School Strike: 14 Kimanya Students in Custody, Parents Threaten to Sue

Fourteen students of Blessed Sacrament Kimanya Secondary School in Masaka city are in police custody on suspicion of being the ringleaders of the strike at this school.  

Thirteen students were arrested on Monday evening following the suspension of over 1,000 candidates and semi-candidates while the 14th is a senior two student who was picked up Tuesday morning on allegations of staging a lone strike with intentions to inciting violence among other learners. 

The students rampaged on Sunday night and attempted to torch a boys’ dormitory in retaliation against the highhandedness of teachers, whom they accused of subjecting them to corporal punishments. They also protested unreliable supply of utility services and poor quality meals among others.

Mohammad Nsubuga, the Greater Masaka Regional Police Spokesperson has confirmed the detention of the students for their role in the strike. He, however, declined to reveal their identities on grounds that they are underage. He notes that the suspects are going to help the police in probing the allegations leveled against the school administration. 

//Cue in: “abayizi bano…. 

Cue out; ….myaka kumi namunaana.”//

The situation has remained tense at the school’s gate as parents mount pressure on the administration demanding to know the whereabouts of their children, whom they say is yet to report home since they were suspended.  

Frank Busuulwa and Herman Ssebayiga are some of the aggrieved parents. They are enraged by the decision to close the school and the failure of the administration to reveal the particulars of the detained students. 

Ssebayiga argues that the decision to suspend all students was rushed and wondered why the administrator never informed parents early enough to pick up their children. The parents have threatened to sue the school accusing the administration of abdicating their mandate of ensuring the safety of the students it was trusted with. 

//Cue in: “lino essomero…. 

Cue out; …..twabakwasa essomero,”//  

Ronald Katende the Masaka City Resident Commissioner told URN that they were still locked up in a meeting with the administration, the Board of Governors and  Inspectors to forge a way forward.