Schools closed due to Nyege Nyege festival in Jinja City

Jinja City authorities have temporarily shut down two schools for being in close proximity with the venues where the Nyege Nyege festival is taking place.

Victoria Nile Primary School is one of the two schools that have been closed

The two schools are Summit Nursery and Primary School and Victoria Nile Primary School.

The annual Nyege Nyege festival kicked off yesterday, Thursday, and will be running up to Sunday, November 12.

Mr. Haruna Mulopa, the Jinja City Education Officer, stated that the decision to close the schools temporarily was made "for the safety of the children."

Expressing concerns about the potential exposure of students to inappropriate behaviors in the festival vicinity, Mr. Mulopa explained that the schools are surrounded by the Golf Club, Source of the Nile, Rugby Grounds, and National Agriculture Showground, where the Nyege Nyege Festival is being held.

Mr. Mulopa also emphasized the importance of maintaining acceptable noise levels during the festival.

He revealed that the festival coincided with the final exams of Primary Seven candidates, with 219 pupils from Victoria Nile School sitting their exams on Wednesday and Thursday. The intervention was aimed at preventing disruptions caused by the festival noise.

Victoria Nile School has over 2200 pupils.

The parents were initially informed about the planned closure but were not informed why it would be for more than a week when exams last only two days.

Hadija Namulondo one of the parents told reporters that they were told the school would be closed from 6th to 13th November to accommodate the final exams.

“But they never mentioned anything about the festival,” she said

It is also understood that the two schools' premises will be used as parking space for the festival.

Vehicles were charged Shs30,000 per day for parking.

Similarly, Summit Nursery and Primary School decided to close as a preemptive measure due to concerns about potential immoral acts that could impact the all-day scholars.

Mr. David Wamboko, the school director, mentioned factors such as traffic congestion, heightened security deployment, and indecent dressing by festivalgoers as reasons for the decision to close on the following day after conducting classes on Thursday.