Inadequate facilities cripple education in Agago, Pader
Pupils of Ajali-lajwa Primary School in Ajali Sub-county
Agago District, gather for an assembly on March 21, 2025. PHOTO/ JAMES OWICH.
What you need to know:
- According to Mr Charles Labeja, the head teacher of Ajali Lajwa Primary School, the lack of learning infrastructures continue to impact the standards and examination performance of the school
A severe shortage of pit-latrines, staff housing and classroom blocks have been blamed for the continued poor primary education standards in Agago and Pader districts.
Findings from multiple schools sampled by the Daily Monitor last week point to boys and girls sharing pit-latrines while in other schools, learners share latrines with their teachers.
For example at Ajali-lajwa Primary School in Ajali Sub-county, Agago District, only Primary Seven class with an enrolment of 186 pupils sit on the 65 available desks in the entire school while the rest of the six classes sit on the bare floor.
Besides the lack of desks, it was established that the total 1,221 learners (males and females) at the school use the only three-stance pit-latrine block and that the dropout rate at the school has steadily increased.
Mr Charles Labeja, the head teacher of Ajali Lajwa Primary School, explained that learners, especially girls, find it hard to study in such environments, adding that a significant dropout rate continues to be registered in the school.
“In the school here, we have a total of 1,221 learners and of these, we have 629 boys but currently, we have only one block of latrine with serious stances. When you look at the pupil-to-pupil latrine ratio, it is so alarming. A single latrine door is being shared by 300 learners, which is not really to the standard.”
“Our children, right from Primary One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six, sit on the floor because there are no desks in this school. The total population of learners is 1,221 yet we have only 60 desks, and it is only P7 that use them, which is not proportional,” Mr Labeja stated.
According to Mr Labeja, the lack of learning infrastructure continues to impact the learning standards and examination performance.
“We are struggling, the floor of these classroom blocks is not good, the cement is no longer there and there is a lot of dust in the classroom. And it is a major challenge to our performance because when the learners are sitting on the floor, they cannot write well and won’t concentrate.”
Such learners drop out because of this sitting on the floor. Last year we lost more than 75 girls who dropped out and got married or eloped, Labeja added.
At Wanduku Primary School in Pajule Sub-county, Pader District where a new Shs87m eight-unit staff quarters was recently built and commissioned by World Vision, Mr Patrick Along, the head teacher, said it was the first permanent building for staff since the school was opened in 1954.
Mr Along said the majority of learners sit on the floor during lessons due to lack of desks. He added that the school has one functional pit-latrine block shared by boys and girls. The teachers also use the same facility.
The government school founded in 1954 had no accommodation for teachers until 2024 when World Vision Uganda in partnership with Sanlam, provided an eight-unit house.
“Our teachers were facing a lot of challenges with accommodation. They were residing in grass thatched huts. Our dream is to provide more accommodation to our teachers in the next five years,” Mr Along said.
Mr Geoffrey Odong, a teacher at the school, said the new staff house will not only provide comfort but also peace of mind.
“It will motivate us to impart skills to learners. I think teachers who left the school because of poor accommodation are regretting right now. Good accommodation is key in improving teaching and learning in school since it reduces the level of stress as well as absenteeism, “Mr Odong said.
According to statistics provided by World Vision Uganda, 87.1 percent of teachers in government-aided schools in Pader District still commute to school each day since they lack accommodation within the school.
This means only 11.9 percent of teachers are being accommodated within the school. The majority commute from outside school. This has significantly contributed to absenteeism among teachers.
Ms Margret Alanyo, the Pader District Education Officer said that teachers’ accommodation has remained one of the major challenges facing the education sector, adding that a large number of teachers stay outside school due to lack of accommodation.
The district is grappling with inadequate number of teachers. In some schools, the teacher pupil ratio is 1:100, above the one recommended by Unicef, Ms Alanyo said.
Ms Joyce Anek, the deputy chief administrative officer of Pader said: “Due to resource constraints, we will start the construction of teachers’ accommodation after we have provided desks to schools. This is because our learners still sit on the floor during class hours.”
At the weekend, Mr Fox Hannington, the Agago District senior education officer, said the 112 UPE schools in the district continue to perform badly in Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) because of inadequate staff accommodation, pit-latrines, classes and other learning facilities.
He was speaking at the commissioning of a new classroom block at Ajajli-lajwa Primary School in Ajali Sub-county, Agago District, built with support from World Vision.
According to him, the situation has steadily resulted in school dropouts among learners, with the majority of them being girls.
“In Agago District, classroom blocks are not enough and this is a huge problem for us. There are a number of these schools that have overcrowded classes, the standard ratio could have been 1:55. But now, like in Ajali-lajwa, you see that the number is up to 1:190, so the gaps are very big, the same gap with teachers,” he said.
