Court awards student Shs10m after being stopped from sitting UNEB exams
The head teacher of St Mary's College Ediofe Girls Secondary School, Sr Grace Aciro, speaking to Daily Monitor recently. PHOTO BY FELIX WAROM OKELLO.
What you need to know:
- She was among five other students who got division nine and were not excused. Ayikoru in her testimony at court, stated that: “As a result of this treatment at the hands of the defendant (the school), I felt psychologically tortured because the whole school considered me to be a dull student. I had to make stressful adjustments like changing to another school and dropped one of the subjects within few months.”
ARUA. A former student of St Mary’s Ediofe Secondary School in Arua District has been awarded Shs10 million in general damages after the school barred her from registering for the 2016 Uganda Certificate of Education examinations.
According to the evidence tendered at Arua High Court, the school administrators stopped Ms Gladys Ayikoru from registering for UNEB exams on grounds of poor performance at the beginning of first term in 2016.
The administrators termed the first term tests as pre-registration examinations. After Ayikoru was barred from registering, she dragged the school to court. And on March 22, Arua High Court Judge, Stephen Mubiru, awarded Shs10 million, the cost of the suit and interest on the award of eight per cent per annum from the date of judgment until payment in full.
The school Headmistress, Sr Grace Aciro, had testified that: “After a long discussion in the meeting, we agreed that those who got division 9 could not be registered with the school. The options given to her were either to repeat of try elsewhere…”
She was among five other students who got division nine and were not excused. Ayikoru in her testimony at court, stated that: “As a result of this treatment at the hands of the defendant (the school), I felt psychologically tortured because the whole school considered me to be a dull student. I had to make stressful adjustments like changing to another school and dropped one of the subjects within few months.”
Mr Mubiru in his ruling said: “The actions of the defendant (the school) were in contravention of the rights of the student who had suffered psychological torture. I have estimated that the expenditure of looking for special French teacher and costs incurred in looking for a new school by the parent to be Shs2.5 million and in light of the severity of the emotional impact the defendant’s violations had on her tender age, to arrive at an award of Shs10 million as general damages.”
Ayikoru, after failing to be registered, she then secured registration at Odravu secondary school and got third grade with aggregate 54.
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