Highly Regretted:
An autobiography of a bad teacher
by
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Father was right. He knew that if I got a job it would be almost impossible for me to go on with education. I sincerely thank him very much for that stand that he took.
Many years later I confirmed father’s fear. I joined
After December 1972 I had rested enough. I needed a job but I didn’t get any. I tried, and father tried even more than me, to secure some part time employment. Attempts to use the District Commissioner to secure what used to be known as vocational jobs didn’t yield anything. The DC was my relative. Father’s sister had been married into his family. His son was in secondary school. He used to get the vocational jobs. They were always there in the DC’s office, but not for all students.
From the DC’s office my attention went to the education office. The boss was my own clansman. His wife was mother’s friend. I had hoped to be employed as an untrained teacher. Again my chance wasn’t there. I didn’t qualify to be employed as an unqualified teacher.
My clansman’s son got employed as an untrained teacher although he had not passed his East African Certificate of Education.
Finally, I didn’t fail completely. Through assistance of Stanley Imbuga Atumbwa, a cousin of my mine, for he called father koza, I got employed at the Kenya School Equipment Scheme, where he was its head, at a wage of five shillings per day worked. I don’t remember a month when my salary exceeded one hundred and twenty shillings. Tax was always deducted.
It was interesting that those junior secondary school student sons of senior civil servants earned hundreds of shillings each vacation.
WHEN a farmer sows a seed she or he wants a good yield from it. She or he puts the seed in the ground. It rots but many more seeds come out of the plant that germinates and grows out of the seed.
My movements to and from Moi Girls were God guided and unique. In the first instance I had not known that Iwould ever teach at
After our September 1975 three-week teaching practice we had gathered in various groups reviewing the exercise. Francis Chelot declared, “
We dismissed the school. We decided that at the end of the course none of us would choose the school.
“It isn’t the only place one can work,” Hesborn Mugadia, a teacher of History in the making stated.
A year later I was posted to
The TSC, a corridor of messes, confusion and bad heart from long ago to date, was full of complaining teachers. There were those who had been posted to bad places and those who had been appointed to teach what the TSC wanted them to teach.
When did moral decay in the society and in schools strike its fungs of destruction?
I recall in February 1972 myself and some of my friends were on half-term, travelling to
The bar had many beautiful barmaids and the men did everything bad that drunkards do with barmaids. At five thirty we left the bar and walked to the railway station to catch the train that was due for departure at six. Trains were normally never late and never waited for anybody.
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About the Book
You can do very many good things but you’ll be remembered most for one bad thing; and you mayn’t do many things but you’ll be remembered most for one good thing you didn’t do.
A moral society can only arise out of collective responsibility. The problem of drug and substance abuse is not new, and it is normally allowed to sprout and grow from early age.
Teachers are not angels. If you are a new teacher avoid the kind of mistakes that can lead you into problems but don’t cheapen yourself by succumbing to corruption.
Big keys in teaching are knowledge and love for students. Love teaching even if you hate your employer; love your work and you will enjoy working; love teaching and you will enjoy teaching.
But you don’t have to suffer because you love.
Tribalism and corruption are tools of the undeserving people who have been perched in top positions of organizations and systems. In teaching they are toxins that are unashamedly used in matters relating to examinations, appointment and promotion of teachers.
Demands for bribes breed destitute citizens and bitter hatred.
War against corruption demands personal commitment and sacrifice, patience and perseverance and government tools that produce justice for all by dealing with heartless greed forms.
Do goats and sheep go to lions and hyenas for justice begging not to be eaten?
In teaching waiting for pension is a harder uphill task than chasing salary increments and hikes. But nobody is condemned to end their career in the profession painfully and wait for meagre pension in agony as the yesteryears’ teachers have been doing.
About the Author
James Kemoli Amata is a retired secondary school teacher of Christian Religious Education and Kiswahili. He joined teaching out of love and loved teaching so much.
In over 30 years he taught in only three schools:
He taught devotedly, retired happily but bitterly waited for his over-delayed pension.
He is a
Today he is a warrior without tools for war against corruption, professional writer and an independent Tiens/Tianshi International Multi-Level Marketing distributor.
Among his writings are Kiswahili titles: Makosa Katika Insha Kwa Shule za Upili
Taaluma ya Ushairi, co-authored with Kitula King’ei
Muhtasari wa Tungo na Insha
INSHA: Usiteleze Katika Mtihani
Mwongozo wa Kipekee wa Mwisho wa Kosa
Mwongozo wa Kipekee wa Mayai Waziri wa Maradhi na Hadithi Nyingine
Mwongozo wa Kipekee wa Kifo Kisimani
Mwongozo wa Kipekee waUtengano
Kisa cha Zahara Mage
And one in vernacular (Ullogoli) Avasali vi Kivi