Govt to close substandard boarding schools after Busia fires

Government is embarking on a countrywide audit of all boarding schools, with an aim of closing those operating illegally without required minimum standards, authorities have announced. 

Education ministry director for the standards department Francis Atima said they are not going to sit and wait to see innocent lives lost again because of “negligence by selfish school proprietors.”

Atima was in Busia District to investigate the cause of a Monday morning dormitory fire at Victory Nursery and Primary School that left four pupils dead and destroyed property worth unspecified millions of shillings.

“Here, we established that the owner of the school has no licence and does not meet any requirements to operate a boarding school,” Atima observed.

He added that “the burnt dormitory was congested, had double-deckers that were long outlawed by government, while the rooms lacked the required ventilation and did not provide any emergency exit.”

According to Atima, a dormitory is supposed to have at least two doors and windows, which can be used by students or pupils in case of any emergency.

“So, even if they (school administration) came requesting for a licence to operate a boarding section, we would not grant it because the school does not meet any criteria,” he emphasized.

Atima later visited Bill and Polly Nursery School, also in Busia District, which suffered a dormitory fire the next day (Tuesday) and ordered for its immediate closure.

“We have found out that this school did not have a licence from the ministry of education and was using small rooms that look like toilets as dormitories. Therefore, we have closed it with immediate effect,” Atima disclosed.

He noted that “it was fortunate that at the time the fire broke out, the pupils were having lessons, otherwise, all of them would have perished.”

At Bill and Polly Nursery School, Atima was flanked by Principal Education Officer in-charge of basic education Safina Mutumba and the commissioner in-charge of private schools Mary Mate.

Mutumba, who represented the commissioner for basic education, said whereas the ministry had issued minimum standard guidelines to the various stakeholders in the department to supervise and ensure compliance, there appears to be issues of compromise.

She said they had spoken security authorities urging them to enforce compliance in all schools.

Mutumba told Monitor that they established that Busia District has “a lot of gaps” in implementing the policy of minimum standards in schools, warming “that they will soon move from school-to-school in the entire country.”

Earlier, police arrested officials for allegedly allowing schools to operate illegally within Busia Municipality without clearance from the Ministry of Education.

In a related development, first lady and education minister Janet Museveni paid tribute to the four pupils who perished in the fire at Victory Nursery and Primary School.

In a message read for her by Mutende, Museveni delivered Shs21 million, with each of the families of the four children receiving Shs5million for burial expenses, while Shs1million was given to the family of the injured pupil to cater for medical bills.