LUUKA: In the aftermath of the prolonged closure of schools in Uganda due to Covid-19, many learners and teachers across the country have lost interest in their former schools due to the fact that majority of them have either better things to do or switched careers for survival. Indeed, when President Museveni announced that schools will reopen early next year (in January), there was some sort of a muted response from the general public.
However, the remote and poverty-stricken district of Luuka in Busoga region, civil society organisations have provided incentive for pupils to return to schools by provide better hygiene and sanitation facilities. A group of Non-Government Organisations dealing in the water, hygiene and sanitation sector, under their umbrella body, UWASNET, launched a pilot scheme in the Ikumbya sub county, a highly populated area but with least number of schools in Luuka district.
For the last one-and-half years, they have built facilities such as washable latrines, clean drinking water and hand-washing lots at various schools in the sub county and results are encouraging as pupils are now bracing to return to class.
Our correspondent MOSES KASAGGA visited the sub county this week with a team of local leaders and UWASNET officials to access the impact of the scheme, and he captured the story in this photo-stream at Ntayigirwa Primary School.