Pupils brave dangerous canoe rides to reach class in submerged Ntoroko

Due to the persistent flooding, all the roads are underwater, forcing Kasiime and other pupils to rely on a canoe to reach school. She
is a Primary Seven pupil at Rwangara Primary School, which is located in Katanga B village, Kanaara sub-county in Ntoroko District.

After checking the weather, Kansiime grabs a long stick kept behind the door and with her younger brother, boards the canoe floating outside on the water. She pushes the canoe door-to-door, collecting fellow pupils who she finds standing in their doorways waiting for her.

Eventually there are six pupils in the canoe, and Kansiime, who is the oldest, stands at the back, her uniform not tucked in, rowing
with the long stick, navigating through the aquatic vegetation and water weeds. The pupils are empty handed. They leave their books at school so that they do not lose them in case the canoe capsizes. 

The canoe leaks. And one of the pupils uses a cut jerry can to scoop out the water and pours it overboard. It’s a three-hour journey. The canoe docks at the school at 9am, yet, lessons began at 7am.

“I am the reason pupils from my village have continued studying. The canoe belongs to my father. The biggest challenge is the strong winds coming off Lake Albert, which blow us off course. There are patches of water hyacinth that often cause the canoe to get stuck. The water is over ten feet deep in some places, so I cannot jump off to push it. Sometimes, there are crocodiles in the water,” Kansiime says.

When the winds are too strong, the group does not go to school. Kansiime appeals to well wishers to donate a boat that uses an engine and life jackets to the pupils.

Michael Otafiire, a Primary Five pupil at the same school, usually travels alone in a canoe his parents hired. When the weather is particularly bad, his brother helps him row the boat. The brother dropped out of school to give Otafiire a chance to continue with his education.

“My parents pay Shs45,000 per month for this canoe. It is the same boat we use while doing chores around our home and visiting the shops, so my brother has to return it after dropping me off at school. We also use it to go deeper into the water to ease ourselves," he says.

Sometimes, he misses school when his father has to use the board to find work outside the village. The challenges of living in a submerged village include the risk of waterborne diseases and vectors. “We sleep on boards above the water. The problem is the snakes that pass near us as we are laying on the boards. Sometimes, we fall into deep sleep and fall into the water as we are turning,” Otafiire says.

Rwangara Primary School is also submerged. In 2019, the school was temporarily relocated to Katunguru Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) Camp, operating in tents donated by UNICEF. When the water levels receded in 2022, the school returned to its premises, which are
now dilapidated.

However, at the start of the second school term this year, the water levels rose, leaving the school marooned. In some places, the water is at the level of the classroom verandahs.

Paul Ninsiima, the head teacher, says the water is slowly damaging the foundation of one of the two classroom blocks.

“Four classrooms on that block are dilapidated. The district engineer told us they were not fit to be used. We transferred the classes to three tents, but when the winds destroyed two of the tents, we had no choice but to return the pupils to the ruined classrooms. We have been informed that they will collapse any moment from now,” he says.

The school has been split into two locations with the lower section comprising 70 pupils remaining at Katunguru, and studying in tents. In 2019, after the floods, the villagers surrounding the school built makeshift houses on the playground, where they remain to this day.

“Those people use the lake as their latrine and use the same water for domestic chores and cooking. This has put the students at risk of contracting waterborne diseases,” Ninsiima says.

Last year, the local leadership in Kanaara sub-county provided a boat to transport pupils who lived a distance from the school. However, one day, they encountered a crocodile, which attempted to attack them. All the 60 pupils dropped out of school after the experience.

This year, the school opened the first term with 579 pupils. Today, there are only 420 learners. Surprisingly, though, given the circumstances, the school performs well in the nationwide Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).

“Last year, we got four first grades and the rest of the Primary Seven pupils got second grades. We did not have a third grade. I thank our teachers who are heroes. You can imagine living in submerged staff houses, but managing to teach and even attain first grades. It is not easy work,”Ninsiima says.

Poor sanitation Rwangara Primary School has two mobile toilets, each with one stance used by the entire population of students. However, they are kept under key and lock to deter the displaced villagers who might want to use them.

“We used to have latrines but they were submerged. You can imagine 230 girls and female teachers using one mobile toilet. We used to have a changing room that girls would use when they are having their periods but that room is now under the lake. Luckily, the senior woman teacher has secured a classroom and converted it into a changing room,” Ninsiima adds.

