By KT Reporter
Lakwana Primary School in Omoro District is set to undergo a major facelift worth Shillings 114 million, funded by the Ministry of Education and Sports. Launched this month, the four-month rehabilitation project will be undertaken by Makson Construction Company Limited, according to project documents obtained by our reporter.
The works will involve the renovation of dilapidated classroom block comprising four classrooms and the head teacher’s office. While handing over the site to the contractor, Santos Ojok Coopil, the Omoro District Engineer, said the rehabilitation was part of government support following requests by the District Education Department due to the poor state of infrastructure at the school.
“We are having challenges at Lakwana primary schools, most of the building are old building constructed way back in 1990s and early 2000 they need rehabilitation by now. Most of the building are in poor structure dilapidated floor, wall, and others the roof were blown off by violence storms win same years ago,” he told URN.
Coopil assured that the engineering department will closely supervise the works to ensure quality standards are met. “As engineering department of Omoro district we shall ensure that the schools be renovated in standard for effective providing good environment for our pupils at school.”
The Secretary for Works and Technical Services at Omoro District Local Government, Sukiri Ronald Chono, noted that while many schools in the district require rehabilitation, Lakwana Primary School was prioritized because its structures were put up during the LRA insurgency period.
“The schools was renovated when Omoro district was under Gulu district by then, and the structures was not in standard, we need to rehabilitate them in a mordent design.” He added that the project will also address safety and environmental concerns.
“These rehabilitations of schools, require same important things to be fixed alongside like lightening arrester that protect pupils from lightening struck, beautification of school compound by planting same beautiful trees spices on the compound that provides shade to pupils.”Sukiri emphasized that the works are expected to be completed within four months, with strict supervision by the technical team.
“This works are designed to take four months and as technical department we expect good works and cooperation at the site, our engineering team shall be on the ground monitoring all sites.” The Head Teacher of Lakwana Primary School, Otemoto Charles, welcomed the intervention, describing it as long overdue. “At Lakwana primary school, we have only four good classroom built around 2012 under PRDP projects and NUDIL project, and all are not enough to accommodate our learners.”
He said the school has been unable to use the old structures due to safety concerns. “We fear to use the old building built in 1990s just because of it condition and yet if we were to use it, it may able to accommodate our learners and provide good environment for them because of enough space.”Despite the limited infrastructure, the school has an enrolment of 1,225 pupils, including 605 girls and 620 boys, supported by 13 teachers and three support staff.
The Omoro Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Geoffrey Okol, urged the contractor to avoid shoddy work and ensure timely completion. “As office of the residents district commissioner RDC, we shall ensure the work at the site must be done according to the standard design by engineering and our roles will be on monitoring and supervision.”
“We don’t want shoddy work in this project we shall ensure that the work must be done within the period given to complete the work in all the site.” The Omoro District Education Officer, Vincent Ocheng Ocen, commended the Ministry of Education and Sports for supporting the district.
“Many schools in Omoro are in dilapidated classroom, just because they are operating in old building structure built in the year 1990s and early 2000 and since most of them never got renovated.” He said the rehabilitation will help decongest classrooms and improve learning conditions.
“With this new project, our school Lakwana primary will be in mordent classes as well as providing good spaces for pupils at school.” “Following inadequate classroom in many schools, pupils ratio per class in overwhelmed and teachers can’t teach pupils in standard because of overwhelming numbers of pupils in classroom.”
“We expect good standard ratio of pupils per class when our old structure get rehabilitated in the mordent design because access to enough space will be available for pupils in classroom.” Omoro District has over 90 government-aided primary schools, many of which are operating in poor conditions. Most of the structures were built in the 1990s and early 2000s during the LRA insurgency, and have since not undergone proper renovation, leaving them in a sorry state.
The rehabilitation of Lakwana Primary School is seen as a critical step towards improving the learning environment and addressing long-standing infrastructure challenges in the district.
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