As senior four candidates countrywide commenced their final examinations on Monday morning, it was a murky start for about twenty students of Magogo Senior Secondary School, Buzaya County in Kamuli District.
The students were sent home over defaulting school fees minutes before sitting for their first practical examination (Physics).

Nine out of the twenty who were supposed to sit for the Physics practical were allegedly asked by the headmaster, Mr Francis Wavamuno, to first clear their arrears ranging from Shs200,000 to Shs500,000 before proceeding to the laboratory for the practical.

A parent to one of the students, however, hastily sought the intervention of the Resident District Commissioner, Mr Moses Dumba, who called the headmaster and asked him to allow the children to sit for the exam and liaise with the area Gombolola Internal Security Organisation (GISO) to call the parents to make a commitment to pay.

“This is sabotaging government efforts and psychologically torturing the students; he would have done this earlier, not as they [students] are preparing to enter the examination room. He should have known that the parents are struggling to raise the funds,” Mr Dumba said.

However, Mr Wavamuno on the other hand said this forced parents to respond with pleas, something they have been reluctant to do.

“The parents have responded with pleas and this is what we wanted them to do; some of them came with part payment and as I talk now we have confined them as they wait for the second shift,” he said.