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Why Entebbe school turned classrooms into goat shelter
The head teacher of Lake Victoria Primary School, Mr Stephen Nabende, shows the condemned building where the animals are kept. PHOTO/EVE MUGANGA
What you need to know:
- Last week, the area MP alleged that the school managers were profiting from converting a public institution to house personal projects.
The head of Lake Victoria School in Entebbe has denied claims that he turned some classrooms at the institution to rear goats and chicken for personal benefit.
Entebbe Municipality Member of Parliament Michael Kakembo alleged that Mr Steven Nabende and top managers were profiting from converting a public institution to house personal projects.
In a rejoinder last week, head teacher Nabende admitted that they had set up a goat and chicken-rearing business but in a classroom block already condemned by Entebbe Municipal Council.
The proceeds, he said, benefit the entire school community, an account MP Kakembo disputes.
“I am not that stupid to turn a classroom block into a goat house. The said building block was condemned some years ago by Entebbe Municipal Council, and there are no lessons conducted there,” the head teacher said.
He explained that when teachers wrote a project proposal to Entebbe Municipal Council in 2017, they were given two hybrid piglets, goats and chicken to enable them generate side income.
The staff, he noted, chose to house them in the abandoned building.
“The said condemned building is being used as shelter for chicken and goats that are on free range and mainly for education purposes,” Mr Nabende said.
He added that he had mustered Shs72m out of Shs500m required to renovate the blighted structures.
“It’s regrettable and unfair for Entebbe Municipality Member of Parliament Mr Michael Kakembo to say that I have turned the classroom block into shelter for my personal goats and chicken, this is not true,” he said.
The lawmaker had claimed that the head and some top managers, not the entire school, profit from the goat and chicken project.
“The head teacher is not creative at all, he has failed to utilise the capitation grant he gets from the government to fix the dilapidated buildings at the school,” MP Kakembo said, “During our school days, we used to call Lake Victoria School a European school, but it is currently in shambles.”
Mr Gracious Mugabi, one of the Old Boys of Lake Victoria Primary School, like the legislator, said the school leadership has not done enough to improve the institution’s infrastructure.
“It is evident that a lot has to be done to redeem the school’s past glory in terms of academics and infrastructure,” he said.
Background
Lake Victoria Primary School was founded in 1924, with two sections: upper section for children of colonialists and lower section for children of senior civil servants.
However, when the colonialists left, the school remained in the hands of the government and was restricted to teach children of only civil servants. But with the introduction of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) scheme in 1997, the school was opened to all children and the majority currently come from impoverished families.
