Sunday, January 24, 2016

Morulem Boys’ Primary School, Where are the Old Boys?

Dear teacher,
We have seen Morulem Boys’ Primary School decorate our mother home district in the national map of Uganda through excellent performances in Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and in Music Dance and Drama for a number of years now.

We all know that a lot of effort by teachers, pupils and parents contribute to this. We also know that the school actually leaped from grass to grace in recent times. I remember during the 1990s, getting 10 first grades would be a super thing in the same school. Last year, Morulem Boys’ tide up with Child Jesus Primary school in Moroto to top the region in PLE performance. Both schools had 30 children in grade one.

In my view, this good work needs to be hiked or at least sustained so that it becomes an indissoluble culture that our grand, grand and grand children of tomorrow and next may also get it and keep it.
Pupils of Morulem Boys' School during Music Practice          

In the 1990s Kotido Mixed Primary School was atop the region in terms of PLE performance. However, Kotido Mixed failed to uphold their status and today they have dropped from hero to horror. We can’t blame this on teachers or pupils. When you succeed in something, the fruit of your success should take you to another level. The stars of Kotido Mixed needed to look back to the school and contribute to the revival of that lost glory.

In other parts of Uganda, historical schools such as; Ntare school, Kings College Budo, Namilyango college etc. have managed to protract their fair performances partly and largely because of the Old Boys and Girls’ contribution. These former Pupils/students who have succeeded in life after school make unbelievable -valuable annual contributions towards school development programs. We could as well borrow a leaf from these people so that we see a way of sustaining positive developments in our schools.

As an old boy myself, I wish to suggest to fellow old Boys of Morulem Boys’ school one simple thing. Let’s start an annual contribution towards the development of the school.  We could call it, Morulem Boys’ Old Boys’ Development Fund (MOBODUF). The Contributions from every Old Boy who feels the sense of attachment to this great school will start as early as January and ends in November. An annual Old Boys’ Conference in December every year will then decide on what the collected fund should be for.  It could be for an extension of the school Library, dormitories, Classroom blocks, Washrooms, or even a School Van, depending on the collection by end of year.

During the get together, old boys will also have a football match or other games with the School team to demonstrate cohesion and delight for the school. Other important engagements including guiding and counseling of pupils on current world challenges such as the HIV/AIDS problem, harmful practices like abuse of drugs etc would also be extended to children in attendance during this single day in a year.

To make this easy and more practical, we could disaggregate the Old Boys’ membership. We can have COOPERATE members whose annual contribution is a minimum of UGX250, 000(200,000 goes for School Development Fund (SDF) and 50,000 to facilitate the annual sitting (Conference Fund (CF). A second category could be called SUBSCRIBERS, whose minimum annual contribution is UGX150, 000(100,000 for SDF and 50,000 for CF). Then we can have a third and last category called, PROMOTERS (they pay minimum UGX50,000 annually, 10,000 as CF and 40,000 for SDF)

Who will receive and who will keep the money?
To enable a quick and safer start, I suggest that the parish Priest of Morulem Catholic Church be entrusted to collect and issue receipts to those who have cleared. Church is independent and we can surely give it our trust. A priest like Fr. Joseph Ochero could act the treasurer role easily. Other people with proven integrity like Mr. Okullo Oywek Simon Peter could be engaged into this arrangement and so we can be sure of first-rate accountability. Receipts will be given upon payment and a carbon copy kept for verification in December. More ideas can follow from this scratch. I suggest that we start off this in 2016, and to be exemplary, Am proud to say that my contribution is ready in the CORPERATE category.

More suggestions such as having an account for MOBODUF will come later if we can take this idea up. What I know is that some other school Old boys may take up this idea faster after reading this blog and yet my first target is Morulem boys men and women. How does this sound to you teacher? Please give me feedback before end of this month. God Bless You!

HOME: www.owiny.blogspot.ug