Cracked pit latrine puts lives of over 400 pupils in Rukungiri school at risk

The head teacher of Nyamifura Primary School in Nyakageme sub-County, Rukungiri District, Ms Lovence Biriiho has expressed worries over a school pit latrine whose slab has developed cracks, putting 445 young lives at risk.

Speaking at the sidelines of the commissioning of a four classroom block donated to the school by the Rotary Club of Kololo, Kampala July 1, Ms Biriiho said the 357 learners in primary and 85 children from the nursery section of the school, have in the last nine months been using a dilapidated latrine due to failure by the school to raise Shs 1.5m needed to complete the one under construction.

“On October 28, 2022, our pit latrine sunk. That very day, I wrote a letter to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and sent a copy of the same to the District Education Officer (DEO). They told me to go and talk to parents. We organized a thanksgiving ceremony and raised Shs 1.9 m. We started constructing another one [pit latrine]. When it reached 30 feet, it also sunk,” she said.

“We started constructing another one but the construction works have stalled. We need about Shs 1.5 m to complete the work. The bricks of the dilapidated latrine are hanging. A child can fall in with the slab and you find them down in the pit. It needs immediate attention,” she added.

Ms Biriiho said that currently, the school has a three-stance pit latrine which is shared by 13 female and male teachers and a few pupils from the nursery section.

She also noted that sharing the teachers’ toilet has contributed to absenteeism among girls especially during menstruation periods due lack of privacy.

Rukungiri District Chairperson, Mr Geoffrey Kyomukama said he was partly aware of the issue at hand and that he had directed the sub -County Chief and the Inspector of Schools to immediately write a report so that the matter can be treated as an emergency.

Mr Kyomukama said most schools in the sub county were facing a similar challenge due to soft soils.

“We have that problem of sinking pit latrine because our soils are not very supportive to these locally constructed pit latrines.  At times you think things are ok, but at the end of the term they tell you that the other school’s pit latrine came down,” he said.

The area Member of Parliament, Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi  described it as a security issue and pledges to construct separate comprehensive  modern pit latrines for male  and female teachers as well female and male pupils.

“These pit latrines could be collapsing due to shoddy work caused by corruption. This time round, we are going to make sure that we build proper facilities which cannot collapse,” Maj Gen Muhwezi said.

Mr Moses Turyatemba the outgoing President of the Rotary Club of Kololo in Kampala said if the headmistress had raised the issue early enough, they would have been able to construct for the school, a better pit latrine.

“Initially, we asked the headmistress to tell us what exactly the school needed. Among the things she told us was a classroom block because children were studying from timber constructed structures, and also a band and computer lab. If she had told us that her challenge was a pit-latrine, definitely we would have commissioned it with the classroom block. Never the less, the minister has promised to do it. In the event that he doesn’t, we shall do it,”Mr Turyatemba said.