Rakai fire: Govt to close schools over safety needs

Kampala. The State Minister for Primary Education, Ms Rosemary Seninde, yesterday said they have given schools up to January to implement laid down security guidelines to be allowed to open next year.
Ms Seninde said all education institutions have guidelines concerning security measures which they must follow.
“We are now closing the term and the year is ending. We are going for holidays. We believe schools will put in place what is missing when the term begins next year. Security of our children is a key issue that all our stakeholders must appreciate.

We shall not allow schools which do not meet minimum standards to open,” Ms Seninde said.
The Directorate of Education Standards assistant commissioner, Ms Frances Atima, yesterday said many institutions have failed to follow guidelines and appealed to head teachers as first inspectors and their supervisors; the school management committees representing government at primary level and boards of governors at secondary level to do their work for effective performance.
Ms Atima said a July 7, 2008 letter by the then Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, following a spate of school fires detailed security guidelines which all education institutions are supposed to implement.
However, she said many institutions fall short of the guidelines.
The letter indicates that the causes of fires then in schools were accidental and arson, and instructed all schools to have active safety and security committees for staff and learners.
It also required that schools control access by fencing off premises and installing monitoring equipment such as CCTVs, employ two guards on each building on a 12-hour shift, put fire extinguishers and buckets, among others.
Last year, the directorate closed more than 1,000 schools which lacked the minimum standards.
Eleven students at St Bernard’s SS, Maanya in Rakai District perished in a fire on November 12.