Japan constructs Kampala school 4-classroom block

KAMPALA - The government of Japan, through its embassy in Uganda, has completed the construction of a four-classroom block at the Kampala city-based Nakivubo Primary School.

A statement dated June 18, 2025, from the embassy issued by Martha Nabukasa from the embassy's information and culture section, says the block, whose construction started on November 21, 2023, will be commissioned by the embassy on June 24.

The building was constructed with a grant of $146,691 (about shillings 527 million) from the Embassy of Japan under the Grant Assistance for Grass-roots Human Security Projects (GGP).  

The GGP programme, according to Japan's foreign affairs ministry, provides non-refundable financial assistance to NGOs, hospitals, primary schools, research institutes and other non-profit associations.

According to Nabukasa, the counsellor of Japan to Uganda, Yoshimura Tomotaka, is expected to officiate the commissioning of the project to the beneficiaries of the government-aided school established in 1954.

The school has been a cornerstone of education in the community for decades.

"However, as of 2022, the school faced urgent challenges in providing a conducive learning environment for its growing student population. At the time of its application to the GGP in 2022, the school had only 14 classrooms to accommodate its growing student population," the statement reads.

This led to severe overcrowding, with the number of pupils per classroom far exceeding the national standard of 53 students, according to the statement.

"The classroom built over 70 years ago now used for students in the sixth grade, had deteriorated, posing additional challenges to both the quality of education and the safety of the learning environment. In response to these pressing needs, the Embassy of Japan provided support for the construction of a new classroom block at Nakivubo Primary School."

This new facility has four classrooms, equipped with two toilet blocks (one for boys and one for girls), an upgrade that has improved the 'school’s capacity to offer quality education in a safer and more conducive environment, benefitting not only the pupils but the entire community as well'.

The embassy says so far, 291 projects have been funded under the GGP scheme since its initiation in Uganda in 1992.