Uganda school boasts of presidential alumni

Elements of liberty and freedom is what has placed Ntare school a step ahead of other schools in Uganda. It is one of the leading secondary schools in the east African nation with its alumni in almost every city of the world.

The school boasts of nurturing two sitting African presidents; Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.

Jimmy Taryagyenda is the current headmaster of the school. He compares life in the 1950s and now.

“The truth is that the students who left Ntare School in the 1950s in the 1960s couldn’t believe that for instance you could have a gate and close it when you are coming to Ntare School. Most of them believed that you know you are supposed to go to town and come back to study,” he said.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda was in Ntare between 1972 and 1976 and the president of Uganda – Yoweri Kaguta Museveni attended the same school much earlier in the 1960s.

Students here believe that from this school they can become whoever they want to be.

“Alumni of this school, most of them are heroes. President Museveni who is the current president of Uganda, there is Paul Kagame the current of Rwanda and other people who have been successful they have been studying from Ntare. Therefore even me I wanted to be a hero, I said that I must go to this school,” said Twinomugisha Conrad, a student from Ntare school.

An average Ugandan school would not compare to Ntare or even the caliber of alumni it produces. It is arguably the only government school far from the capital city Kampala that still competes comfortably against other schools.

Students pay about 2,500 dollars per term – a fee most Ugandan parents can’t afford.

But things have since changed. The former students think the quality of teaching is not as high as it used to be.

The hope is to raise more presidents from every school and not just Ntare. But that is a far cry.