Prime
Govt plans to construct 250 seed schools in sub-counties
The State Minister for Fisheries, Ms Hellen Adoa (left), and Mr Elijah Okupa, the Kasilo County MP, sign in the visitors’ book at the launch of Kagwara Seed Secondary School in Serere District on April 29, 2022. PHOTO/SIMON PETER EMWAMU
What you need to know:
- A total of 117 schools will be built in the first phase, 115 schools in the second, and 27 in the third one.
The Minister for Education and Sports, Ms Janet Museveni, has said government plans to construct 259 seed secondary schools as part of its efforts to ensure that all sub-counties across the country have a seed school.
In her address delivered by the State Minister for Fisheries, Ms Hellen Adoa, on Friday during the commissioning of the Shs1.9 billion Kagwara Seed Secondary School in Serere District, Ms Museveni said the government will implement this through the Inter-Governmental, Fiscal Transfers (UgIFT) programme, which is funded by the World Bank.
She said the construction of the schools under UgIFT programme is being handled in three phases.
A total of 117 schools will be built in the first phase, 115 schools in the second, and 27 in the third one.
“The government is committed to implementing its policy of ensuring that there is a secondary school in every sub-county to provide quality education services in the country,” Ms Museveni said .
The UgIFT was launched in the Financial Year 2018/2019 to, among other purposes, increase capitation grants to schools and provide resources under the wage budget to recruit staff in understaffed districts.
Ms Museveni said the government had also taken measures such as revising policies to promote diversity, skills and provision of comprehensive education to enhance the competitiveness of the children to cope with global environment.
Ms Museveni added that the ministry will undertake a mapping exercise to establish the gap in the administrative units, which do not have a government school per sub-country.
Mr Elijah Okupa, the Kasilo County MP, who attended the launch, asked school management and the district to ensure that the students are not overcharged, saying seed schools are meant to give a lease of life to children from humble backgrounds.
In a related development, the government at the weekend launched a seed secondary school in Alwi Sub-county in Pakwach District.
The community started the school in 2012 to absorb pupils from the primary section, and help parents who cannot afford to send their children to distant learning institutions.
Ms Christine Acayo, the district education officer, said students in the sub-county used to trek more than 10 kilometres to access nearby secondary school which would affect their performance and cause late coming.
“Students used to trek more than 10 kilometres to reach Pakwach Secondary School, which was the nearest. The next one is Nyaravur in Nebbi District,” Ms Acayo said.
She said many secondary schools in the district were constructed through the community and lack comprehensive science and ICT laboratories.
The LC3 chairman, Mr Robert Odiya, urged parents to send their children to school.
“We shall be happy to see the enrollment increase. We don’t want to see school-going children in trading centres, drinking places or betting. We shall launch operations against such,” he said.
The Jonam County MP, Mr Emmanuel Ongiertho, said about 1,000 sub-counties in the country lack seed schools, with West Nile Sub-region being the most affected.
“We still have 639 old sub-counties, if we bring the current ones too, we shall have more than 1,000 sub-counties in the country which don’t have seed schools. Government needs to build more to reduce the gap,” he said.
