By Wilson Kamukono
Masaka City: Benedict Nkata, the head teacher at Hill Road Public School, one of the best performing government primary schools in the country located at Masaka City decry old asbestos roofs on its buildings.
The head teacher is worried that that the asbestos roofing is too old and likely to cause harm to the school population of over 3, 300 pupils and therefore need to be replaced with new iron sheets.
“On occasion, we have written to the Ministry of Education and Sports, requesting their intervention in replacing the roofs with iron sheets for the protection of pupils and we are yet to receive positive response,” Nkata notes.
Various studies have indicated that when tiny particles of asbestos become airborne, they are easily inhaled and can be lodged in the lungs and eventually cause lung cancer.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer-IARC, if a person ingests asbestos dust, the fibres will become permanently trapped in the body triggering inflammation, scarring and causing genetic damage to the body cells.
Besides the classroom administration blocks, the staff quarters established in the 1970s are also unfit for human habitation and they are somehow affecting their performance.
“After Covid-19 lockdown, the school received a large number of students from other schools whose parents were financially impacted by the lockdown to sustain paying fees at private schools, and the numbers tripled compared to the figures before,” Nkata explains.
Despite of the distinctive performance, the school also continue to struggle with other basic necessities such as desks, feeds and enough classrooms.
Thanks to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for donating twenty-five desks to the school. The Church Regional President, Robert Ssekito says every year they randomly identify community needs and donate under their capacity.
He promised to work with the church administration towards lobbying for replacement of the asbestos roofs and refurbishing the building.
“After our thorough observation in Masaka this year, we realized that Hill Road Public School required more assistance due to its highest number of pupils in Masaka region coming from vulnerable families.” He explains.
The school head teacher is grateful for the support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints saying the support is a forethought since they expect many new pupils to join the school at the beginning of the term and desks has always been part of their challenges.
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