City tycoon and prominent businessman H.E. Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia has revealed plans to build five more schools in and around Kampala as he continues to expand his interests in the country’s education sector and also cater for the growing population.

Uganda’s population is presumed to be growing at around 3.5 percent per year, which is one of the highest in the world. This translates to 1.2 million children born a year.

“So we need to cater for this growing community and demand. One of the things we do is to keep our standards, especially infrastructure very high,” Dr Sudhir said.

According to him, Ruparelia Foundation ventured into education because that’s where they thought would help add value to society.

“Education is made up of three sectors; teaching fraternity, students and the infrastructure. Once you combine all these three and create an environment where all of them can thrive, then you create the best educations. Our children today are very exposed and intelligent. It’s important to keep up to their expectations,” he said.

“We are planning to put up a big campus with a big land around it. We chose to start a university down town because it’s quite common in Europe,” he said.

He made the remarks on Thursday during a virtual dialogue about the journey and future of Victoria University.

The Ruparelia Foundation set up the first international school; Kampala International School, 27 years ago which is still growing very strong. The foundation also set up Kampala Parents which is probably the best Primary school in the country with the best teaching fraternity and amazing children, according to Dr. Ruparelia.

“Then we have the church school; Delhi public school which offers Indian syllabus. We have plans to open five more schools around Kampala,” he added.

Victoria University was established in 2011 by Edulink Holdings Limited, a private company that invests internationally in tertiary institutions of higher education.

From 2011 until late 2012, VUU was affiliated with the University of Buckingham (UB) in the United Kingdom, which awarded the majority of degrees offered at VUU.

The university however, has developed a number of courses that it teaches and examines independently of UB. The degree certificates of the VUU courses are awarded by Victoria University itself. It was accredited by the Uganda National Council for Higher Education in October 2010. In 2012, the affiliation with UB was terminated.

In September 2013, it was purchased for an undisclosed sum by Sudhir Ruparelia, ranked the wealthiest individual in East Africa, by Forbes magazine in 2012. It then became a member of the Ruparelia Group. Its campus relocated to Eagen Mansions, at 1-13 Jinja Road, in Kampala’s central business district, which was renamed “Victoria Towers

It has different faculties of Faculty of Business and Management, Faculty of Science and Technology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences and Petroleum and Energy Studies.

Source: CEO East Africa..