USA to give Tororo Girls School facelift

Feb 27, 2012

The US government is considering to fund the revamping of Tororo Girls’ School in eastern Uganda, one of the country's top schools in the past, and restore its historical glory.

By Moses Nampala and Francis Kagolo

The US government is considering to fund the revamping of Tororo Girls’ School in eastern Uganda and restore its historical glory.

Tororo Girls was one of the country’s top schools in the past.

The school, which currently needs over sh500m for refurbishment, was built by the US in 1965 as a gift aimed at promoting the education of girls in Uganda.

However, due to inadequate capitation grants from the Government, the school’s infrastructure dilapidated and academic performance dropped in the late 1990s. In 2003, its enrolment had dropped to 700 students and most of the infrastructure was in ruins, with leaking roofs and glass panes in dormitories replaced with plywood.

However, Dr. Shelby Lewis, the deputy chairperson of the US Fulbright foreign scholarship board in Africa, yesterday said the US Agency for International Development (USAID), was studying the proposal to provide the necessary funds.

“We submitted the proposal to USAID and the information I received was that we shall receive a positive response,” she said.

Shelby, who was in the country on a five-day tour, made the pledge during her visit to the school.

She was one of the founding teachers of the school in 1965 under the US programme.

Shelby was reacting to head teacher, Aida Tarinyeba’s lamentations that the school’s dormitories, laboratories, classrooms and other buildings needed urgent refurbishment.

Tarinyeba said the school also needed two more dormitories, four science laboratories and eight classrooms to accommodate the ever increasing student population which stands at over 1,500.

Shelby promised to lead the school’s fundraising drive.

She also commended the administration for leading a rehabilitation campaign that has seen a significant improvement in academic performance from 46 O’level first grades in 2002 to 108 first grades last year.

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