Varsity teacher weaves his magic over girls' grades

Published: 8/25/2007

By: KENNETH OGOSIA (sent by Nicholas Mireri)

Prof Gilbert Ogutu inspects a guard of honour of girls from various schools in Kisumu district. Photos/KENNETH OGOSIAEvery school holiday, St Barnabas Girls' Bar Korwa Secondary changes its name. It becomes Siwindhe Girls' Centre, a fitting name for what goes on there.

And like Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry in the popular Harry Potter series, Prof Gilbert Ogutu sets out to spin his own brand of magic. Siwindhe is a Dholuo name for a traditional old woman's hut, where girls slept and received moral lessons from elders. It is here that the university lecturer waved his magic wand over girls from Nyanza's secondary schools and produced 37 grade As in 2006, from nothing since 2000.

His only aim is to improve their performance, and since 2004, when the Nyanza provincial commissioner, Mr Aggrey Mudinyu, gave him the task of revamping education standards in the province, even the sky has not been the limit. Prof Ogutu assembles the girls at the school every April and August holidays, and with a team of high profile teachers, shapes the future of girls whose academic records had plummeted to alarming levels. It all started three years ago when the 65-year-old University of Nairobi lecturer attended an education meeting on improvement of academic standards in Kisumu.

After listening to issues causing the declining standards, he decided to help. And when he was appointed chairman of the provincial taskforce on the improvement of education standards, and started the exclusive girls remedial teaching programme last year, his approach was dismissed as old-fashioned and boisterous public theatrics aimed at seeking personal credit. Some headmistresses refused to nominate their best students to mix with others from schools they believed were inferior.

But the professor came out spitting fire and took the war to their school gates. "I first visited all the districts in Nyanza and inspected schools despite murmurs from some quarters. My team identified reasons (for declining performance) ranging from the socio-economic, administrative and political factors," he says.

Stand tall

The poor performance of girls in Nyanza had been worrying and while in his office facing the elegant Lilian Towers hotel in Nairobi, the lecturer's only hope is that the girls from his hands will one day stand tall in society. "Although my intention was not to undermine routine teaching in schools, some teachers felt that snatching their good girls from them even for a day would adulterate them yet peer cohesion and confidence building was lacking. Now all of us are in the same boat paddling the canoe to success," he says.

In offering his expertise, Prof Ogutu was also going back to do what he did in the 1960s at Maranda High School, says his former student, Mr Meshack Ogejo. "He was my teacher in secondary school and I know that he has the determination, capacity and vision to achieve results," says the retired English teacher. Students who attend Siwindhe come from academic giants such as Lwak Girls, Ng'iya, Nyabururu, Moi Nyabohanse and Asumbi. They are joined by 40 other schools from the province to move closer to university "gates", courtesy of Prof Ogutu's efforts. Back at school, they offer what they have learnt to the other students.

While for a long time boys have been the ones in the frontlines each year, trying to keep Nyanza in the academic radar, girls had been doing the opposite. Thanks in no small measure to him, the girls are now featuring once more in competitive professional courses such as medicine, law and engineering. An orphan who got an A- in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination cannot thank the Siwindhe teachers enough.

Nancy Njago Okoth lost both parents before she could sit the examination at Lwak Girls and efforts put by the teachers and herself were not in doubt, save for a tradition of dismal performance in the province.

When the gates of Siwindhe were opened, she breathed a sigh of relief. With the extra tuition, she was sure she would pass with flying colours.

Scooped awards

Mr Fred Onyuna tells the story of the Siwindhe success with a philosophical statement: "Classes and buildings are just to give shelter. The success of Nyanza depends on the role models who can offer their brains to be picked by the younger generation."

Apart from his work with the girls, Prof Ogutu is a well-known scholar locally and internationally. He has scooped awards in global peace issues and religion. He studied at Usenge intermediate school, then Maseno National School, Makerere University, Oxford and the University of Nairobi where he teachers religious studies and philosophy.



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