Lumino High; Busia's new face of hope

After a rough ride on the 25km dusty road from Busia town, you finally reach Lumino Sub County's trading centre which is just three kilometres from the Uganda-Kenya border.

It is just out this centre, that you realise you have reached Lumino High School, whose signpost gigantically stands at the roadside.

The sign post stands beside a well-built brick fence that supports the white and black metallic gate.

Right from the gate to the offices, an enclosure of trees offers you a semblance of a guard of honour.

As I approach the offices, the acting deputy head teacher (administration), Ogesa Opondo Nagemi approaches, and in his salutations, he boasts, ""You are welcome. This is Lumino High school. Do not be surprised that we are an organised school."

 
He is right. A new structure appears just after the new administration block, and it is a new classroom block which accommodates eight classes. Next to it is a kitchen, fixed with modern stoves.

A new library complex is also not far away from the kitchen; facing another stories building, which I later learn to be the multipurpose hall; which also houses some classrooms, offices and the main hall.

At the end of the compound, the school also has a new staff house and toilets to replace the latrines it had.

 The school also has well-stocked science laboratories and the library.

All these buildings were put up, with $1.7m funding from the Government and the African Development Bank (ADB).

But it is not only buildings. The school also has a new brand tank, hanging on pillar mounted near a well-maintained playground. The tank stores water which is pumped from the borehole using solar panels, obtained under the same Government and ADB project.  

"Just imagine what this school was four years ago! Everything here is new. We even have a tractor that has been taken to collect maize from our gardens. We no longer buy food. We have enough land and with this tractor, we till it to feed our children," the deputy headteacher explains.

He says for the first time in the history of the school, they have a very beautiful storied structure which has raised the standard of the school. So many students from the local communities now want to join the school.

 

Background

The school started in 1982 by the Government to be a pioneer school in the area. However, before the Church of Uganda was running Junior classes way back in the colonial times, it was an intermediate secondary school with Junior One and Two.

The school used to train students from around the community and across borders. It is upon that background that in 1980 a group of opinion leaders, politicians and the church members decided to have a secondary school in the community to reduce on the long distances the student's trekked in search for secondary schools.

The group got support from Wilson Okwenje, the then minister for public affairs. They lobbied for a school and were given a go ahead. But due to lack of enough infrastructure, the school was initially housed at Bukwekwe primary school and the sub county headquarter's buildings.

It started with over 80 students in Senior one; and 35 years down the road; the school runs from S1 to S6 with 1,981 students.

 

Will performance improve?

The school was among the lucky 42 secondary school which benefited from ADB IV project, meant to transform them into ‘Centres of excellence.'

Okwenje says, this was partly why the school was able to perform well last year, "We have enough classrooms, enough science laboratories and are well-equipped. Some teachers now stay within the school premises," he boosts.

Ouma says, four years ago no one would want to associate with the school because of the few and dilapidated structures; but it is now a centre of attraction.

"The students' enrolment has more than doubled from the previous years, and even the staffing has improved. This is because we have staff houses much as they are not enough," Ouma stresses.

He adds that the administrators too will not have any reasons to fail since the school is well facilitated.

Staffing

The staff establishment is very good, according to Okwenje says the school has 47 well trained teachers with 32 on government payroll though need of 50 teachers in total. The school has 22 non-teaching staff.

Anthony Ouma the chairman of the Parents and Teachers Association says that they are planning to recruit more teachers.

"Many teachers are now yearning to teach in the school because of its new developments. We thank the Government for making us a first class school," he boasts.

Much the schools has made great infrastructural strides, it still needs more teachers on the Government payroll, more teachers houses and additional classrooms for the growing number of students.

Old students

    Juma Masangu, senior officer with UNEB
    Steven Wandera, Lecturer, Makerere University
    Dr. Susan Nekesa, Senior lecturer, Makerere University
    Robert Bwire Internal Auditor at Uganda management Institute