Govt school with only 25 desks for 500 pupils
Pupils leave a classroom at Gore Primary School in Lapul Sub-county, Pader District, on April 2, 2024. The school lacks enough desks to accommodate the learners. Photo/Gladys Lakareber
What you need to know:
- Mr Michael Ojok, the chairperson of the PTA, told Monitor in an interview at the weekend that parents have laboured to raise funds to support the purchase of more desks.
To enable her 77 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) candidates to sit their 2023 examinations with comfort, Ms Josephine Akello, the head teacher of Gore Primary School in Lapul Sub-county, Pader District, had to convene a meeting with the school management.
“It was easy to convince the school management committee and the Parents and Teachers’ Association (PTA) to allow the school to spend more than Shs350,000 to hire a truck to ferry desks from a neighbouring school,’’ she said at the weekend.
Despite the school priding in having a Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) centre number, the few desks could not cater for all the 77 candidates.
The Uneb policy indicates that a desk should be used by a child and if there is a critical condition, then invigilators can allow candidates to sit two per desk.
“We only have 25 desks, which cannot accommodate all the pupils in the school,” Ms Akello said.
As the 2024 PLE preparations start, Ms Akello said together with the school management committee and the PTA, they are raising funds to enable them to hire trucks to bring desks from the neighbouring school.
The Monitor has established that, from Primary One to Primary Six, the classes are empty with no desks and only Primary Seven candidates are accommodated with a few desks.
“Apart from a few Primary Seven pupils, all other candidates sit on the floor because the desks are not enough,’’ she said.
The school is a government-aided institution with more than 538 pupils.
According to Ms Akello, the year in which the school got desks from the government through the district education department was about 20 years ago.
“At the moment, that is the dilemma. This is a flood-prone area and as much as the classes are cemented, the vapours that come from the cement affect the pupils and their books,” Ms Akello said.
Mr Michael Ojok, the chairperson of the PTA, told Monitor in an interview at the weekend that parents have laboured to raise funds to support the purchase of more desks.
“We are aware of the issue of the desks. We informed the sub-county and the district about the challenge. And as parents, we know that the school has only 25 functional desks and we are raising funds to support the school, but the government should come to our rescue,” Mr Ojok said.
“In 2023, the sub-county transported for us desks to enable our children to use them for their exams, but with this [low] new revenue collection system, they may not help and we will have to look for funds to bring more desks from other schools,’’ he added.
Mr David Komakech Lam, the secretary of education in Pader, said: “The district is aware of the plight of the learners and they are only waiting for the sub-county to put it among the priority plans for the next financial year.”
“As the district leadership, we will assess the conditions at hand so that our candidates have a conducive environment for exams,” he added.
Ms Margret Alanyo, the Pader District Education Officer, said the school head teacher needs to apply for more desks through the sub-county.
“We are handling many challenges according to the facilities we have on the ground. If she needs more desks in her school, let her apply for them through the sub-county, we will send her priority to the district then it will be worked on in the next financial year,” Ms Alanyo said.
