Africa-Press – Uganda. We have noted with concern the worrying state of some schools as it has been reported consistently. On Monday, a block wall collapsed, killing three pupils and injuring several others at Golden Heart Junior Nursery and Primary School collapsed in Buwesa village, Busabi Sub County, Butaleja District.
One wonders why the school continued to operate after its roof was blown off earlier in a storm that left just the walls standing.
The district education officer and other local administration officials should have condemned this building and saved some lives but the eyes of the inspectorate do not seem to stretch far enough.
This month alone, NTV Uganda news reports featured Bulambuli District, where primary school learners scale a wooden ladder up the steep slopes in order to get to school.
The learners in Bulambuli are at the mercy of the elements as they traverse this accident-prone terrain. Perhaps these areas are not only hard-to-reach for the local residents but also for the education officials.
Year on year, we have reported the sad state of disrepair within many institutions of learning; some of them are old schools that used to be the pride of their areas which have now become dilapidated while others are a reflection of communities with inadequate structures to qualify for a suitable learning environment.
The examples are many and scattered across the country. The learners who attend these schools study in deplorable conditions—sitting on the floor, within cracked walls and with poor or no roofing.
The structures are hazardous to human health on a number of levels and yet these are allowed to keep on operating until the cracking walls fall down and hit learners. Only then does police swing into action to arrest the school administration.
We should have more law enforcement to ensure adherence to the guidelines.
This is provided for in the Section 31, sub-sections 1 and 2 of the Education Act, 2008, which stipulate that a person, a community or organization in desire of establishing a private education institution shall apply to the Permanent Secretary in the education ministry, chief administrative officer or town clerk for a license, which would only be granted after meeting certain standards, including the necessary funds to manage the type of institution.
Many Ugandan parents send off thousands of vulnerable children to attend these schools. The authorities need to get serious about safeguarding the lives of learners.
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