Hailstorm blows roofs off school buildings in Jinja district

Jinja, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Heavy rains characterized with hailstorm have de-roofed two classroom blocks at Kaitandovu primary school in Buyengo sub county, Jinja district.

Some of the teachers at the school told URN that the nonstop rains began on Wednesday afternoon to date and they were too incapacitated to save some of the learners’ reading materials like text books and reading chats which were destroyed.

The teachers say that the school currently has an enrollment of 1,000 pupils as lower primary and nursery pupils are yet to report to school.

However, 105 desks have been destroyed which will directly hamper their efforts of adhering to the covid-19 control guidelines, as each desk is bound to be shared by three pupils.

Emmanuel Biinga, a parent at the school says that their area is renowned for child labor and if the school is left in a sorry state, pupils might use it as an excuse to seek casual jobs in the sugarcane plantations.

The school management committee chairperson, Aaron Kalenzi says that the school ran out of operational funds since most of the money was spent on implementing the ministry of health standard operating procedures aimed at controlling the spread of covid-19. As such, they are currently incapacitated and constrained to repair the damage and can only rely on the education ministry for alleviating the situation.

John Kedi, the school’s acting deputy head teacher says that the outstanding classroom block which was donated to them by the Kakira Outgrowers’ Rural Development Fund-KORD in 2019, has already developed cracks which risks the lives of both teachers and pupils alike during rainy seasons.

Paul Baliraine, the Jinja district education officer says that their technical team is closely examining the extent of the damage on schools during this rainy season and will in turn draft a comprehensive budget to jointly cater for all construction works.

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URN