Kyenjojo pupils quit school over collapsing classrooms

KYENJOJO. Dilapidated school structures in Kyenjojo District pause a threat to lives of pupils and teachers, Daily Monitor has established.

Located in Tooro sub-region, western Uganda, the district has about 300 primary and secondary schools. However, dilapidated structures are a common sight in several of them.
In some of the schools that Daily Monitor visited last week, teachers and students had abandoned the structures and opted for tree shades.

In others, students and pupils have opted to stay away from school for fear that the condemned structures may fall on them.
Pupils’ enrolment at Nyabubaale Primary School, a government-aided school in Buntudunzi Sub-county, has reduced from 652 to now 500, according to the head teacher, Mr Wilfred Alinaitwe.

He said parents have withdrawn their children from schools for fear of ramshackle buildings collapsing on them.
The school that has only two permanent classrooms. Mr Alinaitwe said at the beginning of the term, the school was hit by a hailstorm that de-roofed five classroom blocks.
“We have been asking government and district leaders to intervene and help us by putting up the new structure because the situation is bad. We have been promised that next financial year, they will build for us two classroom blocks, which even are not enough,” Mr Alinaitwe said.

He said currently, the school management has been forced to conduct classes under trees while Primary Two and Primary Five pupils have been relocated to the nearby Nyabubaale Catholic Church.
The school was founded by the church in 1999 and was taken over by the government in 2008. But since then, government has constructed two permanent classroom blocks that accommodate Primary One and Primary Seven pupils.

Mr Alinaitwe said when it rains, all classes end as pupils take shelter in Nyabubaale Catholic Church.
At Nyakatoma Primary School, the situation is not any different. Mr David Agonza, the head teacher, said since the school started in 2006, it has been operating in dilapidated structures.

Mr Agonza said in 2008, government took over the school and promised to put in place permanent structures. To date, this has not happened, he said.
He said last year, two classroom blocks were destroyed by wind.
“We were helped by parents who put up semi-permanent classes. Students are now using incomplete classrooms and fear to use them. When it rains, classes stop and resume after,” Mr Agonza said.

At Nyamabaale Primary School, the head teacher, Mr Francis Muhwezi, said the school has only two permanent classes and others are dilapidated.
Mr Muhwezi said this is affecting the school enrolment that has reduced to 528 last year from 600.

What leaders, parents say

The district chairperson, Mr William Kaija, said they have budgeted for several classroom blocks next financial year 2019/20 as an intervention.
“The classroom blocks we are going to build there are not enough. But in the same sub-county, we are going to build another two classroom blocks at Nyakatoma Primary School because the school has no permanent classroom blocks” Kaija said.

The District Education Officer, Ms Gertrude Tibakanya, said they are aware of the situation and are speaking to the ministry of Education.
Ms Jane Kobugabe, a parent, said if government fails to intervene, next term Nyakatoma School will lose learners because the situation at the school is appalling.

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