Govt springs to rescue of school after Monitor story

Plans are underway to renovate dilapidated structures and also construct more classrooms at Bugwere High School, Namirembe in Budaka District.

 The Education ministry through the World Bank-funded Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer (UgIFT) programme will spearhead the Shs6 billion project.

This comes after this newspaper ran a story on May 29 about the sorry state of the school’s buildings that forced the administration to turn a grounded school bus into a classroom for optional subjects such as Literature in English.

Established in 1972, the institution is one of the traditional government-aided secondary schools grappling with the high enrolment (nearly 3,500 students) under the Universal Secondary Education programme.

Headteacher Azizi Walumoli told Saturday Monitor that the Education ministry has agreed to renovate and expand the school’s infrastructure this financial year.

Mr Walumoli further revealed that Ms Ketty Lamaro—the ministry’s permanent secretary—has pledged to construct more classrooms, administrative block, multi-purpose hall, science laboratory, library, teacher’s quarters and pit-latrines.

Bugwere High School currently has 16 rickety classrooms despite being described by its headteacher as “ one of the oldest academic giants of Bukedi [Sub-]region.”

Mr Walumoli also disclosed that only 12 teachers reside within the school and nearly 50 others rent outside its premises.

“The staff quarters unfortunately are so dilapidated. Some of the roofs are leaking, some walls have developed cracks, and they are poorly ventilated,” Mr Walumoli said, adding that his May 8 address to Ms Lamaro did its best to capture this sorry state of affairs.

The school currently has 102 teachers instead of the required 120. Only 25 of them are on government payroll. This means the others are catered to under a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) arrangement.

“The school has a burden to pay salaries and yet the capitation grant is not supposed to cater for payment of teachers,” Mr Walumoli revealed, adding that a constricted envelope has forced the school to “use part of the [capitation grant].”

The government pays each student Shs55,000 for those at O-Level and 85,000 for those at A-Level. It also picks the tab for Uneb fees of learners who are eligible to write their final examinations.

Mr Walumoli said the school is also struggling to manage huge debt, which now stands at Shs200m. A water bill that averages Shs1.5m each week is the standout millstone round the school’s neck.

Mr Walumoli said the school spends more than Shs1.5 million per week on water.

“We tried to drill a borehole, but unfortunately the topography [that includes underlying rocks] makes it very hard to access water,” Mr Walumoli, who is the 11th headteacher to run the school, said.

Under the USE programme, Bugwere High School receives Shs142m per term instead of Shs200m.

Mr Arthur Wako Mboizi, the Budaka County lawmaker, said there is need for the government to allocate special funds for traditional schools.

“We are glad that the government  plans to support this school because it is  one of the oldest traditional schools in this region,” he told Saturday Monitor.

Mr Felix Kirya, the chairperson of PTA-Bugwere High School, said failure by the government to adequately support the school in terms of expansion of infrastructure has landed telling blows.

“Despite these challenges, the school still makes us proud in the region due to its exemplary academic performance. It’s one of the giant schools that has produced outstanding personalities in this region,” he said,

The chairperson of board of governors, Mr Yoab Kasolo, said they had for long waited for the renovation of the school.

The District Education Officer, Mr Paul Higenyi, acknowledged that many structures at the school are dilapidated.

“We only call upon the government to speed up the programme so that the school is rescued,” he said.