Thieves raid newly commissioned seed school, steal computers
State Minister for Higher Education, Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo, inspects the computers donated by the government at Katikamu Seed Secondary School, in Luwube, Luweero District, last month during the school's commissioning. PHOTO | DAN WANDERA
What you need to know:
- According to Mr Yasin Muwonge, the school head teacher, the suspected thugs accessed the school computer room after cutting through one of the burglar proof windows on the night of April 26.
As the government continues to commission the newly constructed Seed Secondary Schools in different parts of the country, the question about the security of some of the installed infrastructure has become real with the reported case of computers stolen from one of the schools in Luweero District.
Suspected thugs reportedly broke through the computer and Library block at Katikamu Seed Secondary School in Luwube, and made off with eight of the 20 computers, barely a month after State Minister for Higher Education, Mr John Chrysostom Muyingo commissioned the school’s new infrastructure.
According to Mr Yasin Muwonge, the school head teacher, the suspected thugs accessed the school computer room after cutting through one of the burglar proof windows on the night of April 26.
“The school night watchman was not even aware that the thugs had broken into the computer room and taken away the computers. When I was walking near the computer room, I saw a vandalized window and discovered that some of the computers were missing before alerting the watchman about the incident,” he explained in an interview with Monitor on Wednesday.
Surprisingly, six other computers were found placed on one of the tables, seemingly ready for transportation.
“I suspect that something might have scared them from taking the rest of the computers after successfully taking away eight of the them,” Mr Muwonge added.
Hajj Umar Kyagulanyi, a member of the school board said the unfortunate incident was a big blow to the school at a time when the students need more of the computer generated learning materials to boost their respective research.
The school watchman according to Hajj Kyagulanyi has since disappeared, having learnt that he was supposed to make a statement to the police about the incident, since he was the one on duty on the fateful night.
“The school has different government departments that are already aware about the incident including the Police that is helping with the investigation process. The police are also looking for the watchman who is in hiding,” he said.
The State Minister for Higher Education, Mr John Chrysostom Muyingo has re-echoed the earlier call for the parents and school authorities to ensure that the school property is secured from acts of vandalism and theft, which he said defeats the purpose for which the government is spending colossal sums of money on the different school infrastructure.
“It is unfortunate that we are losing such precious property at the hands of suspected thieves that have no value for the future of the young generation. I have always urged the school authorities to recruit security guards and ensure all school property is secure. Government donated the computers for purposes of aiding the learning process of the children,” he said.
Police in Luweero say the investigations and hunt for the suspects that could be behind the vandalism and theft of the school computers is ongoing.
“The case of theft of the computers at the school was registered but the suspects are still at large,” Mr Isah Semwogerere, the Savannah Region Police spokesperson said when contacted.
A total of 70 new seed secondary schools have so far been constructed and majority of them have been commissioned in various sub counties across the country.
Using funding 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.
In the second phase, government plans to construct 115 schools and 27 in the third phase. Unlike some schools under universal secondary scheme across the country without certain equipment, the new seed schools have fully equipped libraries, science and ICT laboratories and staff houses among other facilities.
