NAMISINDWA-Namisindwa district has a shortage of latrines in most government-aided schools, running under Universal Primary Education [UPE] programme, our investigation reveals.
At Butsebangwe Primary School in Namabya Sub-county, 500 pupils, including seven teachers, share the only one functional pit-latrine stance found at the school. However, the same pit-latrine is at risk of collapsing after developing cracks.
Milton Wamairi, a teacher at the school, says that during break and lunch hours, the pupils form thick queues at the latrine, and there is no specific order on which gender accesses the facility first.
He said the lack of enough latrines, as well as classrooms, has affected the school’s performance.
“According to government guidelines staff and school children, boys and girls are supposed to use different lavatories but that is not the case for now at our school and many others in the district,” Wamairi said.
He further added: “We don’t have enough classes either. For instance, P.2 and P.3 pupils share the classrooms.”
John Wilson Lusayi, the district inspector of schools, said the case at Butsebangwe Primary School is one of the many education infrastructure inadequacies in the area, including classrooms and low teacher-pupil ratio.
According to him, he found out serious gaps in terms of classrooms, latrines stances in most schools.
The most affected primary schools according to the report include Butsebangwe, Kutsuyi, Buwasiba, Bumurwa, Bungatti Church of Uganda, Kuafu, Soono, Mutsasa, Bukwambeyi, Bunaaganda and Nabini. Other schools include Busekele, Bumasaka, Busyambi, Bubikala, Nuusu, Bunamuntsu, Nangetsa.
Meanwhile, the Salvation Army [TSA], constructed latrine stances at Bunamuntsu, Busiru, Buteteya and have promised to construct latrine stances and supply water tanks at Buserere, Kabukwesi and Namboko.
Agnes Mutonyi, the school Headteacher, Butsebangwe Primary school, blamed the increasing school dropout at the school due to a lack of sanitary facilities and classrooms.
“The poor state of the school has forced several learners to drop out of school. You find a pupil of P.3 copying notes of P.5 because they are sharing classes. It has caused some parents to migrate their children to other schools while other children get discouraged,” Mutonyi said.
According to her, the toilet has big cracks and it may kill the children if nothing is done. Teachers are getting worried and they fear going to the latrine. Sometimes children line up to go to the toilet and make teachers afraid to line up with the children,” she says.
Mutonyi, further noted that the weak mud and walls might collapse during heavy rains, risking the lives of the pupils.
The deputy resident district commissioner of Namisindwa, Juliet Namara, acknowledged that teachers and pupils at Butsebangwe Primary School share latrines.
She said the school is using a dilapidated church as a classroom.
“The church is about to collapse. We may lose children. I’m wondering why the district is failing to construct classrooms and latrines at this school and yet the government sends funds every quarter. How can a school use a dilapidated church structure as classrooms? We have started investigating,” Namara said.
She blamed lack of enough classrooms and toilets in government schools on corruption in the district, which she said has affected service delivery in the area.
Steven Masiga, researcher and coordinator Makerere University Mbale Centre, said the district leadership must prioritise education as a key item.
“They should draw the attention of the central government to the challenging situation,” he said.
He urged government to intervene, saying such a bad situation in any school affects learning and that it is contrary to rules and regulations set by the Ministry of Education.
The Namisindwa district youth councilor, Emma Bwayo, said the district generally has a problem in the education sector, especially when it comes to classrooms and pit latrines.
“This is because the funding from the government doesn’t match the demand and this has led to a crisis in primary schools where you find teachers sharing pit latrines with pupils and also two classes sharing a classroom,” Bwayo said.
“As a district, we have tried to appropriate the little that we have but we appeal to our Members of Parliament to lobby more funding from the central government, especially the capital developments grant in primary schools,” he said.
The Namisindwa district chairperson Education Committee, Alex Molokoyi, said the funds are not enough to construct classes and latrines in every school in the district.
“We have got many schools that are in a sorry state and yet we don’t have funds. We cannot be able to construct enough classrooms and toilets. We have many schools sharing classrooms and toilets but it’s not our problem…It’s government’s problem, ” Molokoyi said, urging government to increase capitation grants for the district.
He noted that for the financial year 2021/2022, Namisindwa received about Shs 1 billion for the education department yet the biggest portion of it caters for staff salaries, leaving unfunded gaps such as the construction of classroom blocks, and latrines among others.
Molokoyi further said the district also received Shs 250 million under School Facilities Grant [SFG] to the education department last financial year.
“We managed to construct six classroom blocks for some schools in the district. The schools include Nusu Primary School, Kabole Primary School among others,” he says.
He added this financial year the district received Shs 200mln and allocated the funds to construct classrooms at Bunanganda, Nabini, five stance toilets at Buwasiba, Kaboyi, Bungati among others.
He said even UPE grants were cut. “For instance, the schools which were getting Shs 4mln are now getting Shs 1mln,” he said.
Simon Peter Wambi, an Opinion leader, said the head teachers in various schools are in dilemma to the extent that they teach learners in shifts. The classrooms are too few to accommodate all the learners and the available ones are dilapidated and out of use.
“Local communities should provide materials to construct temporary classroom blocks for the learners, ” he said.
Namisindwa district has 96 government-aided primary schools.
The district LC5 Vice Chairperson, James Bwayo Kitumbusi, says toilet coverage in schools is low.
“After the lockdown, the economy has not stabilised. We have not got funds to construct enough toilets,” Kitumbusi said.
Kitumbusi who is also the district Secretary for education and health said at Nusu Primary school children are studying in churches and temporary classrooms.
“The classrooms are in a sorry state. We are waiting for the government to give us some funds. We are mobilizing parents to contribute funds to construct temporary classrooms,” he said.
He said the desks are also inadequate, forcing pupils to sit on stones, which is uncomfortable.
Teachers in some schools are getting overwhelmed.
A teacher at Nusu Primary school who preferred anonymity, in order to speak freely, said that in Namisindwa district, the pupil-latrine ratio is 1:120 yet the national average is 1:40.
“For desks, while the national ratio is one desk per three pupils, Namisindwa has more pupils per desk,” he explained.
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