The ministry of education has come up with tight regulations for schools to curb the rampant school fires that have taken place since the reopening of schools.
To begin with, schools are now expected to obtain building occupation permits from the respective local governments, and to install fire detection systems to alert children and teachers in case of a fire outbreak.
In addition to that, each school is required to display the building occupation permits on noticeboards and any other public place within the school for parents, and the children to confirm.
The ministry has also ordered the removal of burglar proofing in classrooms, libraries as well as dormitories to serve as emergency exits in times of fire, as well as a second door to serve as emergency exit in every classroom and dormitory.
For additional security measures, the ministry has recommended hiring security guards to monitor the area all the time, as well as CCTV cameras for 24-hour surveillance (for schools that can).
The ministry also says schools must also have designated emergency assembly points, display contacts of district/ division Police commanders, for immediate response.
“Since January, we have recorded six cases of outbreaks of fire in schools. Of these, five were private institutions,” Dr Denis Mugimba, the ministry’s spokesperson, said.
He added that school administrators should pay special attention to the dormitories because they are the main target.
He also revealed that preparations for a meeting between security organizations and other authorities are underway.
The Minister of State for Primary Education, Dr Joyce Moriku Kaducu said schools that do not follow government instructions on safety face the risk of being deregistered.
“We urge schools to follow these guidelines, but also warn schools, especially boarding schools, that they will have their boarding sections closed,” she said while addressing journalists on Thursday (March 03) at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala.
Occupation permits
According to the findings of the National Building Review Board, most schools are not safe.
However, Eng. Flavia Bwire, the executive secretary of the board said that occupation permits can be secured from the respective local government building committees.
To obtain one, she said, the school must submit sbilt drawings for each building. A sbilt drawing illustrates how and what was built.
As part of the demands for the building occupation permits, the school will also be required to present an inspection booklet issued to every site at the start of construction.
“The inspection booklet must be fully filled and signed at every stage of construction by the respective engineers and authorities. All these must be submitted to the building committee at the local governments,” she added.
Schools are classified as Class A and occupation permits for buildings differ according to location. If the school is in a city, they will be required to pay sh1,200 per square metre, sh950 in a municipality, sh700 in a town council and sh500 in the district local governments.
To address the issue of electricity sparks, Bwire also recommended that all schools should change their wiring fitting periodically.
Feeding conditions
All schools, according to Dr Kaducu, should seek food supplies from approved entities that have been certified by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards.
By this, the ministry intends to regulate the quality of food and also ensure that the children always consume safe food.
She also declared that the ministry is in the final stages to have the National School Feeding Policy, which is mainly intended to guide school administrators on how to feed children in school.
Once approved, each child will be required to undergo a mandatory health examination before reporting to school every term.
These requirements are enshrined in the May 2021 Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for the proposed National School Feeding Policy.
The proposed school feeding policy, now at development stage, is aimed at streamlining the various school feeding interventions in a coherent and elaborate framework.