Kamuli school operates without office for 4 decades

Buwagi Primary School, under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme in Buwagi-Bugaga ‘B’ Village, Nawanyago Sub-county, Kamuli District, has been operating without an office for 39 years, Daily Monitor has learnt.

Mr James Mawerere, the deputy head teacher, says the school was established in 1984 by the Muslim community, before being taken over by the government in 1992.

During a spot visit to the school last Friday, it was observed that many classrooms lacked chairs, windows, and doors, while the floors was uncemented.

“We completely lack an administration block; as you can see, everything is kept in this classroom which also acts as the head teacher and his deputy’s office, store, library, and staffroom,” Mr Mawerere said.

Mr Mawerere adds that the school enrolment has dropped from 500 in 1992 to 215 pupils .

He adds that government funding comes with guidelines and for particular projects, making it hard to divert it for any other use.

“Much as the government has provided enough textbooks, pupils do not have a library from where to read them and their [books] storage is also poor; so, we need support from the government and well-wishers to come to the school’s rescue,” Mr Mawerere said.

Mr Pison Lwaboga, the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) chairperson, said government funds are not enough to construct an administration block.

“The late Al-Hajj Ai Kirunda Kivejinja was the only one who supported this school by providing iron sheets, bags of cement, timber and nails for construction of the seven classrooms, while parents made the bricks,” he said.

Mr Lwaboga said classes are disrupted whenever it rains.

Ms Annet Babirye, an old student and parent, says they were optmistic when the government took over the school.

“It is painful, as a parent, to see a child who leaves to go to school clean returning home very dirty, given the current cost of buying soap,” she adds.