Terrific teachers: They don the uniform, they get the results

Vincent Obaga looks every bit like his pupils at Urudi Primary School, where he teaches Kiswahili and mathematics, only that he’s quite older than them.

An amiable person with a kind word and a smile, Mr Obaga is one in a million – a passionate teacher who enjoys a healthy relationship with pupils and the star of the staffroom.

A trailblazer in many ways, three years ago he came up with a wild idea to boost enrolment and inspire pupils to stay focused and perform better when he chose to wear the school uniform. Yes, the same uniform.

While many thought he had gone bonkers, the strategy actually worked as within a few months, the community saw it in a different light when the learning environment changed for the better. 

At the time, Mr Obaga was the head teacher at Precious Elite Academy in Narok County, a region that often prefers the traditional lifestyle and would rather train their boys to be warriors than take them to school.

“As a strategy to boost enrolment and cultivate a good relationship with my pupils, I dropped officialdom to wear the school uniform. It worked wonders as academic performance improved,” he recalls.

And so, when the Teachers Service Commission offered him a job in January last year and posted him to Urudi in Nyakach, Kisumu County, he moved in with his special tactics.

“When I reported to my new school, I approached the head teacher and floated the uniform idea, to which he was initially opposed to. Luckily, I was able to convince him. When I first started wearing the uniform to school, some members of the community thought that another mad man had invaded their village,” offers Mr Obaga, 29.

Urudi head teacher, Mr James Sagimo, approved his new staff member’s dress code with a tinge of uncertainty as he had doubts about its effects on performance. But time is always the best teacher.

More than a year after the experiment, Mr Obaga has registered a remarkable improvement in performance.

“His wearing of the uniform has reinforced discipline and pupils’ loyalty to their school as cases of absenteeism have dropped. Within a short time, he became a darling of everyone and many parents came to school just to have a glimpse of the teacher who wears the uniform,” says Mr Sagimo.

On a typical day, Mr Obaga wakes up at 5am and gets to school by 6.30am to prepare his pupils before lessons begin at 8am.

“I lead them in singing and morning prayers. This has helps me to complete the syllabus on time,” says the father of two, who teaches Standard Five and Standard Six and goes by the nickname ‘Mtoto Mkubwa’ (The Big Child) in the staffroom.

Uniforms enhance unity and break the barriers between the rich and the poor. They make it hard to spot a rich or less privileged pupil. In Mr Obaga’s world, the uniform makes all of them look equal. It makes the children feel free around him.

“Most children treat me as their peer and prefer confiding in me whenever they have problems at home or with any issue in school,” offers Mr Obaga.

During break time, he freely mingles with pupils by playing football and other games as he joyfully runs around the field.

“Since most of the children come from humble backgrounds and have no shoes to play with, I always have to remove mine to make them feel comfortable. Some children in lower classes would follow me to the staffroom whenever they fail to see me on the pitch,” says Mr Obaga.

He takes advantage of his special relationship with the pupils to counsel them and has saved many from illegal activities or those who had failed to stick to the norms.

“He’s a very understanding teacher. He makes his subject very easy for everyone to follow and he’s always available to assist even in subjects that he doesn’t teach,” says a Standard Six pupil.

The head teacher says Mr Obaga’s neat uniform has also had a powerful effect on the dress code in the school community.

“Because of him, we have resolved to introduce a school tie from next term after the children requested to have the outfit and look like their teacher,” says Mr Sagimo.

Mr Obaga, who hails from Nyamira County, hopes his style will leave a lasting impact on the pupils and inspire the community to embrace education. On the economic side, he’s had better deals in the market because of the uniform. What, else, did you expect?

“My wife does not shy away from walking with me in public while I’m donning the school uniform. I am sometimes treated like a pupil and even pay less when I board public service vehicles, or when I visit the barber shop,” he says.

Miles away at Kisii High School, Mr Fred Mogaka is reading from the same script. Actually, he’s been doing it for eight years. Yes, eight good years in the grey and white of the school located at the foot of Kiong’anyo hills.

Mr Mogaka, 46, is the principal and has taken several measures to reward performance and improve student-teacher relations. The mathematics and geography teacher says as a curriculum manager, he must be a role model to his staff members.

“In my previous school, Riokindo Boys, the head teacher – Mr Omari – taught me many good lessons until the last morning he was going into retirement. He taught me to be humble and be a good leader,” he narrates with nostalgia. “Throughout my career, I have presented a class for the final examinations without fail.” 

In his career spanning over two decades, his love for the school uniform continues to stand out, attracting mixed reactions from his peers and students.

“Where I am the principal, students will never strike. We may have issues, disagree, but I am confident they will never be learning disruptions,” says Mr Mogaka.

Pointing out that he has broken down the ‘social distance’ between the learners and teachers by ‘being one of them’, allowing students to confide in him.

“I began wearing uniforms at Riokindo in 2013, where I was the deputy principal, much to the excitement of students,” recalls Mr Mogaka.

The staunch Seventh Day Adventist says his love for music was the first activity that drew him closer to students. “During Sabbath rallies, I would sing with them and would easily be identified in my suit, so I decided to start wearing uniforms to fit in,” he offers.

The move worked well and gradually led to a strong connection that made students identify with him, sharing their concerns, always seeking his advice.

“Sometimes, I wore the uniform to gather intelligence. We were able to stop illegal activities in school, such drug and substance abuse. We would at times sneak into dormitories and listen to random stories, take into account their concerns and in the end, address them,” offers Mr Mogaka.

To challenge his students, he introduced the principal’s dinner, which seeks to inspire top performers. He treats the top three in each class to a sumptuous meal at a four-star hotel. He also gives a goat to the best performing class.

“I also seek to meet underperformers and the recently hosted 10 students to a dinner at my residence. They had scored more than 400 marks in KCPE but dropped by the time they got to Form Three,” says Mr Mogaka, who studied under challenging circumstances as he comes from a polygamous family.

Having attended underprivileged primary and secondary schools, he seeks to inspire his students to do better because they have good facilities.

For a man who sold groundnuts and newspapers before joining university, Mr Mogaka says there is need for students to be self-driven, have a sense of responsibility and hard work.

His dream is to see Kisii High excelling in all disciplines, including extra curriculum activities such as sports, music and drama.

“With a population of 2,300, there is no reason of not producing the best in every field. We will introduce fee waivers to students who excel in both classwork and extracurricular activities,” he says.

The music director at his local Masimba SDA is also the leader of his family choir, christened King Family Chorale, which is composed of his wife and four children.     BY DAILY NATION