Parliament has called for immediate regulation and enforcement of school trip safety guidelines following a tragic accident on Saturday, August 2, 2025, that claimed the lives of two pupils from Daystar Junior School in Makindye Division.
The pupils were returning from an excursion to Kasese District when their bus overturned along Mityana Road, leaving 11 others seriously injured. Preliminary police reports suggest the driver may have fallen asleep behind the wheel.
Raising the matter of national importance on Tuesday, August 5, Kalungu West County MP, Hon. Joseph Ssewungu, questioned the Ministry of Education and Sports on the rationale behind allowing such long-distance travel involving very young children.
“The Ministry of Education should come and explain how school trips are conducted; the timing, planning, and age limitations.How can a school get nursery kids from Kampala to Kasese for a trip?” said Ssewungu.
Ssewungu, a former teacher, expressed outrage that children reportedly in nursery and lower primary were subjected to an over 800-kilometre round trip, branding the practice “unprecedented.”
He further called for an urgent investigation into the incident and demanded that the Ministry of Education be held accountable for its oversight.
“What exactly are the guidelines, and what instructions are they giving to schools for such behaviour?” he asked.
Beyond safety, Ssewungu also raised concern over the financial pressure placed on parents by expensive school trips.
“How can a trip cost more than the school fees and some of the children don’t even eat at school?” he wondered.
Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Anita Among, supported the calls and broadened the discussion to include other unsafe transport methods used during school trips.
“I have seen students and pupils on lorries. At least these were in a bus, but some are packed in lorries,” she said.
Among also questioned the fairness of overseas school trips that may exclude children from less privileged backgrounds.
“If I am a parent who cannot afford and you are saying children should go abroad, won’t there be discrimination? Aren’t we extorting from parents?” she asked.
Representing the government, Hon. David Bahati, Minister of State for Trade (Industry), assured Parliament that the Ministry of Education will respond officially.
“We will convey these concerns to the Minister for Education and Sports. I’m sure they will come and make a statement next week,” Bahati said.