The Anglican Bishop of Soroti Diocese, Rt. Rev. Kosea Odongo, has publicly criticized the exercise by the Minister of Local Government, Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi, who is traveling across the country to audit and expose corruption in government institutions.
Bishop Odongo made the remarks during the blessing of S4 candidates at Bethany Comprehensive Senior Secondary School in Soroti after Rev. Godfrey Obone, the Diocesan Education Coordinator, informed parents that it has become hard to run government-aided schools in the diocese because teachers fear arrest by Balaam over PTA fees.
According to Rev. Obone, head teachers and teachers in Church-founded schools are now operating in fear, abandoning key school activities and refusing to collect PTA contributions.
”The methodology being used to arrest teachers for mismanagement of funds is not right,” Rev Obone warned. “Our government is currently struggling with the payment of teachers. Local governments do not have enough money to be able to provide a wage bill for all the teachers required in schools. Parents have got a serious directive not to pay development and PTA fees. This is going to cripple some schools that have been entirely depending on parents.”
He says if parents in Teso accept that directive, they are systematically burying the education of their children alive. “They should know that in most schools, the government teachers are just four, not meeting the required number needed to handle the students,” Rev Obone added. “Some parents in Teso are celebrating that the Minister has relieved them of their pain, but they should keep in mind that it’s the future of their children that is at risk.”
Rev. Obone stated that while it is very important to check on the usage of the PTA monies parents pay to schools, the approach being used by Balaam is not good. “Right now, the schools have left out the PTA teachers, and those who are in government cannot handle the teaching,” He said. “They are saying they will teach up to 2 PM and then rest, leaving the children without lessons. For those parents who are saying the government is capable of sending us teachers, that’s a big lie; the government will not send any teachers to the affected schools.”
Bishop Odongo emphasized that their Church-founded schools are only government-aided, not purely government. “When you buy my wife a dress as a gift, she remains my wife; she does not become your wife,” he emphasized. “Tell Balaam to go to seed schools, community schools, but not to Church of Uganda-founded schools. What we agree with the parents is what we will do because what we want is for our children to learn.”
He warned that if Balaam’s narrative remains the same, next year there will be high student failure in government schools.
“Next year is a year to register serious failures in government schools,” he prophesied. “That’s when everybody will know whether we are faring well politically or we are faring badly. This is the time of judgment. But we shall not be counted in terms of failure; our schools will pass in flying colors. For your information, I was in Labira Girls Secondary School in Kapelebyong, which is supposed to have a staff of 65 teachers, but what the government has given us is only 17, including the head teacher.
When Balaam began talking without research, the PTA teachers in that school walked away, and now the teachers to cater for the load is only 14. Amuria SS is supposed to have 132 teachers; we only have 30. This is an attack on education; this is an attack on the future of this country. If we keep quiet, by the time we wake, the person talking has his kids studying in schools abroad. The same person talking has radios that generate money for him. So whenever you go to our schools, remind our head teachers they are church-founded and government-aided.”
Bishop Odongo said that if the situation continues, they will tell the government to remove their help and focus on building their schools as the Church. “If it persists, we shall say remove what you’re paying, and we will get back to how we did it in the past.”
He encouraged the teachers to remain firm and guide the learners to make them ready for exams. “Guide them, do your best with the remaining time because there were no remedial lessons. So can we make this remaining time to ensure that girls and boys are ready,” Bishop Odongo urged.
But some of the parents who listened to Bishop Odongo requested to remain anonymous and said that the Church should allow the audit of some of the government-aided schools, which had used the PTA as their initiative to enrich themselves.
They said even parents will not allow themselves to be lured into paying money without accountability. THey cited Soroti SS that allegedly inflated the figures of students on USE, and yet parents were paying yearly without any accountability. The same applies to Madera Girls, they said, where the government sends millions, and the parents are paying is even more than those in private schools, without providing any accountability to anyone, not even to the government.
They appealed to the government to provide a platform where those who levy PTA from parents account for it annually without fail.
President Museveni has on several occasions applauded minister Balaam for helping him fight corruption by bypassing bureaucratic roadblocks and engaging directly with citizens in various districts. Museveni officially backed their field operations and directed the Director of Public Prosecutions to assign dedicated officers to swiftly evaluate the evidence gathered during their grassroots visits and prosecute the culprits-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
