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Parent sues school over missing child
Mr Tadeo Ruzindantaro. PHOTO/ROBERT MUHEREZA
What you need to know:
- Mr Tadeo Ruzindantaro, a resident of Kigongi B cell, Kabale Municipality, claims that in 2014, he enrolled his daughter at Bishop Asili Memorial Nursery and Primary School in Top Class, but in 2018, he decided to enrol her in the boarding section.
A distressed parent has written to the head teacher of Bishop Asili Memorial Nursery and Primary school in Kabale Town demanding answers on how his daughter disappeared from the school premises in 2018.
Bethany Nimurungi is reported to have left the school without the knowledge of her father.
Mr Tadeo Ruzindantaro, a resident of Kigongi B cell, Kabale Municipality, claims that in 2014, he enrolled his daughter at Bishop Asili Memorial Nursery and Primary School in Top Class, but in 2018, he decided to enrol her in the boarding section.
“My lovely daughter went missing from the school without a clear explanation from the administration and since then, I have lived a miserable life besides being psychologically tortured. I remember it was on April 25, 2018, when I called a teacher at the school inquiring about my child. The teacher told me that my daughter was not there [at school]. I rushed to the school and the head teacher, Sr Margret Tusiime, told me that my daughter was taken by her mother for medical treatment at Mulago,” Mr Ruzindantaro said.
He added that on the school records, it’s only him and the stepmother of his missing child who were the custodians of his child since the biological mother abandoned her at the early age of one.
Court redress
Mr Ruzindataro engaged the police at Kabale Central Police Station and later the Kigezi Regional Police headquarters before he filed a civil suit at Kabale High Court against the school in August last year.
He demanded a declaration that the action of the defendant releasing to a stranger his child [Nimurungi Bethany] without the Plaintiff’s knowledge and consent was illegal and in breach of the defendant’s duty of care.
Children Act
Mr Ruzindataro also noted in his affidavit that the school breached the welfare principles laid down in the Children Act (as amended) and asked the court for an award of punitive damages, exemplary damages, general damages, costs, and any other reliefs deemed fit by the honorable court.
“I wish to congratulate you upon excellently passing PLE. You kept the mantle high and kept it up. My cries are that my daughter’s classmates sat for PLE and performed very well. She was always among the best. She was always in the number one position.
“I would be proud like any other parent celebrating the performance of my child. I surely do not know currently anything about her in any academic circles. The level of impunity and indifference you have exhibited towards me as a parent is beyond measure,” reads the message addressed to the management of Bishop Asili Memorial Nursery and Primary School Kabale.
Sr Tusiime told Daily Monitor on Monday that she saw a social media write-up pointing fingers at her and her school administration over the missing child. She, however, declined to comment on the accusations since the matter is already in court.
“The mother of the alleged missing child came and picked her up from school. The malicious accusations levied onto our school by the father shall be resolved in courts of law since he filed a case against us,” Sr Tusiime said.
