Kampala UPE School prone to floods closed

By Juliet Waisswa

Over 200 pupils are affected following the closure of St. James Church of Uganda Primary School in Bwaise a Kampala suburb.

On 30th January, as other parents were taking their children back to school, parents of St. James Church of Uganda Primary School woke up to a shock when they found the school closed with a few teachers around.

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) temporarily suspended the School operation as a result of frequent flooding of Lubigi channel into the classrooms rendering them unsafe.

Parents of the affected School pondering the next move. Photo by Abu Mwesigwa.

KCCA in a notice which appeared in the media advised parents and pupils to seek vacancies in the neighbouring Schools as they renovate the School.

When New Vision visited the two-storeyed classroom School, the lower classrooms on the ground floor were still flooded with water and some of the pupils were loitering around the premises.  

St. James is the only Universal Primary Education School in Bwaise with a total of 240 pupils. It is a Church of Uganda founded school which was started in 1999 and was taken over by the then Kampala City Council in 2001.
 

Pupils playing in water. Photo by Abou Mwesigwa.

Some of the pupils New Vision spoke to said their parents cannot afford to pay fees in the nearby schools.
“My parents cannot afford the fees that schools in this area are charging,” Sam Bukenya a pupil meant to join primary six said.
Victor Nankanja, a concerned parent said: “Government should come out and help us because this school has been giving education to our children preventing them from becoming rogues,” she added.

The head teacher of the school Godfrey Wasswa Kijjambu said that government should speed up renovation of the school as it is going to affect the performance of the pupils.

A flooded classroom. Photo by Abu Mwesigwa