(This articles was first published in the New Vision on June 9, 2021)
By Conan Businge
It was May 1969 in Igeyero-Mayuge, and one could constantly hear the rattling swishing of sugarcane; Deziranta Namayanja bore her sixth child with Benefancio Lubaale.
The boy would be named Moses Wambi and he would be their last child together. By the time he made six months, his mother could take it no more!
Wambi says the mother divorced and married another man. The first six years of his life were the rockiest; probably because he was a boy; or because his siblings left his father to live with relatives. He grew up without his mother.
He has now just obtained a PhD in education. This comes three years after New Vision and partners — the Ireland Embassy in Uganda, Simba Travelcare and Trocaire —declared him one of the best teachers in the country, for the Teachers Making a Difference Awards.
“Wambi has been an aggressive, disciplined and hardworking teacher, the reason he has awarded and he keeps improving,” Bro. Geoffrey Lutaaya, the headteacher of Mugwanya Preparatory School, and one of the teachers who were once given the same national accolade, says. Bro. Lutaaya was also one of the judges of the Teachers Making a Difference competition.
Wambi says his journey is the epitome of the saying “never despise humble beginnings”. His journey to the PhD can be traced 47 years ago, in the mud and wattle walls of Nambaalu Sub-grade School.
“At this place, a Primary Leaving Examination certificate was such an honour award. I didn’t picture the journey taking me so far. Nobody figured out that it would be an adventure that would take me across continents; that would lead me to the limelight,” he says.
Wambi adds: “One cold morning, dad led me to Busuyi Primary School. I was to spend there four years before joining Kakira Estate Primary School for Primary Five. In 1985, I completed primary school.”
“I knew if I was to proceed to secondary school, I had to leave home. A friend and former schoolmate, Daniel Were (RIP), offered to go with me to Budumba in present day Butaleja district to study from there. I attended Mugulu High School and sat my Senior Four examinations at Busolwe Senior Secondary school,” he says.
With his Uganda Certificate of Education, he thought that he had academically, “reached the land of milk and honey.”
“Those were the days when licensed teachers were on high demand like hot cake. So one of the Kakira Estate Schools took me in as a temporary licensed teacher to teach Primary Five.
“I taught at Ntinkalu, until an elderly colleague of mine spoke to me into joining a teachers’ training college to acquire a professional base to anchor my academic and professional journey. I listened. I joined Bishop Willis Teachers’ College for the grade III certificate course, which I completed in 1992,” he narrates.
Wambi says his commitment and resilience at work as well as visionary personality earned him his teaching post in Primary Seven at Busabala Primary School, in the then Mpigi district in 1992.
“I was promoted to the position of deputy headteacher at Kireka Church of Uganda in the then Mpigi district in 1993,” he adds.
“In Kireka, I met and married Alice, with whom we have journeyed together. Alice became the pillar upon which I always leaned and catapulted. She has lived to the full meaning of the good wife King Solomon describes in Proverbs 31. I am honestly proud of Alice,” Wambi says.
He quickly adds: “Between 1994 and 2007, Alice gave me five lovely children? Miriam, who is currently working with Iganga General Hospital; Joshua, who is currently undertaking a pharmacy course at Mulago in Kampala; Gloria, who has just completed her diploma in midwifery; Samuel, who is in Senior Two and Victor, who went to stay with the Lord in 2019.”
In 1997, Wambi graduated with a diploma in teacher education from the then Institute of Teacher Education Kyambogo (ITEK). The Rev. Can. Zablon Jesse assisted him to point to the direction of a bachelor’s degree in education. In 2005, he graduated with a bachelor’s of education degree from Makerere University.
“In 2011, I graduated with a master’s of education degree. I thought I had had enough. Besides, I had got to the end of my means since I had such a big fees burden for my wife, children and other relatives,” Wambi says.
“In 2015, by the workings of luck again, I met Prof. Olga and Robert Jarrett, my PhD sponsors. It all began with their trip to Bishop Willis Primary Teachers College. I received them well and they chose to return the favour — they invited me to the Georgia State University in Atlanta, US in 2015.
“They offered to sponsor me for a PhD at their university. When I hesitated, they proposed to give me the same offer of funding my education at Makerere University. Today, if we are celebrating, it is because of their invaluable support,” he says.
“Moses reminds us in Deuteronomy 30, that when we return to Him, the Lord restores us. My fellow countrymen and my family, let us toast to those days!
“Let us toast to the days when I was starting out in hard moments of Kakira, to the days I served as dean of students, head of professional education studies, school practice co-ordinator. A toast to a co-ordinating centre tutor at Bunyiro Core College, staff representative to the board of governors, writer of Lusoga language books, examination secretary and deputy principal outreach. Let us toast to Bishop Willis!”
In 2019, Wambi was appointed principal Arua Core PTC in West Nile.
Before that, the National Curriculum Development Centre spotted him, due to his experience and was co-opted to work with the National Curriculum Review panel which reviewed the thematic curriculum from objective to competence-based (Primary One– Primary Three) from 2007 to 2009.
PhD In Education
Wambi’s research on tutors’ competences and implementation of early childhood education curriculum in primary teachers’ colleges in eastern Uganda focused on the potential of trainers and trainees in primary teachers’ colleges (PTCs).
The concern was the increasing gaps impacting on learners’ readiness to breakthrough to literacy in schools. It was revealed that inadequate funding and less access to practicum marred tutors’ preparation of the trainees holistically.
The pressure of ‘pen and paper’ examinations should be alluded to boost practicum. The courses are required to cultivate a sense of humour, mentorship, modelling and continuous reflective practice in PTCs. A model early childhood development centre should be established within the PTC as a laboratory of pedagogy for continuous hands-on engagements.
The contribution of the study is the paradigm shift from the traditional to a more innovative practice of contextualising the existing pedagogy to enforce quality teacher preparation to facilitate learners’ breakthrough to meaningful literacy with a target to achieve the 21st century education.
