A section of angry parents of Kayunga Girls’ Primary School in Kayunga Town Council, Kayunga District have asked authorities in the area to take punitive action against their school headteacher whom they accuse of sabotaging the government’s Universal Primary Education (UPE) program.
The parents, who were led by a parent who identified herself as Susan Nabirye, on Wednesday complained that the headteacher Sr. Olivia Achan, frequently sends away their children from school for not paying school fees even though President Museveni had banned such actions by school heads.
“Every week, the headteacher sends away our children from school because we have not paid school fees, even when a parent still has a balance of sh5,000,” one of the parents complained.
Another unidentified parent has also blamed Sr. Achan that she has made their children miss classes as they spend most of the time between home and the school.
“Is this headteacher untouchable? Why is she not suspended over this illegal action?” another parent angrily asked.
According to the parents, each learner pays not less than sh140,000 as school fees.
On Wednesday about a half of the enrolled learners in the school were sent home in the morning and were allegedly told not to return without paying all the outstanding school dues.
The UPE school has an enrolment of about 800 learners.
Sr. Olivia Achan, the school headteacher when contacted on the matter advised aggrieved parents to take their children “where they will not pay.”
“They have refused to pay the school fees, what can I do? Let them take their children to schools where they will not pay,” Sr. Achan said.
The Reverend Sister however said that the money caters for extra lessons which she said the government doesn’t pay for plus lunch for the learners.
The parents vowed to storm the school and throw out the headteacher if no action is taken against her.
But Dr. Dan Bubaale, the Kayunga district education officer, promised to take action against the headteacher, wondering how and why she had sent almost all learners home over non-payment of school fees.
The District Resident District commissioner, Mariam Sseguya vowed to take punitive action against all school heads who are sabotaging government programmes such as UPE.
“The President’s directive is very clear. No charges for UPE learners and no sending learners home for not paying school fees. This is wrong,” Sseguya said.