Adwir school short of students

ALEBTONG - A secondary school in the Alebtong district is struggling to raise the number of students to occupy and study at the Government-provided facility. 

Adwir Seed Secondary School in Adwir sub-county was established under the Government’s initiative of inter-governmental fiscal transfer, through a sh3b funding from World Bank. 

However, there is a low enrolment of students. According to local leaders and the school administration, the school has an enrolment of 20 students and 10 volunteer teaching staff, being supported by parents. 

The leaders have raised concerns over what they described as “poor” parents’ attitude toward the education of their children, despite government initiatives to provide access to secondary education. 

The chairperson of the education committee, Denis Okuba, who also represents the sub-county on the district council, said the Government constructed and provided furniture to the school, but parents are not sending their children to study. 

“As leaders, we are not happy, because we have Adwir Seed Secondary School here, where government spent a lot of money, but parents have refused to give us children. We are disappointed and there is a need to do something to change their mindset,” Okuba said. 

Road launch  

Okuba tabled the pressing issue before government chief whip Denis Hamson Obua, at Alololo trading centre during the launching of the sh1.3b construction of the road under the national oil seed project. 

The project, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the OPEC International Fund for Development, was launched by Obua recently. 

It is a 12km road stretch from Okuru-Alololo to Okomo, being implemented the agriculture and local government ministries.

Mobile parents 

The district chairperson, David Kennedy Odongo, urged LC1 chairpersons to help in mobilising parents to send children to school. 

“This is your school. If you find that the cost of school fees is high, please organise a meeting and agree on a fair rate,” he said. 

The school’s director of studies, Joseph Okello, said they are scaling up advocacy to mobilise parents in an attempt to increase enrolment, but things are not working out. 

He highlighted challenges the school faces, ranging from the parents negative attitude toward education, shortage of learning materials, failure to pay school fees and poor payment of teachers. 

“Above all, out of the 20 students, only five had cleared their fees, which has made running the school hard for us, because we need money to pay teachers, procure food and pay support staff,” Okello said. 

He added that the school fees was sh91,000 for boarding students and sh71,000 for day scholars, but parents cannot afford it.

“This is your school. If you find that the cost of school fees is high, please organise a meeting and agree on a fair rate,” he said. 

The school’s director of studies, Joseph Okello, said they are scaling up advocacy to mobilise parents in an attempt to increase enrolment, but things are not working out. 

He highlighted challenges the school faces, ranging from the parents negative attitude toward education, shortage of learning materials, failure to pay school fees and poor payment of teachers. 

“Above all, out of the 20 students, only five had cleared their fees, which has made running the school hard for us, because we need money to pay teachers, procure food and pay support staff,” Okello said. 

He added that the school fees was sh91,000 for boarding students and sh71,000 for day scholars, but parents cannot afford it.

“It is not easy for us, because whenever you send them back to collect school fees, they spend days there and still return with nothing,” Okello noted.

Negative attitude 

The director of studies highlighted poverty and negative attitude as some of the factors as to why parents are not paying school fees. 

Okello called on well-wishers to intervene and support the school, because sometimes teachers go without salaries, and as leaders, they have to plead with them to teach. 

To mitigate the challenge of negative attitude, he said, they have started organising community sensitisation meetings and highlighting the benefits of education. 

On a positive note, Okello added that they talked to parents and most of them had pledged to mobilise children in the second term.