Rubaga Girls Dorm Gutted
Oct 02, 2002
Fire yesterday gutted a dormitory at Rubaga Girls’ School, Kampala.
By Geoffrey Kamali
Fire yesterday gutted a dormitory at Rubaga Girls’ School, Kampala.
At least 100 students were sent home hardly two weeks into the third term. Property worth millions of shillings was destroyed.
Three months ago, a massive fire destroyed a dormitory at Nabisunsa Girls School in Kampala.
Many parents yesterday rushed to Rubaga to pick their children. Called St. Stephen, the dormitory housed newly-registered Senior One students.
One of the students carried a green polythene bag with exercise books on her way out—the only property she was left with.
The cause of the fire could not be established. There were no arrests by 2:00pm yesterday.
“The students were attending late afternoon classes. There was nobody in the hall. The fire started where the windows were open,†said Joseph Mugisa, the Police chief fire officer.
Some students said they were attending class at about 4:30pm when they saw a thick cloud of smoke rising from the first floor, two storeys below their classrooms.
“We rushed out, screaming. Some (students) jumped off from the second floor, landing on the ground below but were not hurt,†one of them recounted.
Worried students and teachers stood near the entrance to the dormitory and stared at the burnt pieces of mattresses, clothes and suitcases strewn all over.
The headmistress, Sister Vianne Tumushabe, told parents lessons for other classes would resume today.
The affected students will be called back later.
The Police said dormitories should not be locking, saying it may cause death to students confined therein.
Ends
Fire yesterday gutted a dormitory at Rubaga Girls’ School, Kampala.
At least 100 students were sent home hardly two weeks into the third term. Property worth millions of shillings was destroyed.
Three months ago, a massive fire destroyed a dormitory at Nabisunsa Girls School in Kampala.
Many parents yesterday rushed to Rubaga to pick their children. Called St. Stephen, the dormitory housed newly-registered Senior One students.
One of the students carried a green polythene bag with exercise books on her way out—the only property she was left with.
The cause of the fire could not be established. There were no arrests by 2:00pm yesterday.
“The students were attending late afternoon classes. There was nobody in the hall. The fire started where the windows were open,†said Joseph Mugisa, the Police chief fire officer.
Some students said they were attending class at about 4:30pm when they saw a thick cloud of smoke rising from the first floor, two storeys below their classrooms.
“We rushed out, screaming. Some (students) jumped off from the second floor, landing on the ground below but were not hurt,†one of them recounted.
Worried students and teachers stood near the entrance to the dormitory and stared at the burnt pieces of mattresses, clothes and suitcases strewn all over.
The headmistress, Sister Vianne Tumushabe, told parents lessons for other classes would resume today.
The affected students will be called back later.
The Police said dormitories should not be locking, saying it may cause death to students confined therein.
Ends