Will flood-hit Ntoroko schools ever reopen?

The most affected were government-aided primary schools of Umoja, Rwagara, Kamuga and Kachwakumu.

When the Covid-19 induced lockdown was announced in March 2020, many people thought the government would use that window to relocate the schools.

However, this did not happen and when schools were partially reopened in October 2020, those submerged by water in Ntoroko remained closed. 

In the current lockdown, the residents hoped, would be ideal for government to relocate the affected schools but nothing is forthcoming.

Mr Herbert Mutamba, a resident of Kamuga Village in Kanara Sub-county, had his four children at the now submerged Umoja Primary School.

Because he is not sure of the school’s future, Mr Mutamba plans to relocate his children to Karugutu Primary School in Karugutu Town Council, which is about 80kms away.

“As parents, we don’t have any hope that all our submerged schools will be relocated to other places to enable our pupils to resume class after the government reopens schools,” he says.

“Our schools were closed before the government announced the Covid-19 lockdown, since that time children have been at home and I don’t have any hope in case schools are reopened, for my children to go back to school,” he adds.

Mr Rwaheru Byaruhanga, a parent who lives in the displaced people’s camp at Kachwakumu, says he is not certain about the education future of his children.

“We have created a temporary structure of four classrooms in the camp where our children were studying from but when schools were closed, people occupied it,” he says.

He says the only remaining option is to remove all the iron sheets from the submerged school and erect a temporary structure nearby.

“In the whole of Kanara Sub-county, there is no free government land where the government can establish a school because all the pieces of land that belonged to the government were all submerged. Up to now, we don’t know the fate of our children if government reopens schools,” Mr Byaruhanga adds.

Mr Nathan Mutegeki, the head teacher of Kachwakumu Parent Primary School, says by the time floods submerged the school in 2019, they had an enrolment of 494 students.

“When our school was submerged, we shifted our 23 candidates to Kamuga Primary School and it was also submerged, and we shifted to Kasungu Primary School in Butungama and they later went to Nyakasenyi Primary School in Butungama to sit for PLE,” he says.

Mr Mutegeki says other pupils were studying under trees before the government closed the schools, and he is not sure where to start from in case they are to reopen. 

“Since the school was submerged, I have been writing letters to the district leaders but I have received no response. I am now tired,” he says.

Head teacher stranded

At Umoja Primary School, the situation is not any better. The head teacher, Mr Benson Atujuna, says since 2019, the government has promised to build temporary structures at the school in vain.

He says their candidates for 2020 sat their exams at Nyakasenyi Primary School in Butungama Sub-county.

“Our school was sitting on 8 acres of land that were all submerged; all the school properties were destroyed by floods, including class desks, tables and chairs. As the head teacher, I don’t know where to start from this time in case schools reopen,” he explains.

Mr Atujuna says before the first lockdown in 2020, the school had a total enrolment of 492 students but when the schools were partially reopened in October, only nine students turned up.

“Because students had no classrooms, we shifted to Nyakasenyi Primary School and we were sharing the school with three others. But for three classes from P.4 to P.6, only 9 students turned up,” he says.

When the government reopens schools, parents will have children to take their children to schools in Rwebisengo, Butungama or Bweramule sub-counties, about 50kms from Kanara Sub-county.

However, majority are government-aided schools with no boarding section, meaning pupils will have to commute daily or their parents rent rooms there where they can stay.

Other nearest schools are in Kanara Town Council, where access is only by boat via Lake Albert at a distance of more than 60kms.

Another nearest primary school is Nyakasenyi in Butungama Sub-county, about 40kms away.

Area cut off

Since 2019, the floods have submerged Kanara Sub-county, leaving the area largely cut off from the rest of the world.

Access to the area is only by boat because the water level in some places is more than five metres deep.

Many people are living in makeshift shelters as they wait on the floods to subside.  The submerged school facilities such as classrooms, toilet facilities, and staff quarters now have floating weeds in their compounds.

Some of the school walls have started developing cracks, while others have turned into stores of fishing boats by fishermen. 

One cannot tell the exact boundary between the flooded area and Lake Albert because water volumes have not receded.

According to residents in the area, there is no indication of the water levels receding. Environment experts say due to the low terrain of most parts of Ntoroko District, the water levels from Lake Albert may not recede soon.

The government through the Office of the Prime Minister has for the last two years been providing food and other relief items to the displaced residents but plans to relocate the submerged schools have been ignored.

Mr Friday Mugisa, the Kanara Sub-county chairperson, says most of their land was submerged but says when they get funding, they plan to build new headquarters.

“Our biggest worry is that in the whole sub-county we don’t have a single primary school that was left without being submerged; in case the government reopens schools after Covid-19, where will parents take their children?” he wonders.

Mr Mugisa appeals to government and NGOs to put up tents for pupils in camps to study.

The district chairperson, Mr William Kasoro, says the situation of floods has left them stranded.

“I have talked to the minister of Disaster Preparedness, Eng Hillary Onek, and he has promised that when we secure the land, he will mobilise resources from both government and development partners to see that all submerged infrastructure is rebuilt,” he says.

Mr Kasoro said their request to the government has been to de-gazette a part of Semliki Wildlife Reserve as the new settlement area for the affected communities.