By Moses Nampala
Nothing has been exciting to 17-year-old Esther Namugwa, like the construction of a public secondary school in her community.
Buwagogo Seed Secondary School in the remote hilly countryside is one of the four schools which the Government, through the education ministry, has constructed across the Elgon sub-region in eastern Uganda.
Elgon sub-region is comprised of Mbale, Sironko, Manafwa, Bulambuli, Namisindwa and Bududa districts.
Construction Of The Schools
In 2020, the Government contracted BAU Technical Services at a cost of sh11.2b, to construct four seed secondary schools in three districts in the Elgon sub-region.
Manafwa district took the lion’s share of the funding since it has two sites — Buwagogo and Sibanga seed secondary schools in Buwagogo and Sibanga sub-counties, respectively.
The third site is Bukoto Seed Secondary School, Bukoto sub-county in Namisindwa district. The fourth site was Bubenze Seed Secondary School, Wanale highland belt in Mbale district.
Leo Mftimana, the director BAU technical services, said the firm constructing the seed schools in the Elgon sub-region says construction works began at the close of 2020.
The scope of work entailed construction of two three-roomed class blocks, an administration block, multipurpose hall, ICT block, library, science laboratory block, six-unit teachers’ quarters and latrine facilities at each site. In addition, each site is expected to have a playground.
Namugwa says before the construction of the new one, the nearest secondary school — Bubulo SSS, was 8km away in Manafwa town council.
“Apart from the regular trekking to the school, I was always afraid for my life since the way to school was like passing through the wilderness. I would go through footpaths in valleys and mountain ridges,” Namugwa who secured a vacancy at the new seed school, says.
Namugwa adds that she was the only girl among the four students from her community who studied at Bubulo SSS.
She says her worst experience was walking home alone since the other three students would often leave school earlier than the official departure time.
Enrolment
Catherine Namarome, the head teacher of Buwagogo Seed Secondary School, is delighted that since it was opened in January, 600 students have been registered.
Authorities Speak
John Wasike, the Manafwa inspector of schools, notes that the construction of Buwagogo and Sibanga seed secondary schools has been a big relief to the communities living in mountains. He says many of the families in Buwagogo and Sibanga areas are underprivilged.
“The few financially stable families have taken their children to boarding secondary schools. The humble families struggle to fix their children in schools they can afford. Unfortunately, such schools are distant from their homes,” he explains.
“Learners from Sibanga would walk 13km to the nearest secondary school at Kigobero. Those in Buwagogo sub-county trekked about 8km to access secondary schools in Manafwa town council,” Wasike says.
He notes that the long distance had taken a toll on students, mostly girls who fell prey to temptations. Wasike says most of the girls barely completed their O’level.
Wasike reveals that a recent study by the district education office showed that only two out of 10 girls would complete O’level.
The Manafwa District Education Officer could not be reached for a comment.
The Acting Mbale district Education Officer, Lydia Musungu, says construction of Bubenze Seed Secondary School in Wanale mountain ridge, has contributed tremendously towards educating girls.
She says before the Government constructed the school, learners would walk 11km to access a secondary school in Mbale town.
Musungu notes that a study by the district education office showed that; “If 10 female learners joined secondary school in Senior One, only four would complete their O’level.”
She says the study also revealed that many of the girls were either defiled or coerced into sexual intercourse by male peers, resulting in teenage pregnancies and dropping out of school.
The study also showed that some parents would marry off girls prematurely,” she says.
Musungu is optimistic that construction of a public school offers more chances to girls to get an education.
The inspector of schools Manafwa district says boys too have had challenges of walking long distances and have their share of woes.
“Many of the boys in many cases give up due to exhaustion and fatigue from walking the long distance daily. The cumulated fatigue has limited their time of concentrating on their studies. Matters are worse since the schools they attend are often of low standards and ill-equipped. This results into poor performance in academics mostly in national exams. We are happy that government is set to address some of these challenges,” he says.
His appeal is for relevant policy implementers in the ministry to consider other hard-to-reach areas in Manafwa district like mountain ridges of Butta, Habutola and Sisuni.
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