Schools protest Janet order to paint buildings
Ms Janet Museveni, Education minister. PHOTO/FILE/COURTESY.
Education minister Janet Museveni’s order to all school authorities to paint their buildings before reopening on March 1 has provoked reactions from school heads and owners.
They say government is merely issuing directives that require funding, but without providing financial support.
Ms Museveni argued that the schools need to look clean and attractive to the learners.
“…Try and paint all our schools both primary and secondary, including universities so that they look clean and attractive for our learners,” Ms Museveni, who is also the First Lady, directed on Friday.
Schools have been closed for almost a year now following the coronavirus outbreak with only candidate classes later allowed to reopen in October as government continued to assess the interventions to enable more classes come on board while observing the standard operation procedures aimed at controlling the virus spread.
Stakeholders in the private sector yesterday warned government that their demands for reopening should be financially supplemented.
Mr Hassadu Kirabira, the National Private Educational Institutions Association secretary in-charge of research, yesterday told Daily Monitor that the directive is luxurious to institutions which have been closed and can only be implemented with government support.
Mr Kirabira said their concentration will be on paying teachers who have not been earning, clear the fixed bills for water and electricity and ensure they put in place the washing facilities
“Schools don’t have the money. They are struggling to put up what government requires for the safety of the learners. Perhaps government can help us do that. It’s not bad for government to offer this to the schools as their contribution to the Covid-19 relief. Painting a school now looks luxurious. We think priority should not be on non-health issues,” Mr Kirabira said.
Mr Patrick Kaboyo, the Federation of Non-State Education Institutions secretary, said: “Painting schools will play a role of disinfection and bringing a new life to the school. But that should come along an incentive to have people borrow money at no cost. It should be an enabler to buy the paint. It is expensive if you have to paint 12 classrooms. Not all people have the resources. If you rank in priorities, painting is not part of them. Painting may be seen as a luxury but since it’s a directive, you can implement it but with a helping hand.”
