UGANDA: Teachers face arrest over barred Uneb exams

By MERCY NALUGO

The Minister for Education has warned that school heads who blocked students from sitting their final exams due to uncleared school dues will be arrested.

Appearing before the parliamentary Government Assurances Committee yesterday, Ms Jessica Alupo said denying students the right to education was a grave offence. “The ministry is investigating various schools and we are waiting for a report before action is taken. Why did they wait for that long to use exams as a licence to deny the students exams yet they had all the time,” Ms Alupo said.

Legislators on the committee chaired by Ms Nabilah Naggayi (Kampala Woman MP) are investigating circumstances under which some students were blocked from sitting their final national exams.

“We have directed inspectors of schools where such incidents were occasioned to give us a report and the school managers must show why they denied the students exams or else they face the law ,” the minister said.

Reported cases

In Wakiso District, 11 candidates of Bright Future Bwebajja Secondary School on Entebbe Road were barred from sitting their Senior Four exams over unpaid fees, while eight students at Makerere Competent High School in Hoima District were reportedly blocked under similar circumstances.

The students are said to have missed History, Physics and Christian Religious Education papers. The parent of a student at Bugambe Secondary School filed a complaint with the police after the school management barred his son from sitting the exams.

The schools’ action contravenes a directive by President Museveni and circulars from Uneb and the Ministry of Education directing school heads to allow students to sit their exams once they have been registered. The government apparently has no laws to prosecute private schools because they are run as businesses.

Source: Daily Monitor (14/11/2012): http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Teachers-face-arrest-over-barred-Uneb-exams/-/688334/1619410/-/ruehtfz/-/index.html