Pit latrines at Kapeta Primary School in Kitgum district are being used as stores for important scholastic materials because of the lack of classrooms.
Kapeta Primary School is located in Palabek Kal sub-county, the location of one of the largest camps for internally displaced people. During the height of the Lord's Resistance Army guerilla war, Kapeta Primary School was moved into Palabek Kal IDP camp. It returned to its campus recently after government gave the go ahead for the creation of a satellite return camp close to it.
The reopening of the school campus was however not accompanied by any funding to restore facilities and to repair infrastructure.
Mary Apokowat, a teacher at the school, says classes are held under trees because almost all the classrooms were destroyed. She says the only strong buildings in Kapeta Primary School are the pit latrines, which have been turned into stores for books, paper, chalk and blackboards.
When it rains, classes are ended and the school is closed. Apokowat says the teachers are often left stranded because they do not have accommodation at the school. She discloses that when it rains, all the teachers cram into the pit latrines, piling over the scholastic materials for shelter.
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Mary Apokowat is afraid that an epidemic of disease may break out in Kapeta Primary School because the sanitary facilities are unavailable. She says a large number of pupils have been forced to drop out of school because of the dire conditions.
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In addition to the lack of classrooms, Kapeta Primary School does not have a sports field.
Joseph Okello, the games and sports teacher says the land available for physical education classes is overgrown with bushes. He says the school didn't participate in this year's athletics competitions because the pupils had nowhere to train.
According the Kitgum District Education Officer, John Amoo, 30 primary schools in the district do not have a single structure. He says more than 60 others have only three or four classrooms.
