diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_whl.yml b/.github/workflows/build_whl.yml
index 958161f2f13..48aa3dee240 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_whl.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_whl.yml
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Install Ubuntu dependencies
       run: |
         apt-get -y -qq update
-        apt-get install -y gettext sudo
+        apt-get install -y gettext sudo sqlite3
     - name: Use Node.js
       uses: actions/setup-node@v4
       with:
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index df3aa492e5e..c8479020109 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ writeversion:
 	@echo "Current version is now `cat kolibri/VERSION`"
 
 preseeddb:
-	PYTHONPATH=".:$PYTHONPATH" python build_tools/preseed_home.py
+	./build_tools/preseed_home.sh
 
 setrequirements:
 	rm -r requirements.txt || true # remove requirements.txt
diff --git a/build_tools/preseed_home.py b/build_tools/preseed_home.py
deleted file mode 100644
index d479ce4dfb0..00000000000
--- a/build_tools/preseed_home.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-import os
-import shutil
-import tempfile
-
-temphome = tempfile.mkdtemp()
-os.environ["KOLIBRI_HOME"] = temphome
-
-from kolibri.main import initialize  # noqa E402
-from kolibri.deployment.default.sqlite_db_names import (  # noqa E402
-    ADDITIONAL_SQLITE_DATABASES,
-)
-from django.conf import settings  # noqa E402
-from django.core.management import call_command  # noqa E402
-
-move_to = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "..", "kolibri", "dist", "home")
-shutil.rmtree(move_to, ignore_errors=True)
-os.mkdir(move_to)
-
-print("Generating preseeded home data in {}".format(temphome))
-
-initialize()
-call_command(
-    "deprovision", "--destroy-all-user-data", "--permanent-irrevocable-data-loss"
-)
-
-for db_config in settings.DATABASES.values():
-    if db_config["ENGINE"] == "django.db.backends.sqlite3":
-        shutil.move(os.path.join(temphome, db_config["NAME"]), move_to)
-
-print("Moved all preseeded home data to {}".format(move_to))
-
-shutil.rmtree(temphome)
diff --git a/build_tools/preseed_home.sh b/build_tools/preseed_home.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..c0b8ceae3dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build_tools/preseed_home.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -eux -o pipefail
+
+# Assumes this script is run from the project root
+PROJECT_ROOT="$(pwd)"
+KOLIBRI_HOME="$(mktemp -d)"
+PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH:-}"
+
+# Prepend project root to python path
+if [ -n "$PYTHONPATH" ]; then
+  PYTHONPATH="${PROJECT_ROOT}:${PYTHONPATH}"
+else
+  PYTHONPATH="${PROJECT_ROOT}"
+fi
+
+export KOLIBRI_HOME
+export PYTHONPATH
+
+# Clean existing DBs and generate fresh DBs
+rm -rf kolibri/dist/home
+(cd kolibri && python -m kolibri manage deprovision --destroy-all-user-data --permanent-irrevocable-data-loss)
+mkdir -p kolibri/dist/home
+cp $KOLIBRI_HOME/*.sqlite3 kolibri/dist/home/
+rm -rf $KOLIBRI_HOME
+
+# disable command echoing
+set +x
+
+# Verify DBs
+declare -A QUERY_MATRIX
+QUERY_MATRIX["select count(*) from morango_databaseidmodel;"]="db.sqlite3"
+QUERY_MATRIX["select count(*) from morango_instanceidmodel;"]="db.sqlite3"
+QUERY_MATRIX["select count(*) from discovery_networklocation;"]="networklocation.sqlite3"
+QUERY_MATRIX["select count(*) from jobs;"]="job_storage.sqlite3"
+
+echo "Verifying databases..."
+
+for QUERY in "${!QUERY_MATRIX[@]}"; do
+  DB=${QUERY_MATRIX[$QUERY]}
+  ROW_COUNT=$(sqlite3 -cmd ".headers off" kolibri/dist/home/$DB "$QUERY")
+  if [ "$ROW_COUNT" -ne 0 ]; then
+    echo "Preseeded DBs have existing data | $ROW_COUNT = $QUERY"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+done
+
+echo "Done! Preseeded databases generated"