By Emmanuel Eumu
Kaberamaido Members of the Education Policy Review Commission ( EPRC) were on Monday shocked to establish that the shs. 5 billion government projects have been lying idle at Kaberamaido Technical Institute for at least six months after setting everything.
The three projects including milk processing plant, fruit factory and animals feed processing plant were established by the government through the ministry of Education and sports under the Uganda skills Development project (USDP) with funds from the world Bank.
The government of Uganda identified Kaberamaido Technical Institute to be a pilot institution for food processing and funding was obtained from the world Bank to put up the structures before installing the machines the production department at the technical school was assigned to charge of the processing plants after completion.
The commission led by Mr. Amanya Mushega was touring at the school as they camped in Teso sub region to compute recommended views from various stakeholders in the sub region where they learnt from the institute leadership that despite having all relevant equipment to run the plants, the Education ministry has since failed to officially launch operations yet they have reported to government income from the projects, the milk processing factory at Kaberamaido Technical Institute.
According to the deputy principle of the institution, Mr. Boniface Ninsiima, the projects are well packed with relevant equipment and some staff were even trained in India about operating the machine, how to process juices, Adding value to milk and animal feeds but the line ministry hasn’t officially launched their operations.
Mr.Ninsiima expressed hope that the students will be equipped with the required skills that it will benefit the community since it will be an income generating venture on top of training some people on project skills.
“If these plants start working, our students will be equipped with the required skills that are demanded by the world of work. The institute will also benefit from this because it will act as an income generating project and even people from outside will benefit in terms of employment and also get training,” Mr. Ninsiima said.
However, Mr. Mushega asked the relevant authorities to immediately launch the project as it could help the community with the market for their fruits, milk and animal wastes.
Most of the staff led by the deputy principle lamented over welfare, which could be realized from the idle projects. Mr. Mushega was also perplexed by the narration that students are missing out on gaining key skills imperative in this world of science and technology.
Mushega was in the company of other commissioners like Mr. Bryton Byarugaba, Ms. Abenakyo Monica and others. They later visited various primary and secondary schools and interacted with teachers and learners on this opinion on the impending education policy review.
The District Education officer (DEO) of Kaberamaido District local Government Mr James Esiku said that there is a lack of enough raw materials to kickstart the production works in addition to adequate power to run all the machines.
“The principal is saying that the power supply is inadequate to run all the machines and there is lack of raw materials for kick starting the processing plants and this lies with the production department of the institute to ensure the raw materials are produced within the instruction,” he said.