{UAH} Miriima & Rose See who is also stealing the peoples money - Head teachers

Head teachers return school building fund

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By Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa

Posted  Wednesday, December 4  2013 at  00:00

In Summary

Of the 25 teachers interdicted over alleged misappropriation of funds, 20 have returned the money.

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Majority of head teachers, who were last month interdicted over alleged misappropriation of funds, have returned the money, the Daily Monitor has learnt.

According to Mr Francis Agula , the commissioner, secondary education, 20 out of the 25 school heads have reimbursed the money and will soon be reinstated.

"The money has been recovered from 20 head teachers out of the 25 who were interdicted and we hope even the five others who are still reluctant will do the same," he said.

Mr Agula said the names of those who fail to return the money by the end of this month will be handed to Interpol to help to track them.

The head teachers, majority of whom are from schools in western Uganda, were interdicted over failure to comply with instructions to refund unspent funds for construction works funded by the World Bank at their schools.

The fund
The money amounting to Shs1.5b was wired to the schools accounts to facilitate construction of classrooms, libraries, multipurpose science rooms, teachers houses and sanitation facilities.

Mr Agula said the ministry took the decision to interdict the teachers as a last resort after they failed to offer explanations in two months.

This is the second time this year that school heads are failing to account for construction funds. A total of 63 head teachers faced a similar fate early this year and although some later gave accountability and the interdiction was lifted, the school governing bodies are still reluctant to receive them.

In 2009, government secured $375m ( about Shs930b ) from World Bank to support the improvement of facilities in secondary schools under the government free education programme over a period of 10 years from 2009 to 2018.

Implementation of this programme involves the construction of physical facilities, including classrooms, libraries, multipurpose science rooms, administration blocks, teachers' houses, water and sanitation facilities.

At least 217 secondary schools across the country are currently under construction with completion expected soon.