Schools send away pupils over earthquake damage

Risky. Mr Joseph Kamya, the head teacher of St John Mary Mzee SS Bigadda, shows cracks in a school pit-latrine caused by the earthquake which hit the area in September last year. PHOTO BY IVAN KIMBOWA

What you need to know:

  • The damage. At least 13 schools had their structures damaged following the earthquake.
  • Mr Solomon Ssonko, the Rakai District chief administrative officer, said they have already assessed the damage on all the structures in the 13 schools and submitted a report to the Prime Ministers’ office.

RAKAI. Students and pupils in six schools in Rakai District that were severely hit by earthquake early this month have been sent back home by the school authorities, two days after they reported for third term.
The classes developed enormous cracks following the earthquake that killed 16 people in Bukoba Tanzania and left more than 500 homes ravaged in Mutukula, Rakai District.
More than 100 houses collapsed in the parishes of Minziro, Kanabulemu and Gwanda, whereas 32,00 structures developed serious and mild cracks, forcing more than 4,000 people to abandon their homes and seek shelter under trees and banana plantations.
Hundreds of learners affected are in primary schools of Arise and Shine, Kakuuto, Sacred Heart Bigada and Kampangi and St John Mary Mzee Secondary School.
Mr Francis Nyanzi, the head teacher Kampangi Primary School, the only government-aided primary school at Minziiro parish in Kyebe Sub –County, said he has been forced to send back pupils fearing that the classrooms that developed cracks could collapse on them.
“We have very few classrooms and allowing pupils to use those with cracked walls will be putting their lives in danger,”Mr Nyanzi said.
Mr Nyanzi said prior to the start of the new school term , he contacted the district authorities and asked them to carry out an assessment on the safety of the schools and whether they are habitable, but has to date not received any response from them.
“The district education officer has only advised me to mobilise funds from the community to meet the costs of renovating the damaged structures,” he added.
But mobilising funds from parents to renovate damaged structures is likely to be a daunting task since parents were equally affected by the September 10 earthquake; whose epicenter was about 40km away inside Tanzania and many are struggling to rebuild their own houses.
“Almost all our parents here are also victims of earthquakes and are still toiling to reconstruct their own houses using the little money they have and it would be very difficult for them to contribute towards constructing new pit- latrines and renovating damaged classroom blocks,” Mr Nyanzi said.
Mr Joseph Kamya, the head teacher St John Mary Mzee SS Bigadda, said they started the new term with a Mass for the students, especially candidates who were affected by the earthquake at home.
“Students in candidate classes must sit for national exams in whatever condition and the school must continue with its timetable despite the situation we are working under now,” Kamya said.
Apart from schools whose classrooms developed cracks, toilets too also got damaged and some completely collapsed.
At Biiwa Primary School at Kyakatuuwa Village, Mutukula boarder, the head teacher, Ms Jane Benuza said the collapsed pit-latrine had just been constructed by the district to cater for more than 300 pupils after the one that was being shared by both boys and girls got filled up at the beginning of the year. “Yesterday (Monday) I was forced to send pupils back home at 12am as we could not keep them around without a toilet,” she said
She said pupils from three classes had started studying under tree shades due to serious cracks in one of the classroom blocks.
Mr Solomon Ssonko, the Rakai District chief administrative officer, said they have already assessed the damage on all the structures in the 13 schools and submitted a report to the Prime Ministers’ office.
“We have inspected all the school structures and we are sure they cannot be of any danger. Most of the classrooms can still be used as government looks for funds to renovate them,” he said yesterday.