The management of Ntare School in Mbarara City has indefinitely suspended 205 Senior Six students for alleged indiscipline. The school head teacher, Saul Rwampororo, says that the students rampaged on Monday night and destroyed school property including the new CCTV system.
According to Rwampororo, trouble started after two students were discovered in possession of mobile phones in violation of the school regulations. He explains that a group of students chose to protest the decision to confiscate the phones leading to vandalism of school property.
Regarding a discrepancy in the dates in the circular to parents about the suspension, Rwampororo attributed it to an error made by the secretary.
Some students told our reporter on condition of anonymity that the affected students were using the confiscated phones for research. The suspension of the students comes almost a month before their Uganda Advanced Certificate examinations are scheduled to begin on November 10, 2023.
Ntare School is one of the most prestigious schools in Uganda due to its history, reputation, excellent academic performance, and dominance in sports.
But it has a history of strikes and other indiscipline that often lead to school. In 2015, for instance, Ntare School students were sent home following a violent strike with only candidate classes of senior four and six spared.
The students who talked on condition of anonymity say they had to go strike after the school administration’s failure to punish students engaged in homosexuality.
They claim that the accused students were caught during the weekend allegedly practicing homosexuality but the school administrators cautioned them [students] from making the allegations public because it would destroy the school’s image.
But the school headmaster Jimmy Turyagyenda said the students decided to riot after being blocked from lynching a group of fellow students accused of stealing their properties including uniforms and school sweaters.
Turyangyenda said such cases of petty theft had been going on in the school and promised to clear the culprits by chasing them all.