Ocer has been bustling with activities both inside and outside. We just reopened after a two months holiday spanning from December 2024 to January 2025, a characteristic of the Ugandan system of education. The students are back, most of them elated after surviving the cut mark that allows them to proceed to the next class. It was also in the course of this term that we conducted interviews for our prospective senior ones, this is to enable us to lay a proper foundation and get suitable students in line with our desirable profile, which is not only to get individuals who are academically apt but also possessing other valuable qualities. We ran our interviews from different centers that includes Ocer-Gulu, Lira, Nebbi, Nwoya, Adjumani, Kampala, Moyo and Arua. The smooth running of this process that saw a successful completion, with the selection committee settling on about two hundred and ten students to be admitted at our school, was enabled by a very dedicated team of staff including Jesuits, who travelled to all these regions in sourcing for a balanced representation with a national outlook.

A section of the Staff discussing the issue of accompaniment and safeguarding.

Ocer Campion is one of the AJAN Centres that undertakes AJAN projects in accompanying young people. As part of its mission, Ocer Campion fosters personal growth, resilience, and social responsibility among students through mentorship, leadership programs, and holistic education. These projects focus on empowering the youth with critical life skills, addressing social injustices, and fostering a deeper sense of service to the community. By integrating AJAN’s values into its educational framework, Ocer Campion continues to nurture well-rounded individuals who are not only academically equipped but also morally and socially conscious.

Caption: (Photo on the Left) One of the staff presenting his group deliberations during the Child and safeguarding workshop and (Photo on the Right) The CVAPO at Ocer taking the staff through the Ignatian Model of Accompanying students and the policy.

Prior to resumption, the staff had a week of being taken through different workshops, including Financial literacy, Child protection and safeguarding, retooling in the Lower Secondary School Curriculum and we ended the week with recollection and mass. The child and safeguarding training was very significant, as it laid down ground for our implementation of our OCJC updated policy. We built it on an Ignatian foundation, what we termed as Ignatian Model of Accompanying Students (IMAS).

Celebration of the Eucharist after staff recollection.

The goal of IMAS was based on three main principles. Firstly, it was to help us expound the purpose of Education in Jesuit tradition, secondly, is to build a strong culture of mentorship or foster parenting, in line with Ignatian accompaniment. Thirdly, is to cement our identity as a Catholic, Jesuit mixed school and lastly establish and promote a culture of safeguarding within our spaces. Questions were raised as you would expect, issues were clarified and at the end of the day, the staff were issued with two copies of the policy expected to commit themselves to protecting our little ones, themselves and the institution. All in all, we have started the first term, looking forward to a brighter and better year, considering also the Jubilee year of hope and the call by Pope Francis to be pilgrims of hope.

By, Michael Odhiambo, SJ

Ocer Campion Jesuit College, Uganda.