Another school dorm burnt in Wakiso
Jun 04, 2008
SUSPECTED arsonists yesterday morning set ablaze a dormitory at Nicaragua Primary School Bulenga in Wakiso district. The blaze at the school located seven miles from Kampala, broke out at about 5:00am as pupils slept.
By Herbert Ssempogo
SUSPECTED arsonists yesterday morning set ablaze a dormitory at Nicaragua Primary School Bulenga in Wakiso district. The blaze at the school located seven miles from Kampala, broke out at about 5:00am as pupils slept.
Luckily, there were neither deaths nor injures. Assailants, who torched the dormitory, hit a glass window and splashed a flammable liquid before setting the fire.
Wakiso district Police chief Alison Agaba said the arsonists poured paraffin on a pupil’s bed, adding that a paraffin-drenched shirt was recovered.
An occupant of the dormitory housing Primary Five to Seven pupils said the attackers gained access through a window next to his bed.
“I was asleep when a boy, who sleeps next to me, said my bed was on fire,†Dennis Miti, aged 15, recounted, adding that he immediately felt the heat emitted by the fire.
The fire, Miti said, started from his bed before spreading to other parts of the dormitory that accommodates 45 pupils. Only 30 pupils were in at the time of the fire outbreak.
Miti said he shouted at the top of his voice, urging his friends to get out.
“When we got outside, a boy alerted teacher Harriet that our dormitory was on fire.â€
In the courtyard, Miti realised that a T-shirt he had while asleep, smelt of paraffin. He discarded it and put on his uniform. Two fire trucks from Kampala contained the fire from spreading to other parts of the school, although all property in the dormitory was lost.
Two of the rooms in which the children slept were initially classrooms, which were turned into dormitories due to “pressure†from parents, who wanted a boarding section, according to the head teacher, Annet Natukwasa.
The dormitory windows had burglar proofing and there was only one entry that doubles as an exit. But Natukwasa said they were to make renovations this term.
The school has over 410 pupils out of whom 200 are in the boarding section.
Burnt suitcases and books were scattered in the courtyard when The New Vision got to the scene. Belongings of the other pupils, whose dormitory was not affected, were also strewn all over the courtyard.
Agaba noted that the school’s security was wanting, with only one guard.
The institution, surrounded by residences, has a barbed-wire fence but intruders can easily access the school premises.
No one had been arrested but the Police recorded statements from parents, teachers and house-mothers.
Police handed over Miti’s T-shirt to staff of the government laboratory, who picked other samples, including debris and charred papers.
Following the incident, the administration closed the school until Monday.
Parents, who rushed to the scene, demanded that the school improves its security.
“The lives and property of our children should be secure. They cannot commute everyday because it is expensive,†Florence Nalwoga, a parent, said.
Godfrey Buule, who has four children at the school, also demanded that security should be heightened.
The incident brought to over four the number of fire outbreaks in schools in the past three months.
Twenty girls died on April 20 when a dormitory at Budo Junior School went up in flames.
Three other schools, among them Nsamo Primary School in Seeta-Mukono and a primary school in Kampala, have been gutted by fire since the Budo tragedy.
SUSPECTED arsonists yesterday morning set ablaze a dormitory at Nicaragua Primary School Bulenga in Wakiso district. The blaze at the school located seven miles from Kampala, broke out at about 5:00am as pupils slept.
Luckily, there were neither deaths nor injures. Assailants, who torched the dormitory, hit a glass window and splashed a flammable liquid before setting the fire.
Wakiso district Police chief Alison Agaba said the arsonists poured paraffin on a pupil’s bed, adding that a paraffin-drenched shirt was recovered.
An occupant of the dormitory housing Primary Five to Seven pupils said the attackers gained access through a window next to his bed.
“I was asleep when a boy, who sleeps next to me, said my bed was on fire,†Dennis Miti, aged 15, recounted, adding that he immediately felt the heat emitted by the fire.
The fire, Miti said, started from his bed before spreading to other parts of the dormitory that accommodates 45 pupils. Only 30 pupils were in at the time of the fire outbreak.
Miti said he shouted at the top of his voice, urging his friends to get out.
“When we got outside, a boy alerted teacher Harriet that our dormitory was on fire.â€
In the courtyard, Miti realised that a T-shirt he had while asleep, smelt of paraffin. He discarded it and put on his uniform. Two fire trucks from Kampala contained the fire from spreading to other parts of the school, although all property in the dormitory was lost.
Two of the rooms in which the children slept were initially classrooms, which were turned into dormitories due to “pressure†from parents, who wanted a boarding section, according to the head teacher, Annet Natukwasa.
The dormitory windows had burglar proofing and there was only one entry that doubles as an exit. But Natukwasa said they were to make renovations this term.
The school has over 410 pupils out of whom 200 are in the boarding section.
Burnt suitcases and books were scattered in the courtyard when The New Vision got to the scene. Belongings of the other pupils, whose dormitory was not affected, were also strewn all over the courtyard.
Agaba noted that the school’s security was wanting, with only one guard.
The institution, surrounded by residences, has a barbed-wire fence but intruders can easily access the school premises.
No one had been arrested but the Police recorded statements from parents, teachers and house-mothers.
Police handed over Miti’s T-shirt to staff of the government laboratory, who picked other samples, including debris and charred papers.
Following the incident, the administration closed the school until Monday.
Parents, who rushed to the scene, demanded that the school improves its security.
“The lives and property of our children should be secure. They cannot commute everyday because it is expensive,†Florence Nalwoga, a parent, said.
Godfrey Buule, who has four children at the school, also demanded that security should be heightened.
The incident brought to over four the number of fire outbreaks in schools in the past three months.
Twenty girls died on April 20 when a dormitory at Budo Junior School went up in flames.
Three other schools, among them Nsamo Primary School in Seeta-Mukono and a primary school in Kampala, have been gutted by fire since the Budo tragedy.