Established 1953 Number of students 892 (2011) Faculty 32 (2011) | Motto "To learn to serve" Founded 1953 | |
Type Public Middle School and High School (8–13) Headteacher Churchill Olanya Lacere Athletics | ||
Sir Samuel Baker Secondary School is a boys-only boarding middle and high school located in Gulu, Gulu District in Northern Uganda. The school is named after Sir Samuel White Baker (8 June 1821 – 30 December 1893), the British explorer, officer, naturalist, big game hunter, engineer, writer and abolitionist.
Contents
Location
The school campus, measuring 137 hectares (340 acres), is situated off the Kitgum-Gulu Road, approximately 6 kilometres (3.7 mi), by road, northeast of the central business district of Gulu, the largest city in Northern Uganda (pop:152,276 in 2014). The coordinates of the school campus are:2°48'46.0"N, 32°19'27.0"E (Longitude:2.812778; Latitude:32.324167).
History
The school was opened in 1953 by the Governor of Uganda Protectorate, one Sir Andrew Cohen. During the next twenty years, the school established itself as one of the best secondary schools in the country, in the areas of academics, sports and achievement of its alumni.
When Idi Amin staged his coup d'état in January 1971, the standards at the school began to decline. Teachers and students began to vacate the school as they were ethnically targeted. Academic standards began to decline. There was a brief respite between 1980 and 1985, during the Obote II regime. However the decline was accelerated when the National Resistance Movement captured power in 1986. This led to a 20-year civil war in Northern Uganda, with the school campus at the centre of it, as the Lord's Resistance Army rebels invaded and ransacked the school, making it near-impossible to teach or learn.
In the period between the cessation of hostilities between the UPDF and LRA on Ugandan soil in 2006 and 2010, the Government of Belgium in collaboration with the Government of Uganda, renovated the school at a cost of UGX:6 billion (approx. US$2.4 million in 2010 money). The Belgian government contributed 81.7% of the funds (approx. US$1.96 million), while the Uganda government contributed 18.3% (approx. US$440,000). The renovated school was commissioned in April 2011.
Academics
Subjects offered at "O" Level include:
At "A" Level, subjects offered are categorised into Arts and Sciences. The Arts subjects offered are:
The Science subjects offered are:
Subsidiary Mathematics and General Paper are compulsory subjects and students are required to choose one to offer with their three chosen Arts or Sciences subjects.
Prominent alumni
Former students of Sir Samuel Baker Secondary School include the following: