UMSC Education Secretary urges stronger partnerships to improve Muslim schools in West Buganda

What the report says

Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) Secretary for Education Sheikh Juma Bakhit Cucu has urged closer cooperation between Muslim-founded schools, local communities and the UMSC Education Department to improve enrolment and raise education standards in West Buganda. According to Nile Post, he made the remarks during an inspection tour of institutions in Kalungu Local Government District under Masaka Muslim District.

His visit began at Bajja Community Primary School, a private Muslim-founded school, where he met the headteacher and toured the facilities. He praised the school’s infrastructure but said enrolment remained too low for a school with room to take more learners. He encouraged stronger community mobilisation so parents would enrol children locally rather than sending them to distant schools, and he said schools should work more closely with UMSC programmes aimed at improving performance.

Sheikh Cucu later visited Kabukunge Primary Teachers’ College, a UMSC-founded institution established in the late 1970s and later phased out by the Ministry of Education, where he observed ageing buildings that could be renovated and reused. He also viewed historical markers linked to the college’s past and stopped at a health unit now operating under Kabukunge Muslim Secondary School. There, medical workers raised concerns about medicine shortages and the loss of support previously received from the Uganda Muslim Medical Bureau. Sheikh Cucu said he would pass those concerns on for consideration.

The tour ended at Kabukunge Muslim Secondary School. The broader message of the visit, as reported by Nile Post, was that stronger partnerships are needed to sustain Muslim education institutions and expand access to quality learning in the region.