In a short span of its history, Ocer Campion Jesuit College has evolved from a pre-secondary school to a fully-fledged secondary school. A school that started seven years ago with 35 pupils in the pre-secondary class now boasts of over 710 students.
On 26thFebruary 2018, the long awaited for advanced secondary section was unveiled. One by one, students streamed into the heavy monumental gate starting off their high school academic journey. The look on their faces explained it all: the new students were full of wonder at such a magnificent school located in an area that had once been torn by war. The former students who were here for their ordinary level education were filled with inexplicable joy to be back at the much loved and prestigious school.
Currently, there are 30 students in A Level, twenty of which are girls. Once a week, students are privileged to receive fundamental Christian teachings from the Jesuits. In a lesson referred to as Contemporary Christian Living, students are educated on crucial topics such as human rights, justice, morality and dynamics of life among other. In less than a month, students have been touched and changed in this engagement. Lilian Akumu, who’s offering MEG/ICT (Mathematics, Economics, Geography and Information Technology) attests to this, “I have come to know personalities that I did not know about, personalities such as Janan Luwum and Benedict Kiwanuka.” Lilian has also learnt that she has to fight for the rights of her people. It is undisputable that Ocer is training men and women for and with others.
Innocent Okello is one happy student who doesn’t hide his delight with being at Ocer. He sat his Ordinary Level exams here. With a wide smile, he speaks with a lot of pride of being an Ocerian. “It feels good, I am proud of Ocer and I love being here,’’ he says. He continues to say that he’s happy to be a pioneer and feels so privileged that he’s part of the students who are creating a culture that their successors shall embrace.
Like Lilian, Innocent offers MEG/ICT and his desire is to become an auditor. The ongoing Christian teachings have also impacted on him. “I had thought this lesson would be like Christian Religious Education but no, it is different. It is about putting one’s faith in action,” he says. “I am learning to work hard and smart. From these teachings, I have learnt that I have to reach out to the poor and disadvantaged people in my community, that’s the Christian way of living,’’ says Innocent.
It’s not only the students who are fascinated with this subject, the teachers are equally interested. Fr. Tony Wach SJ, the school director speaks passionately about this ‘unique’ subject. “We are Ocer and we are different, we are here to offer something unique to these students that other schools don’t offer” he says. Father Tony continues to emphasize that these teachings are not designed to turn these students into Jesuits rather to nurture them into morally upright and responsible citizens.