By Flavia Ajok
A section of locals in Bunyoro have raised concerns over the low numbers of students from the region being enrolled on government sponsorship in public universities.
In the recently released government sponsorship lists by several public universities, schools in Bunyoro were able to send only 84 students leaving many others fighting for vacancies under the private sponsorship arrangement.
According to the lists, St Andrea Kahwa’s college in Hoima City topped the list for Bunyoro with 54 students admitted on national merit under the government sponsorship. Mandela secondary school annex came second with 10 students while Kigumba intensive secondary school in Kiryandongo district came third with four students enrolled to public universities.
Other schools that secured the sponsorship include St James Secondary school in Hoima City (3), Masindi Army SS in Masindi district (3), Blessed Comboni SS Kigumba in Kiryandongo district (2). Duhaga SS in Hoima City, Hilltop HS in Hoima City, Kagadi SS in Kagadi district, Masindi SS in Masindi district, Premier SS in Hoima City and St John Bosco Seminary in Hoima City, each sent one student to public universities on government sponsorship.
Though other schools will be happy with sending at least a student to public universities on government sponsorship, some locals have rallied other schools to put in effort and ensure a higher number of students hailing from Bunyoro region are admitted to the higher institutions of learning.
Tugume Charles and Polly Nagaba says the numbers are still low to brag about wondering why other traditional schools have depreciated in standards and have not sent students to universities on government sponsorship for several years.
Sunday Macura, another resident says schools and other education stakeholders in the region need to pull up tools in their hands and ensure more efforts are geared towards improving the current performance of students in higher institutions of learning.
Catherine Kamanyire a member of civil society believes the numbers could be more than that however others have since branched off to other institutions of learning at O’ level while others drop off and embrace business operations. She urges parents to embrace educating their children.
