Uganda, Feb. 1 -- As schools, learners, parents and other stakeholders in the education sector prepare for the start of the first term for this academic year for continuing students, the government has issued fire safety guidelines to prevent and handle fire outbreaks.

We would run off space listing the number of school fires that have occurred over the years but let's go with the 2022 Annual Police Report which indicated that 40 schools were burnt, with 17 of them being set ablaze deliberately by unknown individuals. Every time a school fire happens, authorities come out of the woodwork to condemn the school or whoever is to blame.

It is, therefore, refreshing to hear that the subject has come up without occurrence of a school fire but...