Muhanguzi says some drastic changes have been realised at school as students and staff are now more engaged academically.
“The new head teacher is a very results oriented person. She is very fast in doing her things and set targets for us. She has promoted teamwork and hard work that will see us become the top girls’ school once again,” Muhanguzi said.
For Karimah Kassim, the head girl at Mariam HS, the head teacher is approachable and also hopes that she will improve the academics and co-curricular activities at school.
“Hajjat is like a mother to us. We love her so much. In this little time, she always tells us to be hardworking ladies, have self-esteem and we shall excel in life,” says Karimah.
EDUCATION BACKGROUND
Hajjat Kakumba attended Katwe Noor Primary School for her nursery education, before joining Nakivubo Blue Primary School where she completed primary seven. She later joined Kawempe Muslim Secondary School (O-level) and Nabisunsa Girls Schools for her A-levels. In 1997, she joined Makerere University and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Education in 1999.
She says life at the university was quite challenging, but shaped her to grow into a hardworking, principled and independent woman to date. Kakumba got her first job as a History and Islamic Religious Education teacher at Kawanda Secondary School in Wakiso district soon after graduation.
She taught there for two years before an opportunity at Nabisunsa Girls School, where she is an alumnus, knocked. While at Nabisunsa, she took time off to lecture at Islamic University in Uganda Kabojja and Kibuli campuses and at Kampala International University, in the evenings.
For eight years, Kakumba was also one of the specialists selected to work with the National Curriculum Development Centre to establish reforms in the lower secondary curriculum, which she speaks pensively on.
“It is unfortunate that some of the things we worked on for eight years did not come to pass,” she says sadly. “We wanted the Ugandan child to obtain generic skills that are relevant in this 21st century. I hope that Uganda will implement the curriculum one day.”
FAMILY LIFE
A professed workaholic, the 40-year-old Kakumba is mother of four, and wife to Dr Umar Kakumba, a dean in the College of Business and Management Sciences at Makerere University.
During her free time, she enjoys travelling with her family and hanging out with friends over a cup of coffee.
BRIEF SCHOOL PROFILE
Mariam High School is a Muslim-founded girls school managed by UMEA. The school started in 1992 with both S1 and S5 students.
In 1993, its first batch of A-level students sat for Uneb examinations while O-level students sat in 1995. On May 6, 1994, the ministry of Education classified and registered the school as a private institution and Uneb issued it with examination center numbers for both O and A-levels in 1994.
nangonzi@observer.ug
