School Director and headmaster arrested for failing to register candidates

Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Police in Kitgum district is holding the director and deputy headteacher of Crane Integrated College; a private school in Pager division, Kitgum Municipality over the alleged theft and extortion.

The arrest follows complaints raised against the of the school administrators by parents whose children failed to register for the forthcoming 2019 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations, despite paying all the required fees to the school.

Sam Komakech, one of the complainants says that they contacted the police after ascertaining that the school administrators led by the School Director George Rubangakene and the deputy’s headteacher Moses Okirwot had not registered their children to sit for the forthcoming Examinations despite collecting all required charges from the parents.

Komakech accuses the school authority of hoodwinking them that the candidates had been registered.

According to the parents, the school administrators collected a total of 3.1 million Shilling in examinations fees which was purportedly sent to the Uganda National Examination Board-UNEB to cater for the registration of all senior four students.

Grace Acan, another parent, says that her worry started when her child returned home on the first day of term, saying the school was not operational. She later established that the school had failed to register all 54 learners who were set to sit for their final examinations this year.

Kitgum District Education Officer Fred Owot says the matter first came to the limelight after a petition presented to his office by a section of parents seeking his intervention into allegations that the school had failed to register its 54 O’level candidates by the time UNEB closed its registration window.

Examination registration is conducted in three phases. The first round of registration elapses on May 31, late registration ends on June 30, while the extra late registration deadline elapses on July 31.

Owot says that although the deadline for the registration of candidates had elapsed, the school kept on promising that the candidates would be approved to sit for the final examinations this year.

The affected parents now want their money recovered and refunded and the school administrators prosecuted before the courts of law for extorting money, wasting their children’s time and ruining their future.

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