Opposition Forum for Democratic Change FDC party has poked holes in the move by ministry of education to close hundreds of schools as the new term begins.
Ssemujju Nganda, the party spokesperson says it’s the duty of government to educate Ugandans, not to close schools started up by struggling Ugandans.
Hon. Nganda explained that government has failed to establish a primary school per parish and mismanaged the few schools in existence. This he says leaves parents without choice but to send children to private schools, which in turn are being closed.
“Last year, pupils who were presented for PLE, half a million were from UPE schools. But only 18, 000 (4%) were able to pass in first grade, as compared to 170,000 children who sat from private centers and obtained 38,000 first grades which is about 20%. Government in the school they themselves run, they have run them down where they exist” Nganda narrated.
He added that private individuals who go to register schools are mistreated by officials at the ministry of education.
“The stories of people who have gone to register schools are so horrible. Lot of corruption is involved, people are paying between 5 to 10 million shillings at the ministry of education to process files, and the process is only done on Kampala” he added.
He accuses government of failure to protect children and parents.