The school deputy headteacher in charge of academics, Peter Ndagiire, reasons that the current economic crisis coupled with a poor harvesting season has forced many parents to withdraw their children from private schools because they could not afford school fees and other mandatory requirements.
Francis Kwehayo, the director of St. Francis Secondary in Rughedabara Town Council, says that it has been hard for private education institutions to mobilise funds from parents who are also struggling to live amidst the rising costs of living.
Some private schools in Kampala have embarked on planning on how to best support their teachers and school staff to recover and at the same time build capacity to enable them to build resilience against similar situations in future.
Dr Amuza Tusiime the Director Kasunganyanja Parents Nursery and Primary in Kasunganyanja town council says the school has run broke and now unable to clear some of its debts. Tusiime says the introduction of Standard Operating Procedures-SOPs called for high investments in general health facilities and yet they have and still expect few learners.
The National Private Educational Institutions Association has called on Government to pay salaries for teachers who have greatly been affected by the Closure of schools for at least a year.
Lucy Okot Akello, the Head-teacher of Pope Paul VI Secondary School, Anaka says they have enrolled 150 Senior One students who are currently faced by lack of teachers for the optional subjects like Kiswahili and Chinse languages as well as Physical Education.
The schools were closed by the district education department for breaching provisions of the Education Act and failing to meet basic minimum education standards. The closed schools are in the sub counties of Ochero and Kobulubulu.
Mathias Akeeka, the Principal Education Officer, Kabale Municipality has asked parents who were planning to enroll their children in the affected schools to find other alternatives.
Charles Bonny Makmot, the district education officer says 85 nursery, 84 primary, seven vocational and four secondary schools were closed about a week ago for flouting operation guidelines.
In majority of the schools, when the pupils fall sick, they seek treatment at government health centres, which are far away from the schools and often congested.
Vincent Agena, the director Lira Comprehensive Christian School disputes the claims all the necessary facilities are in place except that they are not permanent.
Fort Portal municipality has not left anything to chance and has embarked on inspecting new schools before the beginning of the term to ensure that they adhere to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education and Sports.
Private schools implementing the Universal Secondary Education (USE) want government to increase the school grant, build classrooms and pay some categories of teachers to sustain the program.
Annie Galiwango the KCCA director for education says that the set guidelines have to be strictly observed by private schools and learning institutions effective February, 4, the first term.
