By URN<\/p>\n
Kiryandongo District leaders have resolved to relocate Runyanya Primary School following repeated lightning strikes that have continued to threaten the lives of pupils and teachers, 15 years after a deadly strike at the school claimed 18 learners.\u00a0The decision follows the latest incident on July 5, 2026, when lightning struck the school’s staff quarters, leaving huge cracks in the building and raising fresh concerns about the safety of learners, teachers and nearby residents.<\/p>\n
Runyanya Primary School, a government-aided school located in Kikube Parish, Kiryandongo Sub-county, has long been associated with recurring lightning strikes despite previous efforts to improve safety.\u00a0Headteacher Sarah Ngozebwa said the latest incident forced the school management to temporarily send learners home as authorities assess the safety of the premises.<\/p>\n
She said repeated lightning strikes have frightened parents, leading to a decline in enrolment from about 800 pupils to 700.\u00a0District records show that on June 28, 2011, lightning struck the school, killing 18 pupils and critically injuring more than 30 others. The children had remained in their classrooms waiting for heavy rain to stop before heading home.<\/p>\n
Following the tragedy, the African Centre for Lightning Education Network installed certified lightning protection systems in the classrooms and conducted lightning safety training for learners, teachers and surrounding communities.\u00a0However, Ngozebwa said lightning incidents have continued despite those interventions.\u00a0She appealed to district authorities to renovate the damaged staff quarters, establish a sickbay at the school and designate Runyanya Primary School as Uganda’s National Lightning Education and Learning Centre.<\/p>\n
Kiryandongo District Chairperson Nelson Osaga said the District Executive Committee had resolved that the school should be relocated to a safer site within the sub-county.\u00a0He said Primary Seven candidates will, in the meantime, be transferred to neighbouring schools to enable them to complete their studies without disruption.\u00a0Kiryandongo Sub-county Chairperson Wilson Tugume said the district has already secured a five-acre piece of land where the school will be relocated.<\/p>\n
District Inspector of Schools Johnson Katusabe urged parents and other stakeholders to support the relocation, saying the current site has become unsafe because of the recurring lightning strikes.\u00a0“We have previously lost learners in this school to lightning. We need to relocate to a safer and more conducive learning environment for both learners and teachers,” he said.<\/p>\n
Parents have welcomed the decision, saying they have been living in constant fear over the safety of their children.\u00a0Walter Ochaya, whose child attends the school, said many parents now worry whenever it rains because of the school’s history of lightning strikes.\u00a0Meanwhile, District Electrical Officer Julius Ochaya said technical inspections found serious electrical safety concerns. He said the earthing system in the staff quarters measured 160 volts, far above the recommended seven volts, while Primary Six and Primary Seven classrooms recorded 57 volts.<\/p>\n
He also cited cracked walls, exposed electrical wiring and the absence of lightning arresters on the affected staff quarters.\u00a0According to the African Centre for Lightning Education Network, the school lies between 335 metres and 1,500 metres from a high-risk lightning zone and is located next to a wetland and bushland, conditions that experts say increase the likelihood of lightning activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By URN Kiryandongo District leaders have resolved to relocate Runyanya Primary School following repeated lightning strikes that have continued to threaten the lives of pupils and teachers, 15 years after a deadly strike at the school claimed 18 learners.\u00a0The decision follows the latest incident on July 5, 2026, when lightning struck the school’s staff quarters, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11304","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-bunyoro","7":"category-national","8":"category-news"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spicemedia.ug\/spicefm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spicemedia.ug\/spicefm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spicemedia.ug\/spicefm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spicemedia.ug\/spicefm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spicemedia.ug\/spicefm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11304"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spicemedia.ug\/spicefm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11307,"href":"https:\/\/spicemedia.ug\/spicefm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11304\/revisions\/11307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spicemedia.ug\/spicefm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spicemedia.ug\/spicefm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spicemedia.ug\/spicefm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}