Rupa Seed Secondary School in the Moroto district is
struggling to operate after reducing the enrollment of learners due to
insecurity.
The school located 18 kilometers from Moroto town started its
operations in 2023 with 719 students. However, due to
insecurity, the school resolved to admit the learners to save them from walking
long distances.
The limited space and resources forced the school management
to reduce the enrollment from 719 to 507.
Daniel Bazira, the head teacher said that due to insecurity, the security forces
deployed heavily to guard the school with armoured vehicles which scared the learners
forcing over 100 students to flee the school.
He said that the school is in isolation and the learners had
to walk for long distances of between 8 and 10 kilometres to school daily.
He said that this exposed learners to the high risks of insecurity as the
warriors resorted to laying ambushes and killing people.
Despite the low enrollment, the school has decried the lack
of dormitories, beds, laboratories, electricity, and food support for the
learners.
Bazira said that the school is in isolation and the nearest
trading centre is about 8 kilometres away making it difficult for the teachers
to trek daily to school. He said that all 28 staff have been forced to reside within the school even when there is no space.
Bazira added that they have turned the kitchens for the teacher's
quarters into accommodation to cater for those who missed out on the facility.
He also said that the World Food Program-WFP gave them food relief but was only
limited to breakfast and lunch while the school catered for supper and weekend
feeding.
He also revealed that although the school had levied a
charge of 150,000 shillings per term for the fees and boarding, the
parents were not willing to pay.
Bazira said that they are only able to get money from the learners
who are sponsored by other partners while the rest are studying for free.
He
said that this has frustrated the school operations since they only receive 13
million shillings as a capitation grant which is inadequate.