The government has been tasked to expedite the renovation of dilapidated school infrastructure in most of the schools seen to be in dangerous conditions and a danger to the learners and teachers.

The call was made by the Civil Society organizations during the Local Government Consultative workshop held at Mountains of the Moon Hotel in Fort Portal Tourism City.

According to civil society organizations, a number of local governments in the country are struggling with infrastructure challenges in schools which according to them impacts the realization of human capital development.

Kyomuhangi Fatuma, the Programs Officer at CSBAG says this has forced teachers to conduct classes under trees and learners seated on dusty ground.

According to the programs officer, these schools are not only struggling with poor infrastructure but also struggling to implement the new curriculum recently introduced by the Ministry of Education and Sports.

Fatuma says there is limited preparedness with inadequate trained teachers on the curriculum amounting to only 60% in the country.

On health, the CSOs revealed that hospitals in Uganda continue to grapple with a shortage of equipment and drugs which is negatively impacting service delivery in the major hospitals in the country.

In fact, last year’s Auditor General report indicates that hospitals and facilities experienced drug stalkouts yet they had expired drugs kept in the stores.

This is even made worse by the staffing gaps being faced by the local governments, especially in the Department of Health.

Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi, the mayor of Mbarara city says local governments are experiencing these challenges because the Ministry of Finance is doing enough to help them.

However, John Muliroha, the Ministry of Finance commissioner in charge of the budget says the ministry is going to address the issue of staffing levels which have been low among other issues addressed in the consultative workshop.