Berkley Center

Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in June 2012 undergraduate Shea Houlihan interviewed Br. Innocent Mulili, S.J., a Jesuit originally from Kenya who is the headmaster of OCER Campion Jesuit College. In this interview Mulili discusses how he came to OCER, its particular strengths and challenges, and goals for affecting cultural change at OCER and across northern Uganda.

How did you first join the Society of Jesus? Please describe your personal history while being in the order.

We have a family friend who worked with the army. This friend knew the Jesuits; one of them, Father Victor Jacquerene, did a retreat for the army. When they met for this retreat, this family friend got his contact information because he knew I was desiring to join religious life. I met Father Victor at the University of Nairobi, and he invited me to meet Sean O’Connor, the vocations director. Every time he asked me if I discerned to be a scholastic or a brother—I always said I wanted to be a brother.

How did you come to OCER?

I came to OCER after leaving the novitiate. I was also set on what I wanted to do with my life—I wanted to teach. I had a very bad experience with my primary schooling. The teaching is harsh. For example, they caned me because I was left-handed.

I expected to go to Dodoma to teach because I had had an experience there while still in the novitiate. But after finishing my studies, the provincial asked me about going to OCER. I thought about it for two months, and I told him that I was worried. He told me he would never send anyone to a mission that he didn’t think that person could do. So I have been here two years.

What have you have learned about best practices in education?

I would call for a teaching method that is learning-centered. The teacher and student learn together. Teaching has to start at the limits of the student’s knowledge. I like discussion groups and listen to group presentations. I motivate them because they are not treated as blank slates—I assume some knowledge.

For the time that I’ve been here, I’ve had students share their experiences. Some of them have told me about a teacher who has hurt their feelings very badly. The culture in this region is different; teachers are not expected to be sensitive. Here at OCER, we emphasize the sensitivity of students in workshops and seminars. I am happy to spread the message that words have so much impact.

I understand some students have had a very good educational preparation, but other students have not. How do you approach a class filled with students with very different educational backgrounds?

We go to the primary schools in different districts, and we see the difference in background. So we encourage teachers to treat each student as an individual. That’s a challenge because of time—the curriculum is so packed.

What are your plans for growth?

Our arrangement with the Board of Government is to recruit 120 students each year until we have a population of 1,200 students. So after two years, we have close to 240 now. The biggest challenge this year was we had 15 extra students. Next year we will have another 120. The challenge will be classrooms. We have enough space in the labs and dorms, but we don’t have enough classroom space. So we might revise our target number, in agreement with the board.

The first graduating class will be 2014—that is O-level, after S6. We prefer to have teachers follow the class, from S1 to S4, so we will recruit more teachers too, depending on the money. As it is, we still have teachers teaching more than one subject, and we want to move to a situation in which each teacher teaches one subject.

Who is on the Board of Governors?

The Ministry of Education gives guidelines as to who is on the board. We have five administrators (four Jesuits and one administrator), two parents, three representatives of the local council, one from the Ministry of Education, and two teachers. Eventually we have one slot for old students.

What are the strengths of OCER? What are the challenges, as you see them?

The strengths are:

• I feel supported. We have been working with several people to fundraise money. Recently we got 20 new computers from USAID. Children love computers—they know it is important to their future.​ 
• We emphasize skills building. For example, we have a tailoring section (20 sewing machines) and a project on food security. In our budget, the biggest expenditure is on food. So some time ago we sat down and thought that if we produce our own foods, that will allow us to invest in employees. This effort is also meant to teach self-reliance and skills. After all, here in the north, we have a lot of empty land, and we receive a lot of rain (the second highest amount of rainfall in country). Agriculture is very important here.
• I can trust and delegate to staff, and we all support each other.

