More than just a respiratory infection, Covid-19 has wreaked havoc not just on people’s health but also on everything from business to politics, culture and daily life.
Covid-19 and the pandemic-induced year-long lockdown have shattered livelihoods and accelerated a rash of business shutdowns. Schools have not been spared either –many are on sale battered financially by the year-long shutdown.
About 50 schools are listed for sale. The proprietors, according to insiders, want a quiet sale largely not to rattle the huge learners and parent population. Some schools on sale have about 800 to 1,000 learners. The cheapest on the list in going for Shs 80m and is occupying about an acre.
Others sitting on about two to 20 acres are going for billions of shillings and others millions of US dollars. Interviewed for clarity, many brokers on the hunt for buyers refused to disclose specifics, especially names of schools on sale and their proprietors for fear of causing unnecessary panic but were willing to share the general location of the schools, the cash involved and the learner population.
They also shared their cellphone numbers and implored this writer to forward any inquiries from interested buyers to them.
Interviewed, Siraje Ssekandi, a property broker, told Uganda Times that Mukono High is being sold for as low as Shs 300 million. He also disclosed that Nakaseke International and East High School, Ntinda are being sold.
Many of these schools had got bank loans by the beginning of 2020 and on top of that, many learners had not paid their fees in full. So, the school heads found themselves in a huge dilemma. They couldn’t pay back the bank loans during the lockdown and that had a ripple effect,” he said.
The same schools, he said, were hugely indebted to suppliers of food and other items. Ssekandi said schools have become too pricey to maintain when learners are not in school.
So far schools are re-opening in a phased manner but the ministries of Health and Education have also imposed a very stringent regime of standard operating procedures to stop the spread of Covid-19 in schools. Semi-candidates returned to school on Monday, March 1.
Candidates,’ classes, more so, senior four candidates, began writing their final exams on March 1. But the stringent SOPs, according to some school heads, will automatically lock them out. Schools were told to run as either day or boarding schools but not both. This is rather hard for both the schools and parents.
Many parents can’t afford the boarding fees. According to the ministry guideline for transportation of learners and staff, “Parents are advised that under this emergency public health situation, they should, as much as possible, identify schools nearest to their home to enroll their children for the meantime to avoid risks, unnecessary costs and inconveniences of long-distance travel to schools.
“Schools in urban centres, where many learners need to use public means, are advised as follows:
* The school administration shall register all learners and their modes of transport to and from school.
* Learners who walk to school or are transported by private means to schools may continue to do so; however, they may not use public transport on any occasion, even when they cannot walk or be privately transported to and from school by their parents/guardians.
“Schools shall ensure that the private means vehicles and drivers are registered with the school and are the only ones allowed to transport the learners.”
Interviewed for this story, Robert Muwanguzi, a property broker told Uganda Times that a nursery and primary school along Hoima road near Kakiri was being sold for Shs 3.3 billion. He said it has 470 students occupying five acres. Without a quick buyer coming soon, the future of learners in these schools is in jeopardy.
LIST OF SCHOOLS ON SALE
* A primary school on four acres on Bugerere road is being sold for Shs 2bn.
* Gayaza Secondary School on 20 acres is going for Shs 4bn.
* A secondary school in Mutundwe, 3.5 acres with 400 students is priced at $1.5m.
* A primary school in Mukono, Kayunga with 270 students on 7 acres is priced at Shs 600m.
* A secondary school in Kasangati on 3 acres with 800 students on sale at Shs 2bn.
* A secondary school in Bweyogere, Jinja road, 10 acres with 800 students is going for Shs 6bn.
* A primary school in Namungongo Sonde on 3 acres on sale at Shs 2bn.
* A primary school in Kiira on one acre with 250 students is priced at Shs 1bn.
* Primary school in Kabalagala on 3 acres goes for $2.5m.
* Primary school in Bugolobi on five acres at $6m.
* Primary school in Bwaise on three acres with 400 students at Shs 5bn.
* Primary school in Wakiso on five acres at Shs 2bn.
* Nursery school on Salaama road at Shs 650m.
* Primary school in Mukono on five acres at Shs 3bn.
* Primary school in Mukono on one acre with 270 students being sold at Shs 800m.
* Primary school at Kasangati Masooli with 300 students on six acres at Shs 3.5bn.
* Primary school at Kasubi on one acre at $2.5m.
* Empty primary school structure in Kyebando on 2.5 acres at $2.5m.
* Empty primary school on Entebbe road on 40 decimals at Shs 2.2bn.
* Empty primary school structure in Lugala on one acre at Shs1bn.
* Empty primary school structure at Nansana Kyebando at Shs 300m.
* A 10-acre secondary school in Mbalala, Mukono at Shs 2.5bn.
* A five-acre primary school in Mukono Mbalala at Shs 3bn.
* A 10 acre primary school in Lugazi at Shs 2bn.
* A primary and secondary school on 16 acres on Bombo -Luweero highway at Shs 3bn.
* A secondary school in Entebbe on 21 acres at Shs 17 billion
* A secondary in Kayunga on 4.5 acres with 400 students at Shs 3.5bn.
* A secondary school in Kisaasi on four acres at Shs 4bn.
* Secondary school on 16 acres in Ntinda at Shs 15bn.
* A primary school in Mpigi on three acres with 300 students at Shs 1bn.
* A primary school in Buloba on two acres with 300 students at Shs 1bn.
* A primary school at Wandegeya, Makerere on one acre at Shs 3.5bn.
* A primary school in Luweero with 600 students on six acres at Shs 2billion.
* A secondary school in Kyengera with 250 students at Shs 1.5bn.
* Empty structures in Watuba off Bombo road on two acres at Shs 800m.
* A primary school on one acre in Wakiso Nkowe at Shs 80m.
* A secondary school on 12 acres on Entebbe road with 1100 students at Shs 10bn.
* A secondary school in Kawempe on 2.5 acres with 700 students at Shs 5bn.
* A primary school on Mityana road on 16 acres at $2.3m.
* A nursery and primary school in Nansana with 200 students, 30 decimals, Kabaka land at Shs 12bn.
* A primary school at Bulenga 9 miles from Kampala on 5 acres with 500 students at Shs 5bn.
* A primary school in Nsangi on one acre at Shs 400m.
* A secondary school at Katende in Masaka on 21 acres with 300 students at Shs 8bn.
* A secondary school at Kasangati with 320 students at Shs 700m.
* An institution on 60 decimals with 280 students in Kabalagala on sale at Shs 3bn.
* A primary school on 5 acres at Namungogo with 300 students at Shs 5bn.
* A primary school in Kyengera on five acres at Shs 8bn.
* International school on sale in Muyenga with a swimming pool on 80 decimals on sale at $1.5m.
* A high school with O & A level exam centres on 16.38 acres is also on sale.
* A school in Kakiri on nine acres with an international status and 800 students is on sale for $3m.
* A school in Munyonyo with 2,300 students on sale for Shs 9bn.
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