Zebedee Mwasalinyuma, the deputy head teacher, considers throwing in the towel. He is the only teacher still living in the teachers quarters after the rest fled to find accommodation in the former Rwangara Health Centre III. The health centre is now flooded and  abandoned.

“I have to use a boat to cross from the staff quarters to the classrooms. The water has now reached my verandah and every evening, I have to kill snakes when I open my house. I hear crocodiles outside every night. If the water levels persist, I will quit this school," he says.

To reach the school, the pupils have to cross four unstable makeshift bridges. Three are privately owned and adults pay Shs1,000 to cross them. The fourth bridge is a few metres away from the school. When Daily Monitor visited last week, the bridge had collapsed and pupils were wading through the water after getting off their canoes.

Although it is now under repair, teachers go to the bridge every morning and evening to ensure that none of the pupils drowns as they are getting off or on the canoes.

“I request the government to relocate this school to a safer place,” Ninsiima pleads, adding, "I also ask UNICEF, which used to help us, to give us some tents so that we can shift the learners out of the dilapidated classrooms. We might not complete the second term if the water level rises any further."

Rwangara Primary School has a Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) centre number, which serves five schools in the neighbourhood. This year, 86 candidates have registered for PLE.

Surviving on God’s mercy

Life is no different at Masaka Primary School in Butungama sub-county. The school was submerged in November last year when River Semliki flooded its banks, forcing it to temporarily close before the end of the third term.

Vincent Asiimwe, the head teacher, says he has never received government aid to renovate the classrooms. As a result, the school has faced a significant drop in enrollment from 797 pupils at the end of 2023 to 497 in the second term this year.

“Pupils wade through the water to reach the classrooms, which have muddy floors because the floods swept away the cement. One has to wade through water to reach the latrines outside the school compound. Due to the poor conditions of the teachers quarters, two female teachers and their three children sleep in my office," Asiimwe says.

He uses the front part of the office for administrative work and as a storage area for school property. “My estimates are that it will cost Shs500 million to renovate the school. I have submitted reports to the district leadership informing them that the classrooms are going to collapse but I have not received a response. If it floods again, I will close the school before this term ends,” Asiimwe adds.

Learning in tents

Umoja Primary School in Kaanara sub-county has also been submerged since 2019 when Lake Albert burstits banks. The school administration abandoned it and relocated to Rwenyana IDP Camp where they use four tents, donated by UNICEF in 2022, as classrooms. Each tent is divided into two classrooms to make seven. The school administration pays Shs1 million per year as rent to the landowner.

James Asingwiire, a Primary Five teacher, says it is increasingly difficult for teachers to concentrate on what they are teaching and for pupils to concentrate on what they are learning because of interference from another class within the same tent.

“My class shares a tent with Primary Four and we are only separated by a tarpaulin which keeps falling down. Pupils cross from one class to the other, disrupting the lessons. We struggle with class control. During the rain season, water slips into the tents. And it is very stuffy and hot inside," he laments.

The old structures of the school are so dilapidated that one cannot risk the lives of the pupils in them. The iron sheets, doors and windows of the classroom blocks are missing. Fishermen eke a living in the deep water around the school.
 
Despite the challenges, the current school enrollment stands at 405 pupils up from 399 in the first term.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Mubaraka Masereka, the Ntoroko District Education Officer, told this publication at the beginning of the first term this year, that the district budget is insufficient to address the challenges faced by the submerged schools.

“The Shs75 million allocated to the school facilities grant can only cover the construction of three pit latrines. The Office of the
Prime Minister (OPM) pledged to reconstruct three schools namely; Rwangara, Umoja, and Kachwakum.

Unfortunately, we are yet to receive this promised support. Pupils continue to study the collapsing classrooms. In the event of an earthquake during daytime, I shudder to think of the lives we will lose,” he said at the time.

Maseruka added that the minimum amount of money required to address the affected schools was Shs3 billion.  Rtd Maj Edward John Mugabirwe,
the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) for Ntoroko, affirms that the government is committed to purchasing land on which to relocate all
IDPs, before embarking on constructing schools.

“The government always fulfills its promises. Schools are built where people have resettled. However, we do not have a timeline for when
the government will acquire the land for resettlement,” he says.

Without the government’s intervention, Ntoroko District does not have the capacity to renovate schools in Kaanara sub-county and neighbouring localities that have been affected by the floods. 

Last Friday, fresh flooding hit Ntoroko District, further compounding the plight of residents and school-going children in Bweramule
and Butungama sub-county. This is part of the seasonal flooding brought on by River Semliki.