Following the increasing numbers of school-going children in the community of Lugazi Municipality, the bishop of Lugazi diocese, Christopher Kakooza has unveiled a well-constructed nursery and primary school which is to accommodate children at the beginning of first term, early next month.
St. Micheal Nursery and Primary School which is located at Lugazi Cathedral in Lugazi Municipality is added to more than 200 primary schools under the foundation of the Catholic Church in the diocese where most of them are government aided.
The diocese’s intervention follows the biggest numbers of children that turned up to mostly government aided schools after the two years of COVID 19 lockdown which kept all the education institutions in the country closed.
Despite the increasing numbers of children in most of the government schools in the greater Mukono districts of Mukono, Buikwe, Kayunga and Buvuma last year, headteachers testified that the facilities and funding to those schools remained constant.
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Bp. Kakooza asked parents to organise and have their children recruited for the new term which commences on February 5, the official beginning date for schools in the country.
Fr. John Baptist Lule, the coordinator of Caritas in Lugazi diocese, said that the construction of this school was funded by the Ireland based couple, Helen and Micheal Kinsella.
The bishop acknowledged the contribution of Helen and Micheal in the effort to put up this school saying that right from 1997 when the diocese was formed and the cathedral was constructed, they had plans to have a primary and secondary school together with a health facility at the cathedral which had never been fulfilled for the last 27 years.
The opening of St. Micheal Nursery and Primary School also attracted the funders, Helen and Micheal who also promised to facilitate the construction of St. Helen College, which will be a secondary school in the same location.
Fr. Lule also said that Micheal Kinsella who has been in partnership with Lugazi diocese for more than ten years has also facilitated the construction of a children’s home in Buvuma islands and renovation of a number of churches in Malongwe parish, Buikwe district.
Micheal said that apart from the documentation that regarded accountability which they have been receiving regularly, they were impressed by what they found on ground.
The head of laity for Lugazi diocese, Dr. Augustine Kato called on the residents from the nearby communities to make use of this school.
“The bishop saw the need in the community following the high numbers of children and the schools around. The onus is therefore upon the parents to utilise the school so that we can have a well-educated future generation,” Dr. Kato said.