Coaching students started off my journey into teaching

At about 12:30pm, I enter the office of the head teacher of St. Cyprian High School, Kyabakadde. He is busy signing documents for students, that I later learn are gate passes for the candidates that had finished their exams.
“How do you hope to perform? I hope you will be flagged among the best students in the newspapers,” he tells one of the students.

From his interaction with the students, I quickly figure that Joseph Kamya is a teacher who is willing to interrupt his programmes to attend to his students.

Born in 1975 to Bernard Andrew Kamya and Mary Claudia Kamya in Nakifuma, Mukono, Kamya boasts of being a teacher even before he enrolled for the course.
“While I was in A-Level, I taught Technical Drawing to raise school fees. I know this sounds weird but it happened,” he narrates.

Although his real inspiration came from his History and Luganda teacher in Senior Three, he first studied Brick Laying and Concrete Practice at St. Joseph Technical School, Kisubi because that is what his parents could afford to pay for at the time. However, he says he did not like what he was training since his passion was in teaching.

Juggling school and work
After that training in 1997, he decided to find construction sites where he could work and save money to enable him continue with his education and fulfill his dream of becoming a teacher.

After some good time working without necessarily getting enough money, he met an old student, Lydia Kagoya, who was now a headmistress at Maryland High School, Kawaala. She asked him to train students in music at the school since he was good at it.

He did this for six months before he was asked to assist students in Technical Drawing. He was getting a salary of Shs60,000 and could not save enough for his school fees.

In 2000, he decided to go back to school, despite lack of a stable income. He joined Excel Secondary School for Senior Five where the school fees was Shs30,000 per term.

While at school, he used to work on construction sites, was a choir master at St. Johns the Baptist and St. Balikudembe Sub-parish and was still teaching technical drawing to be able to raise school fees.

Asked about how he was he was able to do all this at once, he said he explained to his supervisors such that his timetables could never clash.
“I remember buying a blue suit that I would wear all the time. In class I would remove the coat and while teaching, I would put it on to cover the badge,” he recalls.

However, Kamya regrets not getting any career guidance, which denied him a chance of being admitted on government scholarship at university. He says though he scored 19 points, he had not filled PUJAB forms, which made him miss out on chances of being admitted as a government student.

However, he enrolled as a private student at Makerere University for a Bachelors of Arts in Education. He majored in Luganda and History, which were his subjects of interest and in September 2005, he graduated as a teacher. This, to him, was the greatest achievement in his life.

Journey to the top
After graduation, he was called to train music at Seeta High School but was later retained as a fulltime teacher. He taught here from 2005 up to 2011 when Seeta Green Campus was started and he was transferred there as a deputy head teacher in charge of discipline and welfare. In 2017 he returned to Seeta High School main campus in the same position.

In October Kamya was appointed head teacher of St. Cyprian High School, Kyabakadde.
He says ever since he started teaching, his principles have been openness, hard work and resilience. He observes that though his principles have earned him a couple of enemies, it has helped him get good results in all the schools he has served in.
“Most of my students fear me because I do not tolerate mediocrity but I am glad that they appreciate my work after school because on a number of occasions I meet them and they thank me for shaping them,” he notes.

He advises teachers to get something else to offer to students in addition to teaching. For instance apart from teaching, Kamya counsels his students which helps them to not only be bright in class but shape morals.
“Teachers play a big role in a student’s life. If you do not guide the students, it might be difficult for the parents to guide them since we spend more time with them as compared to parents,” he says.

Kamya’s way up the ladder
Journey. After graduation, he was called to train music at Seeta High School but was later retained as a fulltime teacher. He taught here from 2005 up to 2011 when Seeta Green Campus was started and he was transferred there as a deputy head teacher in charge of discipline and welfare. In 2017 he returned to Seeta High School main campus in the same position.
In October Kamya was appointed the head teacher St. Cyprian High School, Kyabakadde.

Advice. He advises teachers to get something else to offer to students in addition to teaching. For instance apart from teaching, Kamya counsels his students which helps them to not only be bright in class but shape morals.
“Teachers play a big role in a student’s life. If you do not guide the students, it might be difficult for the parents to guide them since we spend more time with them compared to parents,” he says.