Established in 1979, Busia Secondary School the oldest school in Busia district has been having a dilapidated structure which hasn’t received any facelift since it was first built over 40 years ago. Now, MTN through its social responsibility arm, MTN Foundation —has renovated a 10-classroom block at the school and on Friday last week was officially handed over to the school’s administration.
The renovated block which cost UGX75 million was handed over to the administration by Bryan Mbasa, the Senior Manager MTN Uganda Foundation.
While handing over the renovated block, Mbasa said, “Our intention was to provide a conducive learning environment for the students of Busia Secondary School. Our intervention involved replacement of the roofing, windows, doors, floor, plastering and giving the school a new coat of paint. Now it’s conducive enough for the students to be able to learn in it again.”
Mbasa said that the foundation is very keen on supporting government in achieving its goals of reaching every Ugandan with quality education among other things.
“We are aware that as a developing nation, government tends to be stretched by all the competing needs. As a foundation, we try to come in to supplement government efforts where we can because we know that it’s through collective responsibility that we can attain our development goals as a nation,” Mbasa explained.
Aggrey Mayende, Busia Secondary School Head Teacher said the school had become a risk to the students, thus thanking the foundation for coming to its rescue.
“These buildings badly needed renovation, but the district had no budget to immediately restore the school. We are very grateful to MTN Foundation for standing with the students of this school and the people of Busia to restore the image of our oldest education institution. Now our students can once again enjoy class in a clean and healthy environment,” Mayende said.
The MTN Foundation is passionate about social issues and education is one of them investing billions of Uganda Shillings in education projects alone across Uganda. Busia Secondary School is just one of many schools across the country that have benefitted from the MTN Foundation interventions.
In Eastern Uganda alone, the MTN foundation interventions in the education sector include construction of new classroom blocks and sanitary facilities in Malongo Ark PEAS School, Kityerera PEAS High School, Toroma PEAS High School, Apealeui PEAS High School, to mention a few.
The foundation to-date has intervened in over 50 schools in the country where it has either refurbished or built classrooms, or provided ICT support.