The construction works of the multi-billion All Saints Seed Secondary School-Oluvu under Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers (UgIFT) program in Maracha District have concluded with the infrastructure expected to become a boost to the education sector.

UgIFT is a government initiative supported by the World Bank and other partners designed to improve the delivery of essential services like education, health, water, and sanitation across Uganda's local governments. It focuses on improving the adequacy and equity of financial transfers to local governments and enhancing their capacity for managing resources for these sectors. The program also includes a micro-irrigation component to boost agricultural production.

The works at All Saints Seed Secondary School-Oluvu valued at UGX 3 billion include; the construction of two classroom blocks, an ICT laboratory and science laboratory,  a multi-purpose hall, an administration block, staffing houses, VIP latrines to cater also for learners with physical disabilities, and a football pitch.  State of the art equipment have been installed in the ICT and science laboratories as part of the project.

 Maracha District Chairperson, Hon. Stephen Obitre says the school was considered for the project in 2022 after another school in the district, Kololo Public Secondary school, was earlier considered for construction under the same program.  

“When there was call for interest of the second school, the district sat and approved All Saints Oluvu to benefit from this,” he said in an interview.

Hon. Obitre commends government for the project stating the improvement in the infrastructure will go a long way in thrusting enrollment at the school and also changing the attitude of communities towards education in the greater Oluvu.   

“The infrastructure alone is going to encourage the learners to come and study there, we are going to have increased enrollment and also education level in that community will also increase,” he points out.

Much as Hon. Obitre is unhappy that the UgIFT program has come to an end, but at the same is glad that the Nyadri Urban Secondary School has been considered under Uganda Secondary School Expansion Project (USSEP) for infrastructure construction.

Mr. Geofrey Dramadri, the deputy head teacher of the school says before the onset of the project they had infrastructure gaps that have been immensely addressed with the completion of this project.

“Before the inception of this project here we had two blocks, we had challenges in terms of infrastructure.”

Dramadri is grateful to government for this development which has tremendously changed the face of the school.

“We are very happy at least people here are going to benefit from this project.”

To fully operationalize the school, government early this year recruited and teachers and non-teaching staff to the school, Dramadri is pleased that government undertook the recruitment but expresses disappointment that some of the teachers who volunteered at the school for several years were not considered for recruitment after the process was opened.

Emmy Amandu, the head prefect All Saints Seed Secondary School-Oluvu is delighted with the transformation of the school, “I was happy to join the school although at my time the status of the school was without the new construction done.”

Amandu is optimistic that this infrastructure and the installation of the art equipment in the science and ICT laboratories will kick start a turning point of the school towards becoming an academic giant in West Nile and Uganda.

“I am very happy that all of us have access to the new block and I am very happy that things have started to change,” he say.

Amandu wants all the staffing gaps at the school to be addressed observing that this remains the only challenge.

“My message to the government is that they should employ more teachers,” he remarks.

The construction of seed secondary schools is part of government’s program to increase access to secondary education, especially in underserved areas. These schools are constructed in each sub-county and are intended to improve educational opportunities for students in those areas.

The project undertaken by Desert Breeze Hotel Limited now awaits commissioning.