Education ministry to report on construction of schools

The Ministry of Education and Sports is expected to  present status report on the construction of seed schools in Uganda.

According to Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, the Ministry is to present the report within a fortnight highlighting the number of seed schools that were to be constructed, contractors in charge and status of construction.

"Can the Minister for Education come and explain to us who Davrich company is, how they secured so many contracts and why they have done nothing in Nwoya for one year and nothing in Amuru for six months,"  Kadaga said.

The Speaker made the directive following concerns raised  by Amuru district Woman MP, Hon. Lucy Akello over stalled works on a seed school in the district.

According to Akello, Davrich Company signed an Memorandum of Understanding with Government in 2019 to construct Amuru Hotspring Seed Secondary School but no work has been carried out  for over six months.

"The community is now worried that the over shs1.7 billion that was availed for this project will be returned to the Consolidated Fund which means the school will not be built," Akello said.

She called on the Education Minister to lead a team to the district and establish the work on the ground adding that, ‘stalling of the project was not attributed to the district leadership but rather to the contractor’.

The Government Chief Whip, Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa told the House sitting on Tuesday, 21 January 2020 that many seed schools had been planned for construction and concurred that a  report wold be presented by the ministry.

"We need to do an evaluation and where possible cancel contracts that have not yielded progress and award them to companies which are able to produce work in the given time," said Nankabirwa.

In another development, the Speaker has directed the Education Ministry to brief the House on the update of the new education curriculum.

"Honourable Members, this issue is serious and schools are opening soon. That is why the country needs to be updated on this matter," Kadaga said.

The concern was raised by Igara East MP, Hon. Michael Mawanda who said schools had been asked to implement the new curriculum adding that  private school owners were not well-informed on how to go about implementing the new programme before the new school term begins.