The Minister for ICT and National Guidance, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi has cautioned District Education Officers (DEO) and Inspectors of schools against being negligent and called upon them to carry out their work by insuring that regular inspections are done, adding that, schools must comply with the standards which have been set by the government.
Minister Baryomunsi said this during the Cabinet decisions update at Uganda Media Centre on Tuesday, November 14, 2023.
“The Minister of Education and Sports gave us an information paper on school fires particularly on the two most recent fires; Kasaana Junior School in Masaka on 30th October and St. Thereza Girls in Wakiso on 25th October 2023. We had a comprehensive discussion of school fires and we would like to guide our inspectors who are at the center but most notably in Local Governments to do their Job,” Baryomunsi said.
According to the minister, the schools which have been affected by the fires especially nursery are not supposed to have the boarding section as by the Ministry of Education policies.
“We also have a document produced by Ministry of Education and sports with the minimum requirements and guidelines for education institutions which guidelines clearly point out the dos and the don’ts in the schools. But in summary some of the schools are not complying with these standard operating procedures. For instance, at school Kasaana Junior, the children who died were nursery and pre-primary pupils who were in a dormitory and yet the guidelines from government policy from don’t allow boarding for nursery pupils or pre-primary,” Baryomunsi noted.
He further urged the DEOs and Inspectors of Schools in the Local Governments to carryout inspection and ensure that schools comply with the set instructions and the minimum standards.
“The question is, what are the inspectors doing and why are they allowing that to happen? The other observation is that the Ministry of Education does not allow the use of triple decker beds, but you find a triple decker and you are having a young child expecting them get out of the bed after a fire break,” the Minister stated.
Baryomunsi pledged to bring another comprehensive report from the Ministry of Education and to get to the root of the matter.
He called upon schools to take the safety of children as paramount and conveyed government condolences to the families that lost their children due to the fires.
There has been several school fire incidences in Uganda including one in October 2022 that led to the death of 11 children at Salama School of the Blind in Mukono.
