The Minister of State for Higher Education, John Chrysostom Muyingo on Saturday honored the function on which the students of Seeta High School donated property worth millions of money to the elderly and disabled people in Bamunanika constituency in Luweero district.
Held at Busiika Mosque located at Kalagala village in Kalagala sub-county in Luweero district, the disabled and old people got a cause to smile as they received essential commodities that included mattresses, sugar, soap, salt, blankets, basins, bread, among others.
Minister Muyingo warned the parents and schools to avoid engaging children in holiday coaching saying it risks the children’s lives.
The Minister said the three months which the children spend at school in a term are enough and that they need the few weeks allocated to them as their holiday to relax their minds and also learn the informal skills from their parents.
Muyingo therefore warned parents and school administrators to avoid conducting illegal holiday lessons which will land them into trouble.
“Children get a lot of problems when they are engaged in holiday coaching. Girls end up in the hands of male teachers who sexually abuse them, ending up with unwanted pregnancies. If you adhered to the ministry’s advice, we would be able to keep our children safe,” he said.
Apart from giving their children ample time to rest, Muyingo also urged parents to use the holiday to help their children learn how to work.
On the side of schools, Muyingo said it is illegal and punishable by law hence asking the school administrators to use the holiday to allow their teachers rest, refresh and plan for the new term.
He challenged the local leaders to always prioritize helping the disabled and old people in their communities in order to help them live a decent and happy life without suffering.
“Let’s prioritize lobbying for these special interest groups other than using them for our own interests as leaders. It’s the reason I honoured the invitation extended to me by these students to grace their function,” he said.
He added; “If we all worked towards helping the disabled and old people in our communities to have a decent and happy life, we cannot fail to make it. Let’s help them benefit from the government programs that are intended to improve their livelihood.”
The Minister highlighted among others, the Social Assistance Grant for Empowerment (SAGE) program which benefits older persons above 80 years with a monthly fee of sh25,000 to help them buy some of the life necessities.
He also asked the leaders to help these people to benefit from the Parish Development Model (PDM), Emyooga, among others.
Abdul Karim Wasswa, the coordinator of the office of the National Chairman coordinator for Luweero district said that Luweero district is one of the districts which have been benefiting from a number of government programs but a big number of the residents have not benefited from them just because they are ignorant about such projects.
Wasswa said that it’s unfortunate that some of those programs keep rotating among the same concerned residents, something which is not good.
He also asked the district civil servants to set time and leave their offices to go into the villages to sensitize the locals about those government programs which will help them get out of poverty.
He advised the students to put their political affiliations aside and yearn for government’s provided programs intended to promote them economically.
“President Museveni plans to transform all Ugandans from poverty without any discrimination of their political, religious, and tribal differences. Let’s not keep ourselves backward,” he said.
Wasswa acknowledged the parents of Seeta High Schools who support their children with items to donate to the poor saying that it’s a good spirit which they are instilling in them which is going to help them grow into better citizens.
He added that through Minister Muyingo’s Bamunanika Education Fund (BEF), over 5,000 students have directly benefited from the program which is also ongoing. He said that through BEF, the beneficiaries acquire free education right from primary, secondary, tertiary and university.
“Apart from helping our children acquire free education, the Minister has also helped us get electricity, safe and clean water, funds to work on our community roads among other services.