The school which occupies over one acre of land hopes that this development will provide the necessary space to improve the educational experience for its growing pupils’ population.
St. Peter’s Church of Uganda Primary School, located in Kkolo-Nantabulirwa Cell within Namanve Industrial Park, Mukono Municipality, is seeking sh700m to construct a two-storeyed building.
The school currently accommodates over 1,000 learners but is struggling with limited space, which affects the learning environment.
Eriya Baluma, the chairperson of the school management committee, stated that the decision to construct a storeyed building was embraced as a practical solution to maximize the limited land available.
The school which occupies over one acre of land hopes that this development will provide the necessary space to improve the educational experience for its growing pupils’ population.
“As you can see, it is the only church of Uganda government school serving the population of children whose parents work in factories within Namanve Industrial Park. The school has undergone all the necessary steps to have a modern building such as securing land title and also securing permission from relevant authorities,” Baluma noted.
St. Peter’s Church of Uganda Primary School serves children from the villages of Kkolo, Kireku, Bweyogerere, Ddegeya, Kisenyi, and Nantabulirwa.
The school’s head teacher, Nabasumba Florence, explains that the classrooms are extremely overcrowded. Originally designed to hold 65 pupils, each class now packs over 120 children, with Primary Three being the most crowded, having 145 pupils.
Due to the limited land for expansion, the school’s only option is to build upwards by constructing a storeyed building.
The school sits on about one acre of land, which already accommodates the playground, classrooms, latrines, and kitchen.
To manage the overcrowding, they recently bought two tents to serve as temporary classrooms, but these tents are not suitable during rainy days.
According to the school’s building plan, the proposed storeyed building will have four classrooms on each floor, along with offices and modern toilets for both pupils and teachers.
The head teacher hopes that, with God’s help, construction can take place during the holidays to prevent accidents among the learners.
Esther Vannesa Namuyonga, the school head prefect says learners are not comfortable studying under a congested environment.
Namuyonga notes that sometimes they struggle to concentrate and also understand everything they are taught more so when it comes to the back benchers.
Sylvia Faith Naggolola, the Primary Three teacher, says that teaching such a large number of pupils in a crowded space is stressful.
Naggolola notes that while some pupils can pay attention, others struggle due to the conditions.
“However much teaching stretches from morning to evening, we observe that on a hot day, learners struggle so much to follow the teachers past midday. We are optimistic that this challenge will be sorted if we get other classrooms and we divide the class into at least three streams,” she said.
She is calling on the government and well-wishers to support the construction of a modern classroom block, which would allow the school to divide the students into smaller groups.
St. Peter’s CoU Primary School began as a community school in 1986 and was officially granted its current land in 1994 by the late Jathom Tebera.
The school gained more pupils after it was renovated and re-roofed by Roofings Limited, a company in Namanve Industrial Park.
Jimmy Lugoloobi, the Nantabulirwa Parish Chairperson and an alumnus of the school, is urging former students and well-wishers, particularly businesses in Namanve Industrial Park, to support the school’s initiative.
The school has set September 28, 2024 as the official date for the ground-breaking ceremony, which will also coincide with a learner’s day event showcasing the pupils’ talents in music, dance, and drama for their parents and visitors.
Rev. Paul Kiyaga, the parish priest of St. Peter’s Nantabulirwa says that the new building will not only enhance the school’s appearance but will also bring glory to the church and provide a better learning environment for the pupils.
Ddembe Douglas, the chairperson of the Parents Teachers Association, adds that once the issue of overcrowding is resolved, the school will focus on establishing accommodation facilities for teachers and a dining hall for the learners.
