By Ronald Seebe
Angry parents have raided Nabikabala Primary School, Kiwanyi sub-county in Namutumba district to oust the head teacher, Mr Davis Ronald Mudas, who they accuse of poor performance.
Led by the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) chairperson, Ms Monica Namuyaga, the parents also accuse Mr Mudas of misappropriating Universal Primary Education (UPE) funds, selling the school’s African Teak (Mvule) trees, and asking parents for Shs2,000 to construct a toilet.
Parents, who initially raided the school last Friday but didn’t find Mr Mudas there, went back on Monday morning, but instead, found his Deputy.
On Monday, however, the enraged parents arrived while drumming, prompting some teachers to flee from their classrooms for fear of being harmed.
A meeting was hastily convened in the school hall, which was chaired by the Inspector of Schools in-charge of counselling and guidance, Mr Aggrey Baligasima, who represented the District Education Officer (DEO), Mr Isiko Mohammed.
The meeting heard from Ms Namuyaga that Mr Mudas had allegedly failed to develop the school and was always turning up late.
“He (Mudas) abdicated his roles and it is the deputy dead teacher who is currently running the school’s programmes,” Ms Namuyaga said.
She added: “For that reason, we ask the DEO and the office of Deputy Chief Administrative Officer to immediately work on his transfer before Primary Seven candidates sit for their final exams.”
This year’s Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) start on November 7 (Tuesday) with briefing of candidates, and end on November 9 (Thursday).
Ms Edith Munyole, the area LC1 chairperson, who is also a parent at the school, accused Mr Mudas of allegedly failing to improve on the school’s performance, adding that last year, all the 54 Primary Seven candidates failed.
Mr Yunus Segonga, another parent, said Mr Mudas allegedly does not allow pupils, whose parents failed to pay a “toilet fee” of Shs2,000, to access the place of convenience.
“On some days, during break time, he sends pupils, whose parents did not pay Shs2,000 for constructing the toilet, back home to ease themselves before they enter class for afternoon lessons,” Mr Segonga said.
He added that in most cases when such children go home, they do not return to school for afternoon lessons.
All calls to Mr Mudas’ numbers went unanswered by the time of filing this story. However, Mr Baligasima asked the parents to allow Mr Mudas to complete this (third) term.
“I promise you that he will not be around next year. We cannot transfer him now because this is a promotional term and it is in the middle,” he said.
