Kampala — About 2,000 pupils from four primary schools that were affected by floods and landslides in Bulambuli, Bukedea, Bududa and Butaleja districts are to receive support from Save the Children Uganda.

The beneficiary schools are Buwasyeba in Bulambuli, Aminit in Bukedea, Bugobe in Butaleja and Bulucheke IDP Primary School in Bududa district. They will receive exercise books, pens, pencils, rubbers, mathematical sets, temporary classroom shelters and sanitary towels worth sh40m.

Stephen Wafula, a resident of Busangayi village, who has three children in Buwasyeba Primary school, commended Save the Children for the donation.

He also asked the Government to provide desks and construct a classroom block for the Primary Six and Seven pupils. "When our children complete Primary Five, they are forced to join either Nabbongo, Bunangaka or Muyembe primary schools that are far from their homes," Wafula said

The Bukhalu sub-county councillor, Festo Shibuta, said most of the parents lost their crops to floods and cannot provide for their children. According to the Save the Children education coordinator, Moses Bukenya, his organisation received appeals for assistance from the district authorities, but after conducting a survey and considering the available funds, they could only aid the four schools.

Bukenya observed that the schools have been recording low class attendance and poor academic performance as most of the pupils cannot access the schools because of bad roads.

He added that the sanitation facilities in the schools were poor. "When we were delivering items to Buwasyeba Primary School, our truck got stuck in the mud several kilometres away from the school, forcing the pupils and the teachers to wade through the water and mud to receive the items," Bukenya said.