Teaching the girl-child in retirement

In 1993, Prof Victoria Nakiboneka Mwaka established Victoria Model Secondary School in Luweero Town Council as fulfillment of her dream to serve the less priviledged girl-child.
As such the Geography professor and retired politician, who served Uganda and Luweero District in different capacities, is now grounded in Luweero District serving through the secondary school she started to offer affordable education for the girl-child.

As teachers continuously decry their poor working conditions, Prof Mwaka believes they, too, have the ability to leave a legacy which can inspire others to work for the good of the community.
“Teachers should not die poor. We need to leave a legacy and retire from service to live a happy life. As I serve the nation through extending service to the girl-child, I implore fellow teachers to also live an enterprising life and outlive the notion where society believes that teachers should die poor,” Prof Mwaka asserts.

The dream
In the quest to serve her community, Prof Mwaka mobilised resources from her savings over the years to buy a 20 acre piece of land on which Victoria Model Secondary School seats. Her original goal was to serve only the girl-child, but the need to accommodate boys, who also need affordable education, has forced Victoria Model to accommodate some boys too.
Through her consistent promotion which started way back in 1969 when she began her teaching career as a secondary school teacher at Luweero Secondary School, Prof Mwaka rose from the position of assistant lecturer during her time at Makerere University, associate professor of Geography and headed the Geography Department at the university for 12 years between 1973 and 1991 before becoming a professor of Geography in 1991.

Her efforts in championing girl-child education are partly grounded on the opportunity she has had to serve in various capacities including being the first head of department of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University between 1991 and 1995 where she fully supervised and participated in developing the curriculum.
Serving on various women boards and commissions partly inspired her firm stand to serve the community in Luweero where she feels the girl-child still needs more attention.

As district Woman Member of Parliament for Luweero, Prof Mwaka contends that the challenges she faced were not only limited to serving the women as mothers of the country, but stretched to include the entire population.
“As a professional teacher, I feel proud to be part of a team contributing to nation building through serving the young generation. Adding value to the future of the girl-child and children in general is among my top priorities as a mother of the nation,” she reveals.

The hurdles
Prof Mwaka acknowledges that despite her rich CV, her career life has not been devoid of challenges. She, for instance recalls that as a new female professor, she had challenges supervising some of the male PhD students who did not believe that a woman would supervise them effectively at PhD level.

“While many Western male students fully paid attention and believed in my work, several of their African counterparts did not take me serious yet I was fully responsible for their respective future as PhD students,” she reminisces.
Despite this, Prof Mwaka is proud that she will leave a legacy behind.