3O headteachers arrested as 100 schools face closure

PIC: In the recent crackdown, a number of headteachers who have not complied with the law have been arrested and their schools closed

EDUCATION

TORORO - Over 30 headteachers have been arrested and about 100 private schools have been closed in Tororo district following crackdown on schools operating below minimum standards.

The clampdown follows a directive from the education ministry to close illegal schools.

The implementing team was treated to free drama after discovering teachers taking refuge under desks and in pit latrines to escape arrests.

Others climbed on top of the trees to monitor any strange vehicles heading to their school. In some schools, the officials found food left to cook as pupils and teachers scampered for their dear lives to elude arrests.

Most of those who took refuge would then be smoked out through learners who would reveal their teachers' whereabouts.
 
Those arrested were handed over to Tororo Central Police Station, where they recorded statements.

The team led by the district education officer, Yonah Gamusi Doya and the deputy district internal security officer, Emmanuel Okurut, visited several schools that were issued with circulars instructing them to improve their standards.

The ongoing crackdown has left hundreds of students stranded with parents who had paid school fees cursing.

Among the schools closed include Topa Junior Islamic Primary School, belonging to the resident district commissioner of Bududa Haji Muluga Imuran.

The district team discovered that several schools were housed in temporary and dilapidated structures and most of them had employees lacked proper qualifications.

The education ministry requires that all primary school teachers attain minimum qualification of grade III certificate, but for most affected schools Senior Two dropouts were the ones teaching.