Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in June 2012 undergraduate Shea Houlihan interviewed the head boy, head girl, and four prefects at OCER Campion Jesuit College. They were elected to their positions during the previous term after their applications were accepted by the staff. In this interview they discuss the responsibilities of student leadership, the benefits and challenges of attending a religious boarding school, and the role of education in peacebuilding.
Tell me a little about yourself. What is your name? How old are you, and what level of schooling are you in? Finally, where are you from?
- Head girl Aete Gladys, 16 years old, S2 [Senior II], Kitgum;
- Head boy Lubangakene Aron, 17 years old, S2, Gulu;
- Prefect Brenda Atimango, 14 years old, S1 [Senior I], Gulu;
- Prefect Aliro Calvine, 16 years old, S2, Gulu;
- Prefect Lakono Joshua, 17 years old, S2, Gulu ;
- Prefect Lawrence Kabila, 14 years old, S2, Pader.
What does it mean to be a prefect at OCER Campion? What does it mean to be a leader?
Brenda Atimango: If a prefect, you will be more respected and responsible and more careful. You’ll also be more popular. If I take responsibility, I will be more respected. Some problems are that other students can’t listen; they need a teacher to listen to. If a student doesn’t listen, the teacher will come to you. They will just blame you. Leadership means learning how to serve the students.
Lubangakene Aron: Leaders can’t be short-tempered and can’t fight other students. To some extent, you’ll be respected and be more responsible. Leadership means preparing for a vision, not to rule the people but to be their servant. It has helped me to be disciplined enough.
Aete Gladys: Being a prefect is just nice, and serving people is interesting. You’re helping someone. There’s more responsibility but not all that much. Leadership means learning to be creative. When there is a problem, you have to think fast to solve it—I have learned to be sharp.
Lawrence Kabila: I am the debate organizer. I organize the assemblies, help some teachers, correct some people. My favorite debate was the competition between S1 and S2. The motion was: “Corruption is the root cause of underdevelopment in Uganda.” Some of my challenges are that I get some people saying they are not prepared. They don’t have a project to present. Some are sick every Friday. Leadership means developing quick thinking. You have to see it from the perspective of the other side.
Aliro Calvine: Leadership is voluntary work to help the community. Not everybody understands in a community. As a prefect, you have to help people do what they don’t want to do. What is demanded of a prefect is to be responsible and not be shy. You can’t be shy; otherwise, there are many problems. Some people come with different cases. If you’re shy, you may not be able to handle some cases. You have popularity to wield.
Lakono Joshua: My father is a leader in the church. He has been helping a lot of people—he has taught me a lot. That’s why I decided to come up and help my friends in areas in which they need help. For example, I went for assistant head boy, and last year I was in charge of sanitation, and now I can monitor those areas. Leadership helps control your temper. When you’re commanding or requesting someone, they will reject you, but you know how to reject them. You have to deal with them.
If you had to pass on only one lesson to student leaders in other schools, what would it be?
Gladys: Decision-making. You have to think critically—is your decision right or wrong? You have to see that it benefits everyone.
Atimango: Cooperation. If you want to do certain work, as a prefect you are told by the teacher that often you need help. You cannot be cruel to them. You have to talk with them—you can’t shout at them. As you get to know them, if any work is given to you, you work together.
Kabila: Cooperation. From the perspective of being a prefect, some people may see it as fame. You have to cooperate with students: when they bring cases that you can’t deal with, you have to bring it to the teachers. You can’t just dump it.
Calvine: Responsibility. If you are not responsible, you will never achieve what you want. You will never follow you own path.
Aron: As a leader, you can’t depend on what people say or worry about what they say. They will say you are bossing them around, but you should not mind.
Joshua: Students should have the heart to volunteer. For example, if a student is badly hurt outside, a teacher may request volunteers to help that boy. You should have a heart of sacrifice. I should not eat large portions when viewing the suffering of others.
Tell me about your education so far. What are the positive aspects and challenges to education here at OCER?
Aron: It is a new school, so there are few cases of bullying. The school administrators are stricter compared to schools that are older than OCER. There are few students, so there is a lot of monitoring, which can make a mountain out of a molehill. The timetable is tied up with lots of subjects.
Calvine: OCER’s positive aspects include good accommodations and services for needs. Challenges include friction sometimes between the students and teachers.
Kabila: The teachers are good and helpful, and students are willing to learn. One challenge is that the students are not very good at general cleanliness. We come from different places, so there are still different standards.
Joshua: Students may not be able to approach the administration with their problems, and instead they go through the prefects. A challenge is that at times students request some things, and teachers may exaggerate your reports.
How is OCER different from your previous school?
