Pupil dies in school fire

Teachers and the Southern regional fire officer, Mr Clyde Ssembuusi, look at some of the destroyed property of the girls dormitory of Nyendo Modern Primary School that was destroyed by the fire on Tuesday night. Photo by Isa Aliga

Masaka- On Tuesday night, fire gutted a dormitory at Nyendo Modern Primary School, leaving one pupil dead and another injured.

The deceased has been identified as Hasimat Najjuko, 12, a Primary Two pupil and daughter of the school director, Ms Ramulah Nakyeyune.
Ten-year-old Aisha Nakimera, a Primary Three pupil, sustained serious burns and was rushed to Masaka Regional Referral Hospital. The incident occurred at 1am.

According to eyewitnesses, the fire started at a corner of the lower class girls’ dormitory and quickly spread to the rest of the dormitory fueled by the highly flammable mattresses.

A somber mood engulfed the whole school as parents and close relatives rushed to check whether their children had survived the inferno. Mr Moses Sseguya, the director of studies at the school, said there were 25 girls in the dormitory, but many managed to escape through the windows.

“I sleep near the girls’ dormitory and when the fire started, I heard screams coming from the dormitory which prompted me to come out.

On reaching there, pupils were all scattered. I believe this is the work of an arsonist,” he said.
Sseguya said, although they thought all the pupils had been evacuated, they were shocked to learn that Najjuuko perished in the fire.

Fire fighters arrived shortly. The biggest part of the dormitory had been burnt down and part of the roof and inner walls had collapsed.
Mr Bernard Ssembusi, the regional Fire Brigade commander, blamed the incident on poor wiring, which resulted in an electric short circuit. He said there was too much smoke which affected their efforts to contain the fire in time.

“Wiring in the dormitory was poorly done and our preliminary investigations indicate that this led to the fire.
The dormitory was also overcrowded and pupils were sleeping on the outlawed triple-stacked bunk beds,” he said.

Mr Stephen Kakembo, the Masaka Municipality principal education officer, said the school was among the 20 schools they had ordered not to open because of failure to meet the set operational, safety and security standards, as stipulated in the Education Act, 2008.

“I had already instructed the proprietor not to open for the new term. Iam surprised they opened. This is unacceptable and we are going to take them to court,” he said.

This incident comes a day after police had warned school heads against ignoring safety guidelines as the new school term opens on September 7.

In the last decade, the country has suffered a spate of fires, which have caused loss of lives and property. In 2013, six schools, including Kawempe Muslim SS, Maryland High School, Kibibi Junior School, Light College Katikamu, Moyo SS and St Leo’s Junior School in Masaka suffered fire incidents.

This raises concern for the safety of pupils and students and parents have called on police to investigate the matter with haste.