Kateregga makes the most out of education

On a sunny afternoon I visit Prof Badru Dungu Kateregga at his home in Buziga a Kampala upscale suburb.
In a calm voice, made husky with age, the retired educationist cuts a figure of a man comfortable in the evening of his life.
Prof Kateregga, 71, has retired to manage Kampala University in Makindye Division which he established while working for government.
He has been the vice chancellor at the university since it was founded in 1999.

Builds dream
He reveals that while growing up, he had always harboured a dream of running his own university.
He retired from Makerere University in 2014 after realising that he had to concentrate more on his dreams by giving more time to Kampala University which he had started years earlier as part of his retirement plans.

He says he planned on time and built his house when he was a lecturer at Makerere University.
The educationist shares tenets of planning for retirement, encouraging workers to secure their future by investing in income generating activities.
“It is very important to plan for retirement while active. Make sure you buy assets, especially land,” he says.

Planning
The professor explains that the beauty of enjoying retirement is being able to fix your bills and he says he comfortably enjoys his retirement.
“Sometimes I spend at least three days at my home enjoying my life without stress,” he says.

Advice
Prof Kateregga contends that in this era the youth have to plan earlier for their retirement unlike for them who grew up in an era when jobs where readily available both in government and the private sector.
“I remember during our last year at Makerere University, car sellers would contact us asking us to book given the fact that they were always aware that we would easily get employed after university and we would get money in time.”

He says that in the current era, retirement plan should start immediately when one joins university and he rallies the youth to be innovative other than waiting to get their dream jobs.
Growing up he says he had as many opportunities and took advantage of many of them for instance at 25, he was dealing in sugar and coffee.

“One needs to try out many things and whenever you fail you learn lessons and improve, it is upon you to try many things to get one which you can stick on and do better,” he says.

Early life
Prof Kateregga attended Kabasanda Junior Secondary School from where he joined Kibuli SS.
He credits the inclusiveness of the school curriculum of those days for equipping him with the basic life skills that contributed to his remarkable career.
“Schools those days where very practical and put a lot of emphasis on what you are going to become. My teachers helped shape me into an educationist,” he says.
Indeed after finishing his studies at Kibuli, Prof Kateregga was retained by the school as a junior teacher. For his services, he earned Shs1,000 per month.

In 1970, he went to Makerere University from where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Arts in 1973.
He emerged the best student in History, Religious Studies and Philosophy in the faculty of Arts at Makerere University.
His subsequent enthusiasm and hard work opened more windows of opportunity.
He was soon rewarded with a scholarship to the University of London, at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
While pursuing his Master’s degree, he specialised in Middle Eastern History and Islamic studies.

At the end of his course and upon his return, he was appointed a full time lecturer in the department of religious studies and Philosophy in the faculty of arts at Makerere University.
In 1986, he lectured briefly as a visiting professor at the Mennonite University in US. At the beginning of 2010 he was awarded the Doctorate of letters and title of Professor Emeritus by the Senate of Kampala University.