Duhaga, a faded jewel that needs re-shining
Jun 03, 2008
QUIETLY wasting away, beyond the busy Hoima town, Duhaga Girls’ School has almost lost it all. It looks lost, forgotten and drowning at the spin of negligence.
By Conan Businge
QUIETLY wasting away, beyond the busy Hoima town, Duhaga Girls’ School has almost lost it all. It looks lost, forgotten and drowning at the spin of negligence.
Built in 1908, the school, with its stock of crumbling buildings and a few new ones, has that aura of ancient history. Old trees harmoniously grow side by side with the much younger ones; as new buildings stand politely amidst old structures.
The trees, quietness and serenity at Duhaga are what used to attract most children to this school. Its conducive environment and strong foundation, has now been betrayed.
The breeze whistles in the branches a ghostly feeling; not unlike in those other old schools Duhaga started with.
At one time, Duhaga was among the best schools in the country, and partly holds the education foundation of this country. It is now among the worst, save for its rich history. It started about the same time as Budo Junior School and Gayaza Normal schools’ (current Gayaza Junior School).
The centurion currently has 460 girls, with 72 in boarding and the rest in day section.
Duhaga! A girls’ school, with no fence! A line or two of barbed wire nailed on rotting poles; imitate a protective fence around the school.
Most of the buildings are at the brink of collapse. An ugly crack runs through the Primary One classroom wall. The school chapel and main buildings’ roofs could cave in any time. Streams of sun rays peep through the old iron sheets of these abandoned dirty buildings.
The kitchen is supported by three walls. Filthy and congested, it is one of the oldest buildings at the school, leaning at the end of the compound. Just like it, the dormitories are almost falling. Part of the block housing the dormitories is sealed off for safety reasons. The pupils use wooden double-deckers, which are congested in moderately-sized rooms.
On weekends when the day scholars are away, one would think there is no one at school. An eerie silence punctuated by birds’ chirrups hangs over the school like a fog.
The staff residences - part of the old buildings at the school, no longer have verandas. They were were washed away by erosion. With rotting doors and cracked walls, it is the trees covering the shame of these mud-and-wattle buildings.
The current administrators say the money sent from the district, to support the UPE programme “is too little to effectively run the school.â€
Since the school has no dining hall, the pupils have their meals in the dorms, classrooms and under trees. All old buildings at the school were last renovated four decades ago, officials say. They say there are no funds to undertake renovations.
The school was rising to glory, until the 1970s. Since then, it was never able to rise from the valley of disrepair.
The headteacher says pupil enrolment was up, when a teachers’ college was established within the school. The college was there for 20 years. By the time it was shifted to a different site, the school’s image was already tainted.
“That was the beginning of the school’s collapse. Several management problems cropped up, and parents also feared for their young girls being among old people, on the same campus,†explains Stella Mugabi, the deputy headteacher; seated in a small office with a few old chairs and a table.
Sarah Ntiro, an old girl of this school, says the old pupils also neglected the school. “This meant that they had no input in its survival. So, it is not surprising that it is on the brink of collapse,†she explains. Ntiro was the first female graduate in East and Central Africa, having graduated from Makerere University.
The situation was aggravated by the fact that male teacher-trainees were now on a girls’ campus. “Most parents feared for their girls’ safety,†Mugabi explains. After so much damage had been done on the school, the college was shifted.
Fate has also been unfair to Duhaga. Enid Kiiza, the Assistant Director at Bank of Uganda, says: “The loss of the old girls in an accident also affected the school.†In 1951, tragedy hit the school when eight old girls perished in a motor accident. They were on their way to a conference at Buloba College, in preparation for the silver jubilee celebrations. A chapel was built in their memory, with the assistance of the Rev. P.B Ridsdale. However, the chapel is in tatters. It was de-roofed, and tiles were replaced with leaking iron sheets. If not repaired immediately, the chapel will soon collapse.
The school has changed character several times. It was once day, then boarding only, and then day and boarding. It even housed boys in lower primary at one time. It is only the school motto: ‘For God and Our Country’, with just a word different from that of the country; that has not changed.
The school authorities say it does not have projects to sustain it. Most of its land has over time been put to other use, since the school is church-founded. The compound is being reduced one year after the other.
Old girls say that at one time, one would easily take a kilometre walk out of the classroom, and still be within the school campus. Nowadays, the small piece of land is shared among teachers’ quarters, demonstration gardens, classrooms and dormitories.
Centenary celebrations are expected to be held in September, to raise money for the school’s rehabilitation. A lot needs to be done, and old girls, together with other stakeholders, are welcoming the nation to join them rebuild Duhaga, this tainted gem that needs reshining.
The old girls say the school has produced a number of firsts - Ntiro, the first female graduate in the country; Florence Njagali, the first female Reverend Priest in the country; and Blandina Karungi, a deaf and blind girl who enrolled to do domestic science and tailoring. She excelled in all her subjects, surpassing all other pupils in the school. Karungi ended up being the first girl in the history of Uganda to wear the Girl Guides uniform.
