Schools use briquette for cooking

A section of schools in Busoga Sub-region have embraced the use of briquette stoves to prepare meals for their learners in order to save the environment and reduce costs of cooking.
The schools include Iganga Boys’ Primary School, Bishop Willis Core Primary Teachers College (both in Iganga District), Nile Vocational Institute in Buikwe District, Mwiri Primary School and Mpumudde High School, both in Jinja City.

Ms Sarah Naisuba, the deputy head teacher of Mwiri Primary School, said there is “a very big difference” in using briquettes compared to firewood.
“Briquettes are environmentally friendly as they don’t emit smoke like firewood; I think briquettes are the solution to protecting the environment,” Ms Naisuba said at the weekend.
Ms Naisuba said she wants briquettes to be adopted by all schools because trees are cut for fuel, which impacts negatively on the environment when trees are not replanted. 

Mr Noah Mugobera Laaki, the head teacher of Mpumudde High School, said since the school started using briquettes, their operational costs have reduced by about 40 percent.
Ms Harriet Birungi, the head cook of  Nile Vocational Institute (NVI) in Buikwe  District, said briquettes promote kitchen hygiene and the food is smoke-free.
Mr Paul Eramo, the NVI Dean of Students, said within two months, the institute has spent Shs2m on briquettes compared to  buying firewood where they spend between Shs4m and Shs5m in the same period.

“Briquettes are the way to go to protect the environment because firewood directly contributes to deforestation in the country,”  he said, adding that the new innovation was recently introduced to the institute by Refugee Global, a Jinja-based non-governmental organisation.
Mr Cyrus Mukwana, the executive director of Refugee Global, said the project, which started in January this year, aims at promoting the use of briquettes in schools by, among others, constructing the stoves for free. 

“We install fire chambers appropriate with the needs of the institution. These improved briquette energy saving cooking stoves are long-lasting, need less space, and emit far less heat,” he said.
He said they have extended a similar project to Masaka City, including Masaka Secondary School, Good Foundation Primary School, and Victoria Learning Centre Primary School.
“I learnt that schools have budgeting constraints. Masaka SS, for example, prepares about 250kgs of beans and 700kgs of posho daily. So the advantage from using briquettes is that the school makes a saving.

He added: “A school which has been spending Shs3 million per month on firewood, may now spend as low as Shs2 million, in addition to saving the trees and health of the workers.”
Mr Mukwana said they will embark on  bamboo planting because it grows fast and can be  “used as a source of raw materials; so, every three to four months, we dry and carbonise it. We want something sustainable.” 
Masaka Secondary School and Good Foundation Primary School in Masaka  District have also embraced the programme.