Encouraging girls to participate in co-curricular activities is one of the key ways we can use to eliminate gender stereotypes, unlock their potential and ultimately raise a generation of young empowered women ready to take on the world, says Josephine Namusoke Ssempewo, the headteacher of St Peters Primary School, Nsambya, writes Owen Wagabaza.

“Encouraging girls to participate in co-curricular activities is one of the key ways we can use to eliminate gender stereotypes, unlock their potential and ultimately raise
a generation of young empowered women ready to take on the world,” says Josephine Namusoke Ssempewo, the headteacher of St Peters Primary School, Nsambya.
According to Ms. Namusoke, co-curricular activities play a significant role in the holistic development of students, yet, often times, girl children are reluctant to participate in extra-curricular
activities because of the gender notions that exist in society.

“Studies have shown that activities such as sports come with lots of benefits that are vital in raising an empowered generation, notably self-esteem, self-confidence and improved academic performance. By not participating in
co-curricular activities, our girls miss out on these important values at an early age. At St Peters Primary School, we have made it a policy to encourage everyone especially the girls to participate in co-curricular activities,” Namusoke, who heads arguably the biggest primary school (in terms of enrollment) with a population of over 3,600
pupils says.

The educator is also in support of the new O-Level curriculum that encourages vocational education, saying it is a game changer that will go a long way in freeing women from economic poverty and dependency.
“Education plays a crucial role in promoting gender equality. It is a powerful tool that can help break down gender stereotypes and empower women and girls to reach their full
potential, but until we address all the factors that lead to gender inequality, such as poverty among women, gender equality will remain a dream for many of us.

With the high rates of unemployment in Uganda, it is important that we encourage our girls to learn a commercial skill so that in case they are through with education but cannot fi nd jobs, they can start something
for themselves with the skills they acquired, earn money and be economically independent,” says Namusoke, Namusoke, however, regrets that she is not offering such skills to her learners due to limited resources “I manage a Universal Primary
School with very limited resources. The capitation grant is very small to enable us offer such as service to our learners. The government needs to have a rethink in regard to the resources they
give us to run these schools,” she says, further calling on parents to keep girls in school.

“Our catchment area is mostly slums and here, most parents are financially challenged. As such, they opt to pay for the boys and leave girls at home. More advocacy is therefore
needed to encourage such parents to keep girls in school and enable them complete their education.

Who is Namusoke?
Ms. Namusoke has been at the helm of St Peters Primary School, Nsambya since 2020. Prior, she served as a deputy head teacher of the school from 2004 until 2018, when she was posted to St Joseph’s Mapera Primary School, Nabulagala as head
teacher. Here, she served for two years, until 2020 when she was reposted to St Peters to replace the retiring Francis Ssenabulya.
Insiders however, say the short spell at Nabulaga was purposely to act as a training ground. Namusoke’s style of management includes delegating, team work, consulting, and continuous engagement with
all the stakeholders. “With our numbers of learners, each class is a mini-school. We therefore have class heads with whom we sit with together with other top administrators to discuss the achievements
of the week, the challenges and come up with action points,” says Namusoke, adding, these meetings are not chaired by the head teacher, but rather the teachers on duty, thereby not only grooming leaders, but also enabling
others to be active in the school activities.

Together with the team, Namusoke has, for example, worked hard to maintain proper sanitation at the school, making sure that the school is clean Monday to Monday. In the same regard, they also ensure that the pupils
are smart. “We are a UPE school with a big number of our students’ population coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, but that has not derailed us from ensuring that our pupils are
smartly dressed in the school uniform,” she says. In the same regard, she emphasizes discipline despite the fact that the school’s catchment areas are slums such as Katwe, Kikubamutwe and
Kamwanyi as well as academics, through continuous staff training, and regular assessment of the learners. “Here, every term, we assign a full week of interaction with our parents, so that no parent is left out. In the recently released Primary Leaving Exams, the school registered 121 first
grades from a sitting of 516 pupils.

At St Joseph’s Mapeera Primary School Nabulagala, Namusoke came up with several innovations that transformed the school in the two years of service. Then, she convened a meeting with
parents and convinced them to support their children stay in school by introducing compulsory lunch. “With the lunch fee, we were able to save and motivate the teaching staff
with a small top up allowance, and all these greatly improved on the school’s academic performance,” she says. Namusoke also improved on the school infrastructure by renovating
dilapidated classrooms and also introduced urban. “This not only occupied the teachers but they also got some income out of it. She also introduced a teacher’s Sacco to encourage saving among staff,”
she says.

MESSAGE

Discipline, academics Namusoke emphasizes discipline despite the fact that the school’s catchment areas are slums such as Katwe, Kikubamutwe and Kamwanyi as well as academics, through
continuous staff training, and regular assessment of the learners.