Janet promises to reconsider boarding section proposal at Rakai Seed School

The Minister of Education and Sports, Ms Janet Museveni, has said her ministry is going to look into a proposal by the management committee of Samson Kalibbala Kamya Memorial Seed Secondary School to set up a girls’ boarding section.

Under the government policy, all seed schools are supposed to be tuition-free day establishments to enable learners from impoverished families acquire education.

During the launch of Samson Kalibbala Kamya Memorial Seed Secondary School Founders Day, however, Ms Museveni, said if it’s the wish of the management of the school and parents, the latter should prepare to meet extra costs that come with a boarding section.

“Putting up a boarding section here is not a problem but, it comes with  more responsibilities, if children are to sleep at school  and  the community is ready to  feed them, then we can build the dormitory, we are going to  discuss this at the sector level and we will have to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Education and people of this area, so that you know who is supposed to do what, because children will have to eat breakfast, lunch and also get other  amenities. I don’t what to start receiving telephone calls that learners don’t have food yet you have said you can feed them,” the First Lady said.
 
Ms Museveni was responding to demands by the school management and parents to fund the construction of a girl's dormitory at the school after raising concerns of a high dropout rate of girls, which is attributed to the long distance the learners trek to attend school.
 
In her report, Ms Beti Kamya, the Inspector General of Government (IGG),  and also the chairperson of the school’s board of governors, said  the institution still lacks clean water and a school bus among other challenges.

The school was constructed by Ms Kamya’s late father Samson Kalibbala Kamya before the government took over its management in 2016.

Ms Museveni thanked Ms Kamya’s family for donating eeight acres of land on which the school sits.

The school currently has a population of 844 students, 45 teachers of which 20 are on the government payroll.
 
Ms Museveni reiterated government’s commitment to construct a seed secondary school in every sub county.

Government has so far constructed close to 100 new seed secondary schools and majority of them have been commissioned in various sub counties across the country.

Using funds from the World Bank, the government had planned to construct 117 seed schools in the first phase, however, some sub counties reportedly failed to secure five acres of land that were required for construction of the schools.

Unlike some schools under universal secondary scheme across the country that lack some supplies and amenities, the new seed schools have fully equipped libraries and science laboratories, ICT laboratories, staff houses, and modern toilets among other facilities.