Who will save Moody Awori's Tororo school?
By Kakaire A. Kirunda
Nov 5, 2003
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My recent visit to Tororo College has left me with one conviction: the once great school needs help. Located about three kilometres from Tororo town, it is a sharp contrast in appearance to the Uganda Martyrs Cathedral that neighbours it. Whereas the Cathedral looks magnificent and well maintained, across the road, the school buildings are in disrepair, yawning for remedial works. Apart from the administration block, the rest of the structures have not had any major repairs since their erection 60 years ago. The six dormitories housing the 900 students have falling ceilings, thanks to the little brown termites. The floors are cracked and rough, with dust all over the place and the walls are in need of plastering to cover some of the cracks that have developed over time. One of the laboratory blocks has been abandoned because of its highly dangerous roof that was almost collapsing. The dining hall does not have furniture and students carry their food to the dusty dormitories and eat among the falling ceiling debris. The waterborne toilets in the school are broken and non-operational though there is running water and the pit latrines are not enough, according to the deputy Headmaster, Mr Remmy Emongojel. Built in 1941 by the Mill Hill Missionaries, the school first admitted only boys from catholic backgrounds. A few years after Uganda gained her Independence from colonial rule in 1962, the school started accepting students from other religions. The school quickly established its ranks among the top-most schools in Uganda through the sixties to the late nineties. Some of the prominent Old Boys of the school include, Kenyan Vice President, Mr Moody Awori. Other distinguished alumni are ministers, Mr Henry Obbo (Labour and Gender), Mr Michael Werikhe (Works, Housing, and Communications), Richard Nduhura (Trade and Industry), and Presidential Advisor, Mr Chango Macho. Others are the cultural leader of the Jo'Padhola tribe, His Highness, the Adhola Moses Steven Owor, the cultural leader of the Iteso tribe, His Highness Emorimori Papa Osuban, 2001 presidential candidate, Mr Chapaa Karuhanga, a Commissioner at the Uganda Human Rights Commission, Mr Aliro Omara, and the Assistant Commissioner of Prisons, Mr Lawrence Ekirapa. In academia, it produced renowned Registrar of Makerere University, Mr Bernard Onyango, retired commissioner of education, Mr Steven Maloba, Prof.John Okedi, Prof. Raphael Owor, Prof. Atikorp, Prof. Mathew Odada, Prof. Mwalye Pius, Prof. Otala, Prof. Charles Olweny and Prof. Otim. Other distinguished alumni are prominent Ugandan journalist, Mr Charles Onyango-Obbo and members of Parliament, Martin Orech, Louis Opange, and Dombo Emmanuel. The list is really long and cannot be exhausted here. However, Mr Emongojel, who has taught at the school for over ten years, argues that the college was bound to achieve success because it had good science laboratories and the school library was fully equipped. But hell broke loose for the once famous TC when the name that it had established took a nosedive between 1999 and 2001 with two strikes and a fire that gutted stores leading to the loss of textbooks and science apparatus. Soon after, some of the good teachers left the school and student indiscipline set in. Feeding standards fell, the school fees increased, and the infrastructure collapsed, leaving the teachers not motivated to teach well and a school indebted to the various suppliers to a tune of over Shs 300 million. The school's woes were accelerated further in 2000 when an electricity short-circuit set on fire the stores adjacent to the laboratories destroying books and science apparatus that have never been replaced up to today. Though the school has started recovering from the academic limbo as per last year's results of both the 'O' and 'A' levels, the general infrastructure needs to be salvaged to create a suitable learning environment. Now, the school administration headed by Mr Hercules Camayi -Bule is joining hands with old boys of the school to organise a major Fund-raising dinner dance for OBs and wellwishers on November 8 at Hotel Equatorial in Kampala. Proceeds from the two functions are expected to kick-start a major refurbishment of this once great school. It all depends on whether the school's distinguished, and not so distinguished alumni, and well-wishers open their purses to aid the school that nurtured them. |
� 2003 The Monitor Publications
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