46 blocked from sitting A'level exams

A total of 46 Senior Six candidates stormed Iganga Central Police Station in protest after they were barred from sitting there final A'level examinations over failure to clear there tuition fees.

The students from Top Care and King of Kings secondary schools located in Iganga municipality were supposed to sit there history examination paper in the morning but were shocked when they were turned away by the supervisors, who told them they were not eligible.

One of the students, Bashir Mugoya, said he had gone with sh15,000, which was part of the money he owed Top Care Secondary School. He said he was shocked to discover that the entire school management was not present and there known mobile phone numbers were off.

Mugoya, an orphan, said he has been paying the tuition himself by operating a bodaboda to raise the money since Senior Two.

"I have been studying from this school since my Senior One. I do not see why they cannot allow me to sit for my final paper," he said.

The Iganga Resident District Commissioner, Eva Kwesiga, accompanied by the LC5 chairperson, Patrick Kayemba, unsuccessfully tried to contact the proprietors of both schools to allow the students to sit there examinations.

Kwesiga blamed the school proprietors for not being lenient. "Most of these children are from disadvantaged families who cannot raise fees in time."

The area Uganda National Examinations Board co-ordinator, Ben Waiswa, blamed the school proprietors for denying the students a chance to sit there final examination papers.