The College History

St. Joseph’s College Ombaci is a boys boarding secondary school which was opened in 1943. The School was originally meant to train sons of war veterans who fought during the Second World War. St. Joseph’s College Ombaci started as a technical school. The plan and initial design of structures for the school was done by a Comboni brother, Bro. Antonio Biasin whose father was an engineer. This explains the similarity in plan and structures with St. Joseph’s College, Layibi since Bro. Biasin worked in Gulu as well. The Comboni brothers who started the school were expatriates in technical projects. The Director of the school at the time was the former Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries, Fr. Peter Simoncelli. Fr. Simoncelli was later replaced by Fr. Luigi Ponzoni, who served for at least 10 years. Fr. Luigi Ponzoni took the school to great standards. As such, the school had a syllabus that was superior to the syllabi of most schools in Uganda. During this period, the school did very well in national examinations. Owing to the school’s academic excellence that time, a British Inspector of Schools was send to the school to investigate the alleged exam malpractice but instead he found that the results were genuine. He was impressed by the school syllabus as a result the syllabus was adopted as a blueprint for the whole country! Special thanks go to early missionaries who did a great deal to make the school what it is now. Thanks to Bro. Antonio Biasin, Fr. Luigi Ponzoni and Fr.Lino Zucco for the construction of staff houses. Among the early teachers were Bro. Elio, Bro. Bulagro, Bro. John Bonafini, and Bro. Fochasato John. Besides them were lay teachers such as Mr and Mrs Gouffini; and, Mr. John and wife Joe. In 1963, the government passed a drastic Education Act. Under the Act, the government took over administration of all mission schools in Uganda. Two years later, the school was changed to a secondary school under Fr. Luigi Ponzoni who recruited its pioneer O’level students. By this time there were very few secondary schools in Uganda. The Local community was very happy of this development whereas the Comboni Missionaries were not pleased because Ombaci missed the chance of becoming a renown technical college like Kyambogo (now a University). As a result some of the Comboni brothers withdrew from the school. In 1975, the DEO Alfred Ocen called a meeting during which he offered to revert the school to its technical status but it was too late partly because the Comboni brothers had left the school and also because the machines were outdated. In 1965, Fr. Luigi Ponzoni fell sick. He was taken to Italy where he died two years later and was replaced by Fr. Lino Marco Mich in May 1965 as Headmaster. Fr. Lino Mich served for 18 years and died in a motor accident in Nairobi. Just a year before his death, the Advanced Level section was started in 1982. In 1983, after Fr. Lino Mich, Mr. Abiriga Hercules was appointed as Headmaster to run the school. He served up to 1994. From 1994, Mr. Andresile Adrian took over as caretaker Head teacher before handing over to Mr. Andrionzi John in 1995. Mr. Andrionzi John served up to 1998 before succumbing to an abrupt death. In 1998, Mr. Juruga Augustine took over the reins and served up to 2010 and retired. Following Mr. Juruga’s retirement, Mr. Akuma Atiku Sanctus was appointed by the Board of Governors as Caretaker Head teacher and served up to 2012. After his transfer, Mr. Tumwesige Andrew was appointed as Caretaker Head teacher in 2012 and thereafter appointed as the full Headteacher of the school and served up to 2017. At the beginning of the 2018 he was transfered. Following his transfer, Mr. Ondoga Charles was appointed by the Board of Governors as a care taker Headteacher and is serving the school upto date. The College History

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