By Mathew Abekson
The minister of education and sports Janet Kataha Museveni has challenged districts in the Karamoja sub region to ensure that all water, sanitation and hygiene [WASH] facilities in schools are properly maintained.
The minister made the appeal Tuesday during the closure of the 5-year KOICA-UNICEF supported water, sanitation and hygiene [WASH] program in schools in Karamoja held at Lomukura P/S Kotido municipality.
In a message read for her by Joyce Moriku Kaducu, the state minister for primary education, Ms Museveni applauded the contribution made by the WASH program in ensuring that girls in Karamoja attend school, dropout rates are reduced and that schools have the required gender, inclusive and disability friendly wash facilities.
Mohamed El Munir A. Safieldin, the country director for UNICEF, said they managed to construct two units of water tanks and 2 units of latrines in each of the 100 primary and secondary schools they targeted. According to El Munir the number of beneficiaries from the facilities increased from 2000 to an average of 200,000.
Jihee Ahn the country director for KOICA in her presentation tasked the stake holders to maintain these facilities assuring them of their dedication to supporting Karamoja as a region.
Gloria Atim a P7 pupil of Lomukura primary school in her testimony highlighted the challenges they faced especially as girl children before the project was extended to their school.
According to UNICEF, at least 65,016 pupils {35,430 boys and 29, 586 girls} across the region gained access to safe drinking water from the 10million dollar project launched in September 2018.
