School facilities worth over Shs 1bln commissioned in Adjumani

ADJUMANI -Plan International in partnership with Adjumani district local government on December 9, 2022, commissioned school facilities such as classrooms and dormitories, among others worth about Shs 1.3 billion under the Girls’ Education in Crisis Project.

The Girl’s Education in Crisis Project implemented by Plan International with funds from the Dubai Care of Australia was intended to address challenges faced by both the girl children in refugee settlements and host communities.

The schools that benefited from the project are Pagirinya primary School in Dzaipi Sub-county which got a new classroom block and a kitchen while Lewa Secondary School in Pakele Sub-county got a new block.

Further, Mungula Secondary School and Oliji Primary School in Pachara Sub-county got a classroom block each valued at Shs180 million respectively. Adjumani Secondary School got a girls’ dormitory worth Shs 250mln.

Some of the infrastructural works included renovating seven classrooms and constructing five washrooms of five stances for boys and five washrooms of five stances for girls in Ajujo Primary School in Pachara Sub-county, and Esia Primary School in Ciforo Sub-county.

Hellen Achola Omiji, the project manager Girls’ Education in Crisis Project said although the project has come to an end, the planned activities were accomplished as more than 400 learners who had dropped out of school enrolled under the Accelerated Learning Programme.

“We have handed over the facility to you, we expect better use of the facility for the best purpose for which it was constructed,” Achola said.

The head teacher of Pagirinya Primary School, Mathew Amanzuru said the intervention by Plan International has helped improve the enrollment and retention of girls in the school.

“We have 13 child mothers who have been enrolled back to school. Further, we have 293 pupils enrolled under the Accelerated Learning programme after dropping out of school. The school has 1838 learners, 749 being refugees,” Amanzuru said.

William Maiku, headteacher Lewa Secondary School said the new classroom block will help accommodate the increasing number of learners, adding that previously some had to learn from makeshift structures.

He said: “The school has enrolled 435 students and it is the only community school in the region.”

Thomas Edema, the headteacher Mungula secondary, dominated by refugee students, said the intervention by Plan International has helped them to enroll advanced-level [A’level] learners.

“Our classroom students ratio has now reduced from 1:120 to 1:60, we have 9 classrooms and we have turned others into laboratories,” Edema explained.

Esther Edea Akomi, the headmistress of Oliji Primary School said as a result of the intervention, the school had enrolled 299 pupils under the Accelerated Learning Programme by the end of the third term.

The Adjumani resident district commissioner, Peter Taban Data while commissioning the structures commended the landlords for accepting to peacefully co-exist with the refugees and adding that all the structures built are because of the presence of the refugees.

Taban appealed to the district to have a proper maintenance plan so that even after Plan International is no longer involved, the structures will be relevant to Ugandan and refugee learners.

Since 2014, refugee settlements in the Adjumani district continue to register a steady influx of refugees from south Sudan. Currently, the district is hosting close to 215,000 refugees in 19 settlements.

Records from United Nations High Commission for Refugees [UNHCR] and partners indicate that an estimated 42,607 pupils are enrolled in 33 primary schools in refugee settlements in Adjumani district. Of these 7896 are children from the host communities.

The data also shows that most schools in the refugee-hosting sub-counties are under-served and are lacking basic facilities like classrooms.

For instance, the average pupil-classroom ratio for the 33 schools in Adjumani is 112:1 while the average pupil-teacher ratio is 66:1. However, schools like St. Luke Primary School, Ayilo B, and Ayilo C primary schools have a pupil-teacher ratio of 113:1, 112:1, and 111:1 respectively.

https://thecooperator.news/construction-of-asamuk-seed-secondary-school-kicks-off/

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