How Cyprian Ssebulwadde found a teaching career

Service. Cyprian Ssebulwadde has spent 40 years in a classroom. He started teaching in 1981 after completing his grade II from Busuubizi Teachers College. 

What you need to know:

  • Cyprian Ssebulwadde has spent 40 years of his life in a classroom. Although he did not choose this career path, the teacher grew to become passionate about shaping young minds and has been rewarded to see some of his pupils take up leadership positions in the country.

Cyprian Ssebulwadde’s entry into the teaching profession was not out of liking but it is what his guardian could afford at the time.  

“I was told to go for the teaching profession, that is how I joined the profession,” he recounts. 40 years later, Ssebulwadde is still at it, waking up every day to teach pupils mathematics. He started teaching in 1981 after finishing his grade II from Busuubizi Teachers College. 

At the time, demonstration schools used to pick teachers from colleges before they were given out to other schools. Ssebulwadde was picked to go to St. Alphonse’s Demonstration School in Nkokonjeru by the principal of the college. Unfortunately, he did not like the station, in Nkokonjeru because it was very far from his birthplace of Masaka, so he decided to go to Masaka and asked for placement at St. Claire Nkoni Primary School where he taught for a month.

However, not wanting to let him go, the school would pick him from Masaka and take him to St. Alphonse’s Demonstration School. Like that, Ssebulwadde taught in two schools during his initial teaching spell.

His heart was not settled. He had attended and completed primary school at St. Savio Junior School where his uncle and guardian taught. “I went to tell him that I was moving away from Nkokonjeru and the teachers who were with him told him that since I was good at mathematics, I could fill a vacant post at the school,” he recalls.

Finding a new home

That is how he left St. Alphonse’s Demonstration School and joined St. Savio where he taught history and mathematics. At the time, he taught Primary Five. The school only had three classes, Primary Five, Six and Seven.  St. Savio Junior School would receive pupils from Mugwanya Preparatory School, Kabojja which operated classes from Primary One to Four.

Both primary schools were established by Brothers of Christian Instruction and as such collaborated on ensuring pupils’ education continuity. In addition to teaching history and mathematics, Ssebulwadde engaged pupils in co-curricular activities of music and football.

In a short while, he was given additional responsibility as a games master and music teacher. 

In 1984, St. Savio won the national music trophy. The school’s games’ performance was also in good ranking in Wakiso District and later on at national level.

The teacher becomes a student 

It was awarded trophies of intermediate and junior games organised by the Ministry of Education and Sports. To fortify his education, he started saving towards enrolling for further studies and upgrading to a grade III teacher which would also assure him of improvement in salary pay.

He undertook his grade III academic upgrade at Kabale Teacher Training College for three years, up to 1985. On completion, he returned to Savio and continued teaching. After 10 years, he applied for a two-year diploma course at Nkozi National Teachers College at the Mitala Maria campus.

St Savio Junior School, Kisubi, was founded in 1954 by The Brothers of Christian Instruction. Apart from attending the school, Cyprian Ssebulwadde also taught at the school. PHOTO | COURTESY

He graduated in 1996 after which he returned to St Savio Junior School for another six years. 

“I think my performance was good, that is why they tolerated my departures all the time to go for further studies,” says Ssebulwadde. 

Along the journey, he proved himself as a teacher and due to his pupils excelling, he was rewarded with promotion to the position of a class teacher and later on as an assistant Dean of Studies. 

Taste of leadership

In 1999, there was a need for a head teacher at St. Charles Lwanga Primary School Kawuku in Wakiso and Ssebulwadde’s name was tabled. 

The head teacher of the school by then, Brother Emmanuel Lugemwa approached him and told him about the opportunity.

“I told him I did not want to go. I had started a family and my children studied at the school (St. Savio). He told me to go and promised to support me where necessary. I agreed and went and took up the leadership at St Charles Lwanga Primary School, Kawuku,” he shares.

He narrates, “I do not want to praise myself but I think I did a lot while at the school. I went there when they had never ‘tasted’ a first grade. The year before I went there, the best pupil had had 18, the next one 23, and the third one 23. I told my teachers never to mind about the first grades but to eliminate the failures because I found 25 failures but as we eliminated the failures, the graph was also raised up.”

During his first year as head teacher, the school managed to get a first grade in Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and seven pupils came in second grade. The following years, seven pupils acquired first grade and the school had no failures. He was both a head teacher and a mathematics teacher. 

“I told them that I was not going to allow anybody to teach mathematics as I was going to teach the pupils myself. It helped a lot because what I wanted was for the teachers to see that we needed to show love for the profession and make pupils love learning mathematics as a subject,” he recollects.

He adds his active participation in teaching ‘forced’ the teachers to go to school in time for their lessons because they knew if they delayed, the head teacher would be present to know and reprimand them for failing their plan to help pupils achieve good grades.

Unfortunately, the school relied on external support and when it reduced, he couldn’t be duly paid so the proprietor suggested that they contact the district education officer (DEO) to help register the school as a government school.

“When St. Charles Lwanga Primary School became a government school, all teachers were private. I couldn’t be paid so I left,” he recalls. 

Finding a home

In 2001, he joined Kabojja. “When I arrived here, I started as a classroom teacher. I was promoted to become a class teacher. A need for two deputies arose and Brother Ssengendo appointed me  deputy head teacher,” he shares.

He was also head of the music department and led the school to a number of wins at drama and music festivals thanks to a concerted effort with the subsequent head teacher, Brother Godfrey Lutaaya, an avid lover of music.

“We do not know what the pupils will become in the world so we teach them academically but also expose them to other activities beyond the classroom as a way of developing their talents too,” educationist Ssebulwadde further explains.

Kabojja has repeatedly won and defended the National Music Trophy organised by the Ministry of Education and Sports ministry. “Pupils who are 13 years and younger, have innocent minds. What you teach them is what they take. When you teach them properly, they learn and comprehend,” he adds.

For a man who joined teaching out of the need to simply find a profession, Ssebulwadde has developed love for imparting knowledge and developing skills.

“During my lifetime, I have taught children who have gone into influential leadership positions in the country, up to the level of becoming Members of Parliament (MPs). The happiness of a teacher is to see the success of his pupils because wherever we go, we get assistance from them,” says Ssebulwadde.

Ssebulwadde adds his voice to many more, about the need for improvement of the remuneration of teachers. “If teachers are paid what they deserve, they concentrate on their work. If the teachers’ salary is made better, I think education will improve,” he adds.

Brothers of Christian Instruction

The Brothers of Christian Instruction also known as the De la Mennais Brothers is a Christian educational organisation founded in 1819 by Gabriel Deshayes and Jean-Marie de la Mennais for the instruction of youth.

Their aim remains that of their Founder : “to educate the young and to make Jesus Christ better known and better loved”

On June 16, 1819, Gabriel Deshayes, pastor at Auray and vicar general of Vannes, and Jean-Marie de Lamennais, vicar of Saint-Brieuc, two Catholic priests in France, established the Brothers of Christian Instruction. Formally recognised by the Catholic Church in 1890, this organisation dedicated itself to promoting education among the working class in France and, eventually, across the world.

They vowed to carry the message of the gospel and the rudiments of knowledge to every child in need throughout the region and received Catholic papal approval in 1890. 

The congregation of the Brothers of Christian Instruction grew, soon extending their mission into Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt, Spain, England, Canada, and the United States.