Challenges include:

• We are dealing with the effects of war. I have students who have been ruined—they don’t care, they walk away. It’s a painful experience when the teachers have to deal with that. Recently we had to let a student go because he was inciting a strike among the students. Our rules are clear: we don’t offer suspensions for that—we let him go. Other students overcome their experiences, though.​ 
• The culture of working is not very strong, but fees have to be paid. People are used to handouts and camp life. So buying resources based on tuition money is a challenge. Of course, that’s a challenge for well-developed institutions too.
• The government has a lot of say in curricula. Personally I went through a school system in which the greatest number of subjects you could take at one time was seven; here you must take at least eight or nine subjects. In addition to academics, we want to focus more on skill-building: farming, tailoring, computer literacy, etc.
• We need expanded facilities. One of the challenges is to equip the laboratories, especially for S3 and S4 students. We also need many more buildings.
• The health of some students is poor. We don’t discriminate in admissions on the basis of a student’s health. As much as we don’t have capacity to take care of students—some lived in the bush and contracted different diseases—we still take them. So it’s a challenge to get to a clinic or hospital that is 8 kilometers away. When you go at least three times a week, which we do, it can be very expensive, and the roads are bad. If it was possible to set up a small dispensary, that would save us a lot of money.
• The average class size is too big in my opinion—it is 42. My wish is to have a class of 20 students so the ratio of students to teachers is better.

What is the tuition situation like? What is the breakdown of financial need?

Because of generous donations, every student at OCER is subsidized. When we go to statistics, though, as of March 2012 we have 30 percent of students (70 in total) who are sponsored. Eighteen percent of sponsored students are orphans. Of those sponsored students, one-third is sponsored by organizations here in Uganda, and two-thirds are sponsored by OCER. Students sponsored by OCER work for two or three weeks during the holidays. Now we are making an arrangement for students who need an extra uniform to work for an hour or two on the weekend.

What is the role of education in peacebuilding and reconstruction?

Look at OCER students. Outsiders know that students here are different. Students show respect and demonstrate equality. That respect is brought about education. It’s not regionalism. Respect is basic here, and it comes through education.

Where do you see OCER in two years and in five to 10 years?

When I reported here, it was the May 20, 2010. I saw that Father Tony [Wach] had made this motto of “Beyond Academic Excellence.” I saw we could do academics and several other things. I would like to see students graduating with academic and intellectual competence, but also with morals, love for each other, fear of God, and job skills.

We are still building a culture in staff. We hope to double the number of teachers to 30 teachers in two years. I’m also looking forward to that time when OCER produces basic foodstuffs. When we have 500 students, we’ll need more electricity. My suggestion to the Board of Governors is to halt expansion of the student population when we begin to offer S6 level (at 600 students). Let’s make sure we have the right culture and facilities, and then we can reach 1,200 eventually.

What are the greatest challenges facing northern Uganda? How can OCER play a role?

One challenge is the culture. Some parents don’t want their children to go to school. I have a parent who spends all her income on paying for her boy, but she won’t pay for her girl—she won’t even split tuition 50/50. But we still educate the girl here—she is in S2. Several parents don’t value education. They have their own business, so they say, “You don’t need an education to start a business. You’ll be okay in life.” We need to change that attitude.

You can see too that the priority of the government is not education. If you go to government schools, they have 1,000 students and 5 teachers, and half don’t show up to work.

I also believe there is a challenge in the way teachers are trained in Uganda. Part of it is a challenge with methodology—you are expected to do everything alone instead of collaborating with other teachers. The content of teacher education can be improved too. Also, we need to improve the way we relate to students. It’s normal for a teacher to call a student stupid. We need to revise the way we treat each other—maybe there should be a course on that in teacher college.

Do you have anything else you would like to comment on, perhaps on an issue that I have not addressed?

I hope for more opportunities for volunteers. I have seen the influence of volunteers—these students love volunteers. They want to play, talk, share experiences. Students sometimes prefer to share their experiences with volunteers instead of talking to us staff. More volunteers is something we could benefit from.