History

Gulu Primary School was founded in 1914 by the Church Missionary Society at the site where Gulu High School now stands. It was moved to its current location in 1966. This was the site of St. Monica Girls’ Junior Secondary School, built in 1929 to educate Acholi girls. The two schools were combined and the school was given a new name, “Gulu Primary”.

As the school continued to grow, the Church of Uganda, through the Northern Uganda Diocese, built an addition for visually impaired students in 1969. At that time, the nearest school for the blind was over 200 km (125 miles) away in Soroti. The school tried to help parents realize that children with visual impairment are not a burden, but “differently able.”

Gulu Primary faced serious challenges and setbacks in the 20-year war with the LRA. Several children were abducted from the school. Construction on a wall to protect the students began in 1996 and was completed in 1998. When the war left Uganda in 2008, the schools in the North found themselves lagging behind those in southern Uganda. The children are now trying to cope with the effects of the war, and many face psychological, physical, social and economic truama. 

Currently, Gulu Primary has a total enrolment of 1,476 students, 80 of which are visually impaired. There are 651 girls and 825 boys. The school has 27 teachers. GP has 16 classrooms and the average size of each class is 90 students.