Africa-Press – Uganda. The administration of Bugwere High School, Namirembe in Budaka District, has turned a grounded school bus into a classroom.
The institution, one of the traditional government-aided schools, is struggling with inadequate infrastructure amid a high enrollment of students under the Universal Secondary Education (USE) programme.
Established in 1972, the school has more than 3,000 students and has turned the school bus into a classroom for optional subjects such as Literature in English.
The bus has been parked in the compound for several years now after it developed a mechanical problem.
The headmaster of the school, Mr Azizi Walumoli, on Wednesday said they have a challenge of a lack of enough classrooms.
More than 500 students offer optional subjects.
When the Monitor visited the school before the end of Term One, they found students were busy with their teachers attending lessons in the school bus.
As a result, some students left the school.
Mr Walumoli said the school has dilapidated structures because no major renovations have been made since it was established.
“The existing structures have developed cracks. We call upon the government to consider this school among the traditional schools in order to be supported,” he said.
Mr Walumoli said the school also faces a challenge of shortage of water, something he said forces students to trek several kilometres to a well in Kataizula.
“The school spends more than Shs1.5 million per week on water. This is quite expensive because, at times, we contract district water bowsers to bring water at a fee,” Mr Walumoli said.
Challenges
He said they have tried to drill a borehole but unfortunately, the topography of the area makes it very hard to access water.
He said the school also faces a shortage of teachers. “The school pays hired teachers per lesson. We pay Shs4,000 per lesson,” he said.
In terms of academic performance, Mr Walumoli said there is an improvement. “In 2021, we had six candidates who passed in Division One out of 473 candidates, and in 2022, of the 452 candidates, 18 were in Division One and 180 in Division Two,” he said.
Mr Walumoli said the school receives Shs100 million under USE programme on a quarterly basis, an amount he said is little.
“The Ministry is still using the old figure and yet the number of students is extremely high. The school, according to our computation, it is supposed to receive Shs200 million,” he said.
The government pays Shs55,000 for each O-Level student and Shs85,000 per A-Level student.
Mr Arthur Wako Mboizi, the Budaka County MP, last Wednesday said: “Government needs to support this school as one of the old traditional schools in this region to regain its former glory.”
The Budaka District Education Officer, Mr Paul Higenyi, said: “Most of the structures are dilapidated and they need major renovations.”
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