School detains Monitor journalist as schools open

The Federation of Non State Education Institutions (FENEI)has warned private schools against forcing parents to pay the full tuition balance, reminding them that most parents are currently unemployed.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Mr Patrick Kaboyo, the national secretary of FENEI, said they have heard of schools, especially in Kampala and Wakiso, which are asking parents to pay the full amount of fees arrears from first term last year when schools were closed during the Covid-19 outbreak.

“You should wear a human heart and allow parents to pay in instalments. Of course, a child should not report without anything. We encourage effective communication with the parents so that they can be able to pay the money,” he said yesterday.

At the weekend, several schools across the country started receiving back students in the semi-candidate classes of Primary Six, Senior Three and Senior Five, ahead of the official opening today.

Asked whether reopening at the weekend was not contrary to the government’s official date of today, Mr Kaboyo said allowing students to report to school prior to the official reporting day gives the school administrators and students time to re-orient and adjust to the school environment.

Many parents and students were yesterday seen carrying their luggage back to different schools within Kampala.

At St Joseph’s Girls’ SS Nsambya in Kampala, the administrators were hostile to journalists covering the students’ return to school.

They said their superiors would not be happy to read in the press that they had opened earlier than the date announced by the President.

Daily Monitor was unable to talk to the school authorities to inquire how they were managing the situation since two other classes have been added to the two candidate classes already at school waiting to sit the national examinations.

The head of security at the school, who refused to identify himself, became hostile to Daily Monitor for visiting the school and trying to talk to some parents.

He denied this publication access to the school administrators and arrested our journalist on allegations of criminal trespass.

He took the journalist to Kasawe Police Post in Nsambya where the journalist was ordered to delete all the photographs he had taken at the school. 

The journalist was also forced to tear out a paper in his notebook which contained notes about the interviews he had done.

Pleas that the photos were harmless because this publication was simply covering general reopening of schools were rejected by school head of security. The journalist was later released after deleting the photos and notes.