Gulu village schools lack enough teachers
IT was an embarrassing moment for Gulu district leaders when they visited Adak Primary School in Lalogi sub-county. They were appalled to find only the headteacher, Francis Otika at the school.
By Cornes Lubangakene
IT was an embarrassing moment for Gulu district leaders when they visited Adak Primary School in Lalogi sub-county. They were appalled to find only the headteacher, Francis Otika at the school.
The education officer, the Rev. Vincent Oceng Ocen, the inspector of schools in charge of Omoro county, Caesar Akena and the district vice-chairman, Mcmot Kitara had gone to commission an eight classroom block, two teachers houses and receive 100 school desks and four stanches for latrines. They were donated by Visions in Action, an NGO.
Parents say since the school was transferred from Gulu town to its original site in Adak, the headteacher has never appeared there.
“The teachers also rarely come to the school and our children have no one to teach them,†one of the parents, Christine Lalam, told Education Vision.
Ocen said: “We shall indefinitely suspend teachers who have continued to absent themselves. This practice will bring down our performance and we shall not tolerate it.â€
He said the teachers should stop commuting from town and resettle in the village schools, since the parents were constructing grass-thatched huts for the teachers to stay in.
As peace returns to war-torn northern Uganda after 20 years of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebellion and people move back to their villages, many schools are relocating to their original sites.
A total of 109 primary schools were affected by the insurgency, where schools were amalgamated into settlement camps, while others were merged with town schools.
IT was an embarrassing moment for Gulu district leaders when they visited Adak Primary School in Lalogi sub-county. They were appalled to find only the headteacher, Francis Otika at the school.
The education officer, the Rev. Vincent Oceng Ocen, the inspector of schools in charge of Omoro county, Caesar Akena and the district vice-chairman, Mcmot Kitara had gone to commission an eight classroom block, two teachers houses and receive 100 school desks and four stanches for latrines. They were donated by Visions in Action, an NGO.
Parents say since the school was transferred from Gulu town to its original site in Adak, the headteacher has never appeared there.
“The teachers also rarely come to the school and our children have no one to teach them,†one of the parents, Christine Lalam, told Education Vision.
Ocen said: “We shall indefinitely suspend teachers who have continued to absent themselves. This practice will bring down our performance and we shall not tolerate it.â€
He said the teachers should stop commuting from town and resettle in the village schools, since the parents were constructing grass-thatched huts for the teachers to stay in.
As peace returns to war-torn northern Uganda after 20 years of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebellion and people move back to their villages, many schools are relocating to their original sites.
A total of 109 primary schools were affected by the insurgency, where schools were amalgamated into settlement camps, while others were merged with town schools.