Parents reject crumbling school
A boy stands at the entrance to one of the classrooms whose doors and windows are falling off. PHOTO BY Joseph Kato
Mukono. As the first term opens for most schools countrywide, it will not be the case for Bugolombe Primary School in Ntenjeru Sub-county, Mukono District.
A visit to the school by Daily Monitor last week revealed a distressing state of the school buildings.
There are large cracks on the walls, and potholes on the floors.
The classrooms have neither windows nor doors, and have become habitats for animals. The classrooms are filled with unpleasant smell of animal droppings, including human waste and have no furniture.
A teacher at the school, who preferred not to be named for fear of reprimand, but has been at the school for more than six years, said: “Some children sit on the ground. The children leave class looking like they have been in the garden because of this [dusty floor],” he said, adding: “We have tried to seek help from the district but our efforts have not been fruitful.”
Pupils’ views
Murshid Kamya, a Primary Five pupil said: “Teachers do not teach us English yet our parents do not have money to take us to better schools.” Another pupil, Benon Wantate added that some lessons end in the morning and they spend the rest of the day playing. While another pupil Justine Nansubuga said whenever it rains, they get wet because of the holes in the roofs.
The pupils also claim their teachers ask them to carry hoes from home and work in the teachers’ gardens. When they forget to carry them, they get a beating for it.
Parents’ take
Parents told Daily Monitor they have unanimously resolved not to take their children back to the school. “We shall keep the children at home till the government renovates the school. They will stay at home until we get money to take them to better schools” Justine Nabatanzi, one of the parents said.
Some parents, including Yosam Kamawu, have opted to shift their children to other schools because of the poor state of the school, and lack of teachers.
“If all the teachers shun the school, who will teach the children? Government should know that not all parents can afford to take their children to good schools. This is the only government school in this area,” he said.
School authorities
Mr Christopher Kimbowa, the chairperson of Parents and Teachers Association (PTA), said officials from the district planning authority visited the school and hired workers to renovate the buildings. “They renovated only two classrooms. Afterwards they told us to sign a document claiming they had used Shs12m. We refused,” he said.
However, head teacher Jacob Ntawu said the school has a plan to construct new buildings but does not have the funds to do it yet. “The district planning authorities have recently visited the school. They have promised to start working on the structures as soon as possible,” Ntawu, who joined the school last year, said.
District authorities
But the district education officer, Mr Vincent Balaza, refuted the allegations that they had been informed about the situation at the school. “I got the information through a journalist. It is the role of the school management to detect anything bad and inform us in time,” he said on telephone.
He also dismissed claims that the district had sent people to renovate the school but left the work incomplete. “It could have been an arrangement by the sub-county (Ntenjeru) leaders. Since we have now got the information, we will soon start doing what we can to arrest the problem,” he said.
Lost glory
Mr Kimbowa says he studied at the school, and it was one of the best performing schools in greater Mukono, which combined Kayunga, Buvuma and Buikwe districts. “No candidate passed in first and second divisions in last year’s primary leaving exams. It is absurd that the school has lost its glory,” he said.
About the school
Bugolombe is a Catholic-founded primary school. It was built in 1930 by the missionaries. Despite it being in a bad condition, it remains the only national examinations centre for more than 12 schools in the sub-county. Currently, the school has less than 200 pupils yet it used to have more than 800 students.
While releasing last year’s primary living exams, Uneb secretary Mathew Bukenya said out of a total of 604,971 candidates who registered for PLE exams, 78 per cent were UPE beneficiaries.
