KIU, Western Campus – According to UNESCO, World Teachers’ Day - which falls annually on October 5 - commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. This Recommendation sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions. The Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel was adopted in 1997 to complement the 1966 Recommendation by covering teaching and research personnel in higher education.

At one point or another in our lives, we go through the trusted hands of teachers who take care of us right from the moment we gain the basic levels of understanding.

With most of our parents struggling to put food on the table for us, they entrust us with our teachers, who become our bonafide parents right from our toddler years until we morphe into full-grown adults.

It is no wonder, therefore, that most of the time, we develop a high degree of attachment to our teachers to the extent that we value them so highly way even after we have completed our education.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor for KIU Western Campus, Prof Patrick Kyamanywa and the Executive Director of KIU Teaching Hospital, Prof Robinson Ssebuufu developed that kind of attachment to one of their teachers.

During the first-ever White Coat ceremony at KIU Western Campus on March 9, the two gentlemen, who are distinguished educators in their own right, spoke of their reverence for one of their teachers, Rev. Dr Sam Luboga, the Chairperson of the Education Service Commission who had been invited to the ceremony as guest of honour.

I too at one time developed an almost overpowering fondness for my teacher of Literature in my A’level at Mbarara High School. Master Ham, as we fondly called him (out of respect we never called him by his surname) was a parent both in the classroom and outside of it.

It is no wonder that under his tutelage, I became one of the best performing students in literature in the whole country in that year's national examinations.

So, as this day, which somehow unfittingly comes only once a year passes, we should take the day to appreciate that special teacher who has made a lasting impact on our lives.

Happy Teacher’s Day to all the teachers at Kampala International University!

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