As the 2025 academic year approaches, how has the Busoga sub-region prepared for the upcoming school year?
Education is the process through which human beings acquire knowledge and skills. It enlightens, empowers, and creates positive developments that enable people to work virtuously. Since the discovery of education and its precious values, it has been instrumental in fostering positive change through the acquisition of knowledge and skills that have led to various advancements. In fact, education has even become a form of tourism, evolving significantly from its inception.
On September 25, 1911, Busoga established Balangira School, which later became the present-day Mwiri. With both lower and higher sections, Mwiri School has become a center of educational excellence, considered the oldest and first educational tourism center in the region.
Following this, many schools were set up by missionaries, including the Christian Missionary Society (CMS) in Iganga, Muslims, local government, and individual communities, all of whom have contributed significantly to the establishment of modern educational institutions in Busoga.
Despite this rich history, the main challenge facing these great educational institutions is maintaining, improving, and sustaining their existence.
These schools have produced remarkable citizens from all walks of life, including Presidents such as His Excellency Obote Milton, Prime Minister Hon. Rugunda, Professor Venansius Baryamureba, and several engineers, doctors, geologists, teachers, and many other professionals who have made significant contributions at both the personal and national levels.
In addition to Mwiri, schools like Wakitaka Church of Uganda Primary School, Jinja SSS, Iganga SSS, Budini, Bukoyo, Kiira College Butiki, and Jinja College have produced students who have greatly contributed to the development of the country and society.
Education, being a precious resource, can only be acquired through established centers that need to be self-sustaining and carefully preserved as heritage sites. These centers are the standard that has been proven to transform society.
Busoga must remain focused on setting up a self-monitoring system where all people can access ways to contribute to the development of the education system, just as the local communities once freely donated land to establish schools.
However, education in the Busoga sub-region began to decline in the years leading up to 2014. In 2014, the sub-region had the highest number of candidates who scored zero marks in the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE). This affected districts such as Kamuli, Iganga, Bugiri, Mayuge, Jinja, Luuka, and the new districts of Bugweri, Buyende, Kaliro, Namutumba, and Namayingo.
Namuyonga Zuena, a Senior Two student at Knitwear Kyambogo Secondary School in Luuka District, while speaking to a Busoga Today reporter, urged parents to provide their children with all the necessary scholastic materials, stressing that it is unfair for students to be turned away from school on reporting day due to missing requirements. She also pointed out that some families discriminate against their children, giving the best materials to some while denying others, which creates a significant gap within families and at school.
She encouraged fellow students to be God-fearing, patient, and honest with their parents and teachers as they return to school.
Speaking to Hajji Harunah Soonzi, a prominent businessman, chairman of the NRM Kyanvuma Parish, chairperson of the Parents and Teachers Association at Luuka Muslim Secondary School, and a local politician, he advised parents to spend more time parenting their children, teaching them good morals, and taking them to holy places so they may remember God.
On behalf of parents, Hajji Soonzi also urged teachers and school directors to be understanding of parents’ financial situations and to maintain good communication, ensuring that students can benefit without being sent home repeatedly for missing requirements. He further stressed that parents should be prepared to send their children back to school with the necessary resources to help teachers and school directors run the schools effectively.
He concluded by advising students to focus on their futures during the remaining holiday period and not be distracted by peer pressure or relationship issues.
In an interview with Mutasa Yakubu, Director of Kal Vocational Training Centre and Hope for Uganda Nursery and Primary School, he emphasized that their teachers are well-equipped with the knowledge of the new curriculum and other relevant skills in line with the Ministry of Education and Sports. He encouraged parents to ensure that learners have the required scholastic materials and personal items to avoid difficulties when reporting back to school.
Mutasa also called on fellow directors to stand together and address concerns as a team to achieve the best results at the end of the training season.
Mutasa Yakubu is the Director of Kal Vocational Training Centre and Hope for Uganda Nursery and Primary School, located in Nawango-Bugogolo, Kitayunjwa Subcounty, Kamuli District.
In an exclusive interview with Ms. Nantale Nasabu, the Minister for Education and Sports in the Busoga Kingdom, she emphasized the need for parents to cooperate with teachers, leaders, and all concerned parties to ensure that all pupils and students return to school for the first term of the 2025 academic year. She also highlighted the kingdom’s efforts in offering bursaries to pupils and students at various levels through well-recognized channels, urging parents not to let their children stay home when it is time to study.