Kalungu Districts Leaders Turn to Teachers to Tame Idling Students

Authorities in Kalungu district have sought the intervention of teachers to control the apparent social misconduct among students, after the closure of schools in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.  

Schools were closed in March on a presidential directive to control the spread of the virus which has devastated the entire world, with more than 7 million infections, 755 of them in Uganda. The closure came midway through the first school term affecting more than 15 million learners, who have remained home over the last three months. 

However, authorities in Kalungu district say that keeping students out of school for a long time has greatly affected their morals in society. 

Ruth Kamugisha, the Secretary to the district health committee says they registered an increase in inappropriate social habits and rowdiness among teenagers in the area. Kamugisha is concerned that parents have abandoned their duties, partly because of economic hardships, resulting in the breakdown of the family system. 

She bemoans that the current gap between places of worship and the community has also worsened the situation because the children are missing out on the alternative guidance from religious leaders. 

//Cue in; “engeri churches…  

Cue out... butukoze bubi nyo.”//

She adds that the area has also registered an upsurge in the number of teenage pregnancies, arising from the redundancy of the girl-children who would stay safer in schools.    

//Cue in; “tulina embeera…  

Cue out….kijja kubawo nyo.”//   

Kalungu District Education Officer David Bbaale Mukasa confirms the underlying challenge, however saying that they tasked teachers in the area to directly take charge of watching over the learners in the communities to deter them from any unbecoming vices.    

According to Bbaale, the district education department has now put on the alert all their inspectors of schools at sub-county levels and all headteachers to take up responsibilities of supervising learners from their respective communities  

//Cue in; “nga tuli lockdown ono…. 

Cue out….teboononeka nyo.”//  

Ritah Rozena, the Kalungu district Probation Officer says they have also implored the district task force to incorporate the idea of students' monitoring into their operations to save the situation.