Bright light has launched a campaign to light schools in Karamoja with four schools set to benefit from the latest program.

The CEO bright light Uganda says this is meant to improve the learning conditions for learners in these schools.

Schools in northern Uganda have always been among the worst performing schools and this is partly due to the lack of lights in the region there are estimated 10000 schools across the country that are not connected to the national grid.
Learners in these schools cannot continue learning especially at night disadvantaging them compared to their counterparts who have access to electricity.

Most of these schools are upcountry and indeed performance has continued to be poor each year on national exams.

For regions like Karamoja, learners have received hope with bright light coming in to light 4 schools in April and may in a project dubbed lump library. These schools will receive every 150 lights to cater to all learners.

The same project has been launched in 14 schools across the country. The results have since improved. Bright light targets more than 18 schools this year.

While the lumps are offered free of charge, the schools have to bear the burden of maintaining the lights. Each parent is charged Uganda shillings 500 a week by the school for the child to access the lights. The money goes to funding the technical person who maintains the solar lights.

The government is set to roll out a program that restricts schools from charging any fees from the parents. The question remains on how such funds will be catered for by the school given that such projects are private arrangements between parents and the schools.