The Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities last week held the fourth edition of the Explore Uganda- the Pearl of Africa series dubbed Explore Bunyoro which saw over 350 people traverse Bunyoro region over the course of 5 days.
The Explore Uganda campaigns are aimed at promoting domestic tourism in the country by creating awareness about what’s not known about Uganda, spotlighting new tourist attractions, activating regional tourism clusters, introducing new itineraries, and inspiring the local travel component among other objectives.
A key element of the campaigns is the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) drives which are geared towards impacting chosen communities or service entities especially those deemed in need in the given region.
For the just concluded Explore Bunyoro campaign, CSR activities were conducted at Kigorobya C.O.U Primary School in Hoima on Thursday, September 28th. Items such as scholastic materials, water purifiers, a water tank, and resources for renovating the school administration block were donated by the Ministry, its agencies and partners like UNDP.
According to Beatrice Bainomugisa, the school headteacher, these donations will go a long way in easing stress on the parents, many of whom are low-income earners and can hardly support their children with basic scholastic materials among other needs.
“I want to thank the Ministry of tourism and partners for supporting learners with scholastic materials in particular because for some of our students have challenges accessing such basic needs. This will keep them in school because they have the vital instruments to use,” Bainomugisa said.
Water Purifiers to minimize water-borne diseases
The school received a 500-litre water tank and 4 water purifiers. These, the headteacher is optimistic, will curb the occurrence of water-borne disease that students get from drinking contaminated lake water.
“The school being near the lake, there are so many challenges that we usually encounter in that line. In some cases, most of our learners leave school with water-related illnesses because we didn’t have readily available sources of clean water. This exacerbates absenteeism among students and ultimately affects their performances. We are thankful that this challenge has been solved by this donation,” she noted.
Renovation of Administration Block
To complement the new two-classroom block built by the Government of Uganda, the Tourism Ministry donated resources to renovate the school administration block which badly needed a facelift.
Bainomugisa hailed the works of the government and the Ministry, noting that with the 893 learners, the school struggles with overpopulated classrooms which frustrates the teachers’ work and subsequently affects the students’ participation in class.
“The new block has helped to reduce on classroom pressure. Even though we still have congestion in other classes, for example in Primary Six I have 140 learners, I am grateful that we are managing the issue one new classroom block at a time,” she said.
Empowering learners to keep in school
Addressing students at the school, the State Minister for Tourism Hon. Martin Mugarra Bahinduka, said that one of the core elements of the CSR is giving inspiration to the young learners to stay in school and also interest them in matters of conservation and tourism.
The Minister noted that the campaign particularly fosters interaction between the learners and the influencers such as the musicians who are some of their role models to inspire staying in school and shaping careers.
“All these people that you admire, the successful musicians like Pallaso and Spice Diana here, they first completed school and then took on the different careers. Good enough, your headteacher is very accomplished and she should serve as an example especially for you the young girls that education is the way to go,” the Minister cautioned the elated pupils.
The influencers including kickboxing champion Golola Moses who charmed the learners with his charisma, reiterated the Minister’s message, calling on the pupils to use their time in school efficiently.
Challenges
Ms. Bainomugisa said the school faces a challenge of understaffing, noting that the student teacher ratio is high.
“We also have a challenge of lack of accommodation for the teachers and unfortunately, their little pay cannot sustain their rent fees and other family obligations. It is my appeal to government to provide teachers with accommodation and more housing structures here at school,” she said.
The salary scale for teachers at Kigorobya Primary School is U7 Upper, just about Shs 490,000 per month. This, Bainomugisa said, is not enough for teachers to operate with.