Simon Galandi was the best student at Bukoyo Secondary School in Iganga in last year's national O-level exams. With an aggregate of 17 in his best six subjects, Galandi became something of a hero among his classmates and his neighbors and friends in Bulumba village in Kaliro district.
So it came as a surprise when during a visit to Bukoyo Secondary School yesterday, a group of district leaders were told that Galandi couldn't continue with his education because his parents did not have money for school fees. Hamza Olwita, the headmaster of Bukoyo Secondary School, claimed that he offered to employ Galandi on his farm to help him raise money for his education, but the boy turned down the offer because it was too far from his parents' home.
Olwita told the Iganga Resident District Commissioner, Wagwa Lubega, that there is a need for establishment of bursaries to assist bright children from disadvantaged homes to continue with school. Lubega had not answers for Olwita, he passed the ball back to the school, challenging the school managers to invest in scholarships for some of their most needy students.
Simon Galandi said he had planned to do physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics for his A-levels. He said his father, Patrick Mugadya, has other children to pay for and an unsteady income and was unable to meet the costs of the continued education.
