Besides directly funding the operation of boarding sections, Ssemwogere also wants the government to distribute both primary and secondary schools in hard-to-reach districts, basing on the distance and convenience of the targeted population.
First Lady also Minister of Education (with a Hut) talking to some members of Foundation Body of Samson Kalibbala Memorial Seed Secondary School in Rakai district
Kalangala district leaders are mooting for a review of the policy on the
management of seed secondary schools.
The leaders want
the Ministry of Education and Sports to allow them to operate boarding sections
in government-seed secondary schools to enable them to attract enough students to fully utilize the facilities.
For years, the government
through the Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer-UgiFT program; funded by
the World Bank, has been constructing seed schools as a deliberate means of
extending universal secondary education across the country, especially targeting
sub counties without government schools.
In Kalangala district,
the government constructed Nehemiah Kachanga Seed Secondary School in Bufumira
sub-county, and Jim-Jim Mulabana Seed Secondary School in Bujumba sub-county.
However, the
leaders indicate that despite the dire need for secondary education in the area,
these schools are struggling to attract students, blaming it on the government policy
that does not allow them to operate boarding sections.
Ronald Mutebi, the
Kalangala District Inspector of Schools observes that it is high time the government
gave special consideration to districts in hard-to-reach areas if they are to
have the schools fully utilized.
He explains that for
instance, given their geographical location on islands, the targeted students
in Kalangala find it difficult to access schools due to transport challenges.
According to him,
currently, both schools have an enrollment of 110 students hence being underutilized,
despite the huge investments to them in terms of infrastructure and manpower.
He indicates that
the schools are expected to draw students from many outlying islands in the district,
but these cannot regularly attend classes due to lack of reliable transport
means, and that as a result children circumstantially chose to remain in fishing
activities as opposed to seeking education.
Fredrick Ssemwogere,
the Kalangala District Chief Administrative Officer reveals that they officially
petitioned the Ministry of Education and Sports and their counterparts in
Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, appealing to them to find reasons to
push for a shift in the policy to address the peculiar needs of some districts.
Besides directly
funding the operation of boarding sections, Ssemwogere also wants the government
to distribute both primary and secondary schools in hard-to-reach districts, based
on the distance and convenience of the targeted population.
Luganda Audio //Cue in: “enkola ya government……
Cue out: …..eyo policy ekyukemu.”//
Henry Lubuulwa, the
Kalangala Assistant Resident District Commissioner observes that they have parents
who still take children to boarding schools on the mainland in Masaka district
and Kampala as opposed to seeking education in Kalangala where the service is
not cost effective.
He challenges the government
to consider adjusting the policy based on the specific needs of each district, to
simply the implementation of university primary and secondary education schemes.
The demand
for the government to support its schools to operate boarding sections is not new.
Last year, the leaders of Rakai district also directly asked the Minister for Education
and Sports Janet Kataha Museveni to support the establishment of boarding facilities
at Samson Kalibbala Seed Secondary School in Lwamaggwa sub-county, to help address the
challenge of the high rate of girl-child dropouts.
But in her response,
Janet Museveni indicated that the government has not yet built the financial capacity
to support the proposal