Gladys: We are given freedom of speech. In other schools, you don’t have that. Here at the assembly, people have time to talk. All opinions are welcomed as long as you have something to say. Secondly, we have co-ops, so you can talk to your foster parent.
Calvine: Students are treated the same as other teachers. At other schools, students are segregated—the staff eats different, maybe better, food. At least students here have greater contact with teachers.
Joshua: Teachers always sit together with the students and parents to discuss issues that distract them from performing well. Visiting Day is once a term.
Atimango: There are O-levels. Schools only have O-levels. You would not have shoes or uniforms. They will not listen to the teachers. They care for the sick here—other schools will just give you aspirin, assuming it will cure what you have, and you may not be served by the school nurse. You won’t be eating as well.
Aron: We have the opportunity to learn outside the class—tailoring, agricultural, computers, arts and crafts.
Would you describe yourself as religious? How do you think religion affects your life, especially in the classroom?
Calvine: I don’t see any effect. Everything we do, we do together, but we don’t have to do anything. You have to go and participate. It may affect other denominations, so we all pray together. Everything we do is on a certain timetable. You always want a little time to yourself.
Aron: It affects non-Christians. Mass on Sundays is compulsory, so that will go against them. Our school is different. In other schools you have country walks—you can leave during weekends. In other schools, you have entertainment every weekend.
Kabila: Yes, the religious aspect does affect education. I am not religious, so I have more time to read during moments of prayer at night.
What do you think is the role of education in peacebuilding?
Aron: Peacebuilding is more important than education. If you have no peace in society, there will be instability. Education is not important for peacebuilding. Without peace—if the rebels were here—we would have no education. If you have peace in society without education, you can still have peacebuilding and development. Peace is what we should emphasize before education. Without peace, we would not be able to learn—the war would beat up the headmaster and deputy headmaster.
Kabila: When you look at history, people are getting more educated and developed. You will prosper and have a good life. You will also support others. Father Tony [Wach] became a priest, and he decided to come help here. War is for insane people. If a rebel were educated, he would not even think of war. When there is peace, someone just relaxes. With education, look at Aron—he is already head boy.
Calvine: I believe education is good—it brings peace. In a community that is educated, you will not find that conflict. If people had been educated, there may not have been as much violence. Education is good in that we know other things. At least we have good friends from different parts of the country, and we enjoy good activities. With just peace, in my village I would not have known other things, and I would not have met all these people.
Think of your favorite teacher. What was their best teaching technique?
Atimango: In this school, unlike other schools, teachers will come and teach. They will ask students to help each other, and they will make sure that each student understands. Next time, the teacher will know how to deal with you. Teachers will share the stages of experimentation one by one.
Calvine: At times, when a teacher teaches on a topic, he or she divides the class into groups and gives different questions to different groups.
Kabila: Bringing practical examples. In English, they will give you compositions based on your own experiences, and they bring pictures.
Joshua: Practicals. With other teaching methods, you see students sleeping. For practicals, students have to actively participate.
Aron: Here, most of the teachers explain their points and complicated words thoroughly. They give students the chance to do that question, and if that question is too hard for them, then the teacher steps in.
Gladys: Practicals are good because you find that when you do something practical, you cannot forget it.
What have you learned about students from other regions of Uganda?
Kabila: In Gulu you have biases, and each region has different biases. You learn how to socialize with people. Maybe my language is similar to his, so I get to learn that and how to express myself.
Calvine: Coming from a different region has made me meet people from different tribes. I wish to travel now to meet different people. I can speak more than 10 languages.
Aron: Coming from different regions is beneficial because you get to know the each other’s languages. Languages are somehow related, and I can understand them.
Gladys: By helping someone who has come from far away, you gain a friend who can help you for accommodations during holidays. You share things that are in common.
Joshua: Last year a certain friend came to my home and motivated me to look at their moral behaviors and cultural activities. I went and learned a lot, for example, their singing and dancing. I was also among the best drummers, but not the best.
What are your future goals?
Kabila: Become a lawyer, because I love justice, and I feel like when some people are doing wrong things, I should judge them and correct them. There is also money, and I want to sustain my family and support my brothers and sisters. I want to be an MP. I love leadership, and I am a leader of debating. There is also debate in parliament, so I can continue with my career and defend my people.
Calvine: I would like to be a politician because I know I can make it. I am caring; I feel attached to my community. If I were in power, I would do something about corruption. If I fail at that, I would become a priest. I admire military work and their level of respect. Although they are seen as people of low standards, I want to help.
Joshua: I want to be a construction engineer. Two of my brothers are engineers, and I admire their money.
Aron: I want to be a lawyer, and my uncle is a professor in Kenya. He motivates me to take a law course.
Gladys: I want to be a brain surgeon. I want to help people, and I want to work on the brain.
Atimango: I would like to be a general doctor.
