Bat Valley to stay - KCC
Sep 20, 2007
Kampala City Council (KCC) has said Bat Valley Primary School will not be relocated as demanded by the Indian community, Shree Sanatan Dharma Mandal.
By Florence Nakaayi
Kampala City Council (KCC) has said Bat Valley Primary School will not be relocated as demanded by the Indian community, Shree Sanatan Dharma Mandal.
“This school term will not be interrupted. Should it be inevitable to relocate the school some time in future, we shall make the necessary arrangements to place the pupils in other schools with minimum inconvenience,†the deputy town clerk, William Tumwine, told journalists at the City Hall on Wednesday.
Flanked by the city education officer, Anne Galiwango, Tumwine added that the interests of the parents were protected under the repossession agreement and the consent judgment between KCC and the Indian community.
“The property shall remain a primary school or even extended to higher levels of studies but the principal nature of a primary school must not be altered,†Tumwine quoted from the agreement of November 28, 1990.
Last month, Shree Sanatan Dharma Mandal told KCC that they wanted to take over the school by November 1, in order to renovate it and transform it into a secondary school next year. The vice-chairman of the association in charge of social services, Mukesh Shukla, requested parents to transfer their children to neighbouring schools.
Tumwine said the order was wrong.
He, however, confirmed that the association’s lease was extended on November 13, 2006 for another 49 years, adding that the extension did not mean change of users and alteration of the other agreements.
Kampala mayor Nasser Sebaggala in an interview with The New Vision, dismissed the parents’ request to KCC not to extend the school’s lease to the Indians.
He said their argument was selfish, unfair and unlawful. The five-acre land on which the school lies is owned by the Indian association.
According to the Land Act: “A person whose lease had expired by the time of the coming into force of the 1995 Constitution and who had partially or fully developed the land, shall be entitled to a fresh grant upon application to the board.â€
Sebaggala added that KCC was just a custodian of Government property, adding that if the Government felt that the school was useful to the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme, it should pay off the Indians. The school, under the UPE programme, has 1,214 pupils.
According to the consent agreement, the school was supposed to be government-aided and run by a management committee cmprising of five members of the Indian community, two from KCC and two from the parents and teachers.
Kampala City Council (KCC) has said Bat Valley Primary School will not be relocated as demanded by the Indian community, Shree Sanatan Dharma Mandal.
“This school term will not be interrupted. Should it be inevitable to relocate the school some time in future, we shall make the necessary arrangements to place the pupils in other schools with minimum inconvenience,†the deputy town clerk, William Tumwine, told journalists at the City Hall on Wednesday.
Flanked by the city education officer, Anne Galiwango, Tumwine added that the interests of the parents were protected under the repossession agreement and the consent judgment between KCC and the Indian community.
“The property shall remain a primary school or even extended to higher levels of studies but the principal nature of a primary school must not be altered,†Tumwine quoted from the agreement of November 28, 1990.
Last month, Shree Sanatan Dharma Mandal told KCC that they wanted to take over the school by November 1, in order to renovate it and transform it into a secondary school next year. The vice-chairman of the association in charge of social services, Mukesh Shukla, requested parents to transfer their children to neighbouring schools.
Tumwine said the order was wrong.
He, however, confirmed that the association’s lease was extended on November 13, 2006 for another 49 years, adding that the extension did not mean change of users and alteration of the other agreements.
Kampala mayor Nasser Sebaggala in an interview with The New Vision, dismissed the parents’ request to KCC not to extend the school’s lease to the Indians.
He said their argument was selfish, unfair and unlawful. The five-acre land on which the school lies is owned by the Indian association.
According to the Land Act: “A person whose lease had expired by the time of the coming into force of the 1995 Constitution and who had partially or fully developed the land, shall be entitled to a fresh grant upon application to the board.â€
Sebaggala added that KCC was just a custodian of Government property, adding that if the Government felt that the school was useful to the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme, it should pay off the Indians. The school, under the UPE programme, has 1,214 pupils.
According to the consent agreement, the school was supposed to be government-aided and run by a management committee cmprising of five members of the Indian community, two from KCC and two from the parents and teachers.