The jubilee has provided, to former and current students, a fitting opportunity to reflect on their lives. But for achievers elsewhere, the celebrations also provide a chance for soul-searching geared at exploring ways of giving back to the schools and institutions of higher learning that shaped them.
Weruweru Girls’ Secondary School has been in the news lately for good reason. It is one of the outstanding educational institutions. And it is marking its golden jubilee today. The Weruweru alumni in the ‘Who is Who’ list includes former Deputy UN Secretary-General Dr Asha Rose-Migiro, Legal and Human Rights Centre Executive Director Dr Hellen Kijo-Bisimba, National Institute for Medical Research Director General Dr Mwele Malecela and Ambassador Mwanaidi Maajar. Besides being bright and devoted students, these women and a chain of other high-profile achievers owe their success to long-serving headmistress Mama Maria Josephine Kamm (1970-1992), thanks to discipline enforcement, a motherly disposition and mentorship.
It is only human that many Weruweru students were not particularly fond of the high-level discipline and an environment that demanded good results. Mama Kamm said as much at a symposium dubbed “Weruweru Girls Golden Jubilee: Fifty years of living the dream”, which was held in Dar es Salaam last week: “I know some of you regarded the strict rules and hard work as torture. But I knew you would later remember me for that. I am very proud of you.”
The jubilee has provided, to former and current students, a fitting opportunity to reflect on their lives. But for achievers elsewhere, the celebrations also provide a chance for soul-searching geared at exploring ways of giving back to the schools and institutions of higher learning that shaped them.
To that end, we salute former students of Dar es Salaam’s Institute of Finance Management (IFM), who marked its 40th anniversary this weekend, as Weruweru was marking its 50th.
They pledged to raise Sh600 million to meet part of the construction costs of the institution’s proposed new location at Msata in Coast Region’s Bagamoyo District.
Alumni get-togethers should go beyond hugging, back-slapping and reminiscing over the glorious and not-so-glorious days of their youth, as well as delightful re-connections with former teachers. The members of this elite club are the top cream in public service, the private sector and policy-making machinery. They are products of schools and colleges that were shining stars in their own right but whose fame declined due to problems that include poor staffing, demoralised teachers and lack of basic facilities. This environment cannot produce candidates for the Who is Who list save for a few exceptionally brilliant students. The problem stems mainly from the government’s inability to meet the demands of the education sector given limited funds and a raft of competing demands.
Successful people in society do, by extension, have big incomes and influence. They are big contributors--in terms of cash, materials and ideas--for brief celebrations such as weddings that nevertheless have budgets that run into millions of shillings. Wining, dining and dancing is alright but more attention should be focused on turning around the fortunes of schools and colleges that are centres for grooming resourceful nation builders as opposed to certificate holders with smiling faces in photographs depicting fresh but half-baked graduates.
