Unlike many teachers who used the long break to just rest, besides doing lots of exercises to become muscular and reading lots of books to sharpen my mind, I pondered on what can be done to make Mwisho wa Lami Primary School great again.
As you may already know, under the leadership of Mrs Skastina Majani, whom everyone calls Bensouda, we cannot for sure say that this school is headed in the right direction. Everything is collapsing – buildings are in a terrible state, the fiscal planning – sorry, financial management for those who do not read widely – is anything but transparent. Teacher commitment and student discipline is at its lowest. It is no wonder that in this year’s KCPE exam, we had the worst results ever.
All this got me thinking, and I decided that it would be irresponsible of me to just sit back and do nothing. Someone needed to do something to make this school, once more, the pride of Mwisho wa Lami. And its environs.
So, during the last week of the holiday, in the midst of sorting out the electricity issue with someone whom I am not so sure is a genuine Kenya Power employee, I was putting together building blocks that will make this school become great again.
I identified three critical areas that needed attention: Student discipline, community involvement, and teaching methodology review. These three things, if addressed, would take this school to the next level!
But I also know that although I have the natural ability to lead, I may not necessarily have the best ideas, so I decided to get a few trusted people who would help build the plan. I went for experience, people who have a history of involvement in making the school great in the past.
First in mind was Lutta. Lutta is a former teacher of this school, who was transferred when he questioned Bensouda’s handling of finances. I also thought about Kizito, a former staff member who is now headmaster of another school, and is almost retiring. The two may have left our Mwisho wa Lami Primary, but they never left our village, meaning they could still help improve the school.
The third person I decided to work with was Hitler. Many of you know Hitler for his potent stuff, but you will be surprised to hear that when this school was performing well, when everyone was proud of Mwisho wa Lami Primary, when we were excelling in academics and ruling in extracurricular activities, Hitler was the PTA chairman. I could surely bring back his mojo.
I approached each of them individually, and I am happy that they all accepted to play a role. “I really would like to see the Mwisho wa Lami of old back,” said Kizito when I called him. “And I am happy you are taking the lead, for I don’t think Bensouda is keen on improving the school, she is too lazy.”
Hitler, too, accepted, saying Bensouda had never set foot in his home. “My home is where everyone comes, where everything is discussed,” he told me. “How do you run the school without knowing what people are saying about the school?” He went on: “No wonder the school is collapsing.”
We held our first meeting last Monday at Hitler’s, sitting a distance from the rest of the patrons. I took the team through my initial thinking. They all agreed with my three pillars of Discipline, Community Involvement and Teaching. The only thing we added was benchmarking with other schools.
“In my school, we really focus on the student, not the teacher,” said Kizito, going on to explain how this worked. This really explained the good performance of the school and I thought it was something worth copying.
“You are right Mwalimu,” I added. “In Mwisho wa Lami, the HM just focuses on teachers, and any time she thinks of students, it is always just class eight or seven.”
“No matter how much you do with class eight students, if they did not have a great foundation from lower classes, you will be wasting time.” Kizito then ordered a full bottle from where we filed our glasses as we drank and talked.
“That is why I am proposing a bottom-up approach to teaching,” I said, feeling inspired. “We start with the lower classes going up, not focusing on just candidates and teachers.”
“You have nailed it,” said Lutta, reminding everyone that that was the approach in Mwisho wa Lami’s glory years. I was tasked with taking minutes and calling for the next meeting.
“When do we implement the plan?” asked Hitler, eagerly.
“I would like to implement the plan immediately,” I said. “But Bensouda likes a top-down approach to issues; I don’t think she will listen to it.”
“Let us keep improving the plans,” I added. “I will implement it when I become the HM, once Bensouda leaves.”
“That is exactly what I am thinking about,” said Kizito. “Under Bensouda forget about our plan seeing the light of day.
Soon, on seeing we had a full bottle, Nyayo and Saphire joined us, and we pretended to be discussing other things. I can’t wait to become the HM so I can implement our bottom-up approach to learning, and take this school to the next level! The school’s best days are yet to come!
