No country can develop without investing in teachers - Prof Mulumba

Prof Mathias Bwanika Mulumba envisages an education system that does not only teach learners theoretically but gives them practical skills. The latter will help them become self-employed and also add value wherever they go. For example, when he became dean, one of his goals was to ensure that the School of Education at Makerere University makes subjects practical-oriented.

“We teach chemistry through which you learn about making liquid and solid soap. I envision chemistry students learning this from the time they are in secondary school.  Even, students learning languages should be prepared to go beyond class to become emcees. In the event that they drop out of school, they have a skill that can enable them survive in the work environment,” Prof Mulumba says.

Collaboration

The academic’s thoughts are elaborately captured in a concept note he co-authored with colleagues about empowering teachers with skills so that the school not only prepares teachers who are going to disseminate knowledge in schools but are in position to help students gain skills from what they have learnt.

Currently, he is engaging student leaders under the Makerere Education Students’ Association.  They are guided by the Makerere University Research and Innovation Fund which has availed more money to go into schools and retool teachers into a practical-oriented education.  As a result, lecturers and students are broadening their knowledge into the kind of education that will be beneficial to students.

“We plan to ensure the retooling of lecturers this year and later, we shall go into secondary schools to train them on making our education system practical-oriented,” he says.

Education background

In 2011, upon completion of his degree  he was appointed assistant lecturer and went on to become a senior lecturer in 2013, after completing his Master’s in Education Language and Literature Education.

In 2016, he became an associate professor. 

Later,  Prof Mulumba was appointed dean in July 2021, becoming one of Makerere University’s youngest to hold the position.

“The element of hard work has been important in my journey. I am relatively still young and I have tried to work hard to grow in my career,” he explains. 

Indeed, he has been a high flyer. When he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Education, History and Luganda Language, he narrowly missed attaining a first class degree. After completing his masters, he went on to pursue a taught PhD, still in education.  The taught PhD had just been introduced at Makerere University. As such, most of his colleagues pursued a research-based PhD. 

The difference between a taught and research-based PhD is that the latter involved a student developing a concept and submitting it to the directorate of research and graduate training for evaluation and allocated a doctoral committee or supervisor.

For a taught one, the student must attend lectures and take on courses pertinent to his or her programme, undertake coursework and sit for examinations. 

Rising  through ranks

Upon graduation, he became head of department at 35 years of age. 

“It was challenging because I was leading people who were older than me. What I decided to do was to make my leadership a consultative one. You have to consult your colleagues whether junior or senior,” he further explains.

Now, he is supervising six PhD and nine master’s degree academic programme students. The School of Education has three departments, namely Department of Foundation and Curriculum Studies, Department of Science, Technical and Vocational Education and Department of Humanities and Language Education. 

The school has 64 academic staff members and about 30 support staff.  It has close to 4, 000 undergraduates and 250 graduate students.

“I am glad that we are getting many more graduate students than ever before and of course the university policy is to decrease on the number of undergraduate students and increase on the number of graduate students because we believe that so many universities have come up, both public and private which can take on undergraduates. We have capacity to produce graduate students for other universities,” Professor Mulumba says.

If the academic met the minister of Education, Janet Museveni, he would tell her to come up with a research fund in teacher education. 

“I believe that no country can develop unless it invests in its teachers. The ministry has come up with many innovations, for example, the new lower secondary school curriculum but for us to realise its benefits, we need to invest in research so that it can inform the practice. 

Some research has been done but I believe more has to be done to ease the retooling of teachers for the new curriculum,” the dean of the School of Education at Makerere University argues. 

Challenges and solutions

Some of the challenges he has met include balancing leadership, academic and professional growth. “Before I became dean, I was head of department for seven years where I had to ensure that the key mandates of the university are well-taken care of. 

That meant that lecturers were teaching and carrying out their research and engaging with the community as well as day to day administrative work too.”

To handle and mitigate the challenges, Prof Mulumba says he manages his time. He reports early to work to write papers so that by the time colleagues and students come in, he has accomplished some administrative or academic work. 

“God has guided me throughout my career and journey. I thank my parents who inculcated in me a God-fearing spirit when I was still young and I developed patience. You cannot be a teacher if you are not patient. I have always sought knowledge from the time I was in lower classes. I love reading and sharing with colleagues and peers,” he says.

As a class monitor, teachers would entrust him to dictate notes to his peers. To his recollection, that formed the foundation and growth of the element of teaching in him.  Again, in secondary school, he was entrusted to read notes to fellow students and at university too. Standing before his peers boosted his self-esteem and confidence. It also nurtured his aspiration and interest in becoming a teacher.

Even in Covid

Today, amidst changes Covid-19 has introduced to the education sector, the 48-year-old still firmly and proudly continues to serve as a committed educationist. He observes that the pandemic has not been all gloom because it has helped to open minds. 

“For example, we now have blended learning where we teach students physically and engage them online. Covid-19 has taught us that there is a lot we can innovate around us. When they closed borders and Covidex came up plus use of herbs, it is proof of us looking at issues beyond our tables,” he explains.

Work experience

Prof Mulumba’s work experience spans from secondary school where he taught at Naalya Secondary School and St Mary’s High School in Lungujja as a teacher of Luganda and History for five years. 

His research interests include, teacher education, reading, indigenous languages and indigenous knowledge, language planning and management. His PhD thesis completed in 2011 titled Management of Language Education Programmes and Training of Language Teachers in Public Universities, did not only provide insights into teacher education, but also outlined several loopholes in the preparation of teachers in public universities. 

It has revealed that the quality of teachers produced from public universities is wanting and cannot teach effectively at the secondary school level. 

Also, teachers lack critical pedagogical content knowledge.  

Consequently, he has carried out research and published articles to do with the subject. 

Among such articles are; Improving student teacher knowledge-base in language education through critical reading, Enhancing the reaching culture among graduate students through emerging technologies, Using Activity theory as a base to investigate language teacher education through digital technology’ and Reflections on indigenous knowledge systems embedded in language teacher curriculum. 

As a result, he has carried out extensive research on teacher education.  

Prof Mulumba is currently the country coordinator of an IDRC-funded research project between Makerere University and University of Zambia in Consortium with Zambia Open Community Schools. 

The project is titled Scaling the School Readiness Initiative by Strengthening School and Community Capacities for the Adoption of Play-based Learning  started in February. 

He is also the principal investigator of the project titled, Teacher training and job market demands in secondary schools: Integrating employable skills and knowledge in teacher education curriculum in public universities in Uganda. He is the principal investigator and overall supervisor of the project that won in 2019 and has just received more funding. 

The project aims to increase the employability and entrepreneurial skills of graduate teachers through identifying the teacher training needs and streamlining them with the secondary education requirements for effective teaching and learning.  

He boasts of more than 15 years’  experience in curriculum and materials’ development.  In 2013, he was hired as a language expert on the Lower Secondary School Curriculum, Assessment and Examination Reform Programme (Curasse) at the National Curriculum Development Centre, Uganda (NCDC) which resulted in the New Lower Secondary School Curriculum that was rolled out in February 2020.  

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