Can Duhaga Girls’ School produce another first?
QUIETLY wasting away, beyond the busy Hoima town, Duhaga Girls’ School has almost lost it all. It looks lost, forgotten and drowning at the spin of negligence.
Built in 1908, the school, with its stock of crumbling buildings and a few new ones, has that aura of ancient history. Old trees harmoniously grow side by side with the much younger ones; as new buildings stand politely amidst old structures.
The trees, quietness and serenity at Duhaga are what used to attract most children to this school. Its conducive environment and strong foundation, has now been betrayed.
The breeze whistles in the branches a ghostly feeling; not unlike in those other old schools Duhaga started with.
At one time, Duhaga was among the best schools in the country, and partly holds the education foundation of this country. It is now among the worst, save for its rich history. It started about the same time as Budo Junior School and Gayaza Normal schools’ (current Gayaza Junior School).
The centurion currently has 460 girls, with 72 in boarding and the rest in day section.
Duhaga! A girls’ school, with no fence! A line or two of barbed wire nailed on rotting poles; imitate a protective fence around the school.
Most of the buildings are at the brink of collapse. An ugly crack runs through the Primary One classroom wall. The school chapel and main buildings’ roofs could cave in any time. Streams of sun rays peep through the old iron sheets of these abandoned dirty buildings.
The kitchen is supported by three walls. Filthy and congested, it is one of the oldest buildings at the school, leaning at the end of the compound. Just like it, the dormitories are almost falling. Part of the block housing the dormitories is sealed off for safety reasons. The pupils use wooden double-deckers, which are congested in moderately-sized rooms.
On weekends when the day scholars are away, one would think there is no one at school. An eerie silence punctuated by birds’ chirrups hangs over the school like a fog.
The staff residences - part of the old buildings at the school, no longer have verandas. They were were washed away by erosion. With rotting doors and cracked walls, it is the trees covering the shame of these mud-and-wattle buildings.
The current administrators say the money sent from the district, to support the UPE programme “is too little to effectively run the school.â€
Since the school has no dining hall, the pupils have their meals in the dorms, classrooms and under trees. All old buildings at the school were last renovated four decades ago, officials say. They say there are no funds to undertake renovations.
The school was rising to glory, until the 1970s. Since then, it was never able to rise from the valley of disrepair.
The headteacher says pupil enrolment was up, when a teachers’ college was established within the school. The college was there for 20 years. By the time it was shifted to a different site, the school’s image was already tainted.
“That was the beginning of the school’s collapse. Several management problems cropped up, and parents also feared for their young girls being among old people, on the same campus,†explains Stella Mugabi, the deputy headteacher; seated in a small office with a few old chairs and a table.
Sarah Ntiro, an old girl of this school, says the old pupils also neglected the school. “This meant that they had no input in its survival. So, it is not surprising that it is on the brink of collapse,†she explains. Ntiro was the first female graduate in East and Central Africa, having graduated from Makerere University.
The situation was aggravated by the fact that male teacher-trainees were now on a girls’ campus. “Most parents feared for their girls’ safety,†Mugabi explains. After so much damage had been done on the school, the college was shifted.
Fate has also been unfair to Duhaga. Enid Kiiza, the Assistant Director at Bank of Uganda, says: “The loss of the old girls in an accident also affected the school.†In 1951, tragedy hit the school when eight old girls perished in a motor accident. They were on their way to a conference at Buloba College, in preparation for the silver jubilee celebrations. A chapel was built in their memory, with the assistance of the Rev. P.B Ridsdale. However, the chapel is in tatters. It was de-roofed, and tiles were replaced with leaking iron sheets. If not repaired immediately, the chapel will soon collapse.
The school has changed character several times. It was once day, then boarding only, and then day and boarding. It even housed boys in lower primary at one time. It is only the school motto: ‘For God and Our Country’, with just a word different from that of the country; that has not changed.
The school authorities say it does not have projects to sustain it. Most of its land has over time been put to other use, since the school is church-founded. The compound is being reduced one year after the other.
Old girls say that at one time, one would easily take a kilometre walk out of the classroom, and still be within the school campus. Nowadays, the small piece of land is shared among teachers’ quarters, demonstration gardens, classrooms and dormitories.
Centenary celebrations are expected to be held in September, to raise money for the school’s rehabilitation. A lot needs to be done, and old girls, together with other stakeholders, are welcoming the nation to join them rebuild Duhaga, this tainted gem that needs reshining.
The old girls say the school has produced a number of firsts - Ntiro, the first female graduate in the country; Florence Njagali, the first female Reverend Priest in the country; and Blandina Karungi, a deaf and blind girl who enrolled to do domestic science and tailoring. She excelled in all her subjects, surpassing all other pupils in the school. Karungi ended up being the first girl in the history of Uganda to wear the Girl Guides uniform.
Can Duhaga Girls’ School produce another first?