Police rescue P7 leaver, parent detained at school over fees
Parent Joseph Kasirye gestures after he and his child were detained by a school in Mukono over fees balances. The two were freed on November 14, 2023. PHOTO/DIPHAS KIGULI
What you need to know:
- Swift interventions were made by different leaders in Mukono Municipality to convince the school to release the parent and his daughter, but efforts did not yield positively until police was involved.
Police in Mukono on Tuesday rescued a parent and his Primary Seven (P7) leaver daughter, after they were illegally detained by administrators of a school in the municipality over fees balances.
Allegations suggest that authorities at Pherry Junior School detained at least eight P7 leavers on intention to force their parents clear school dues following the conclusion of Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) on November 9.
Since then, parents started picking up their children even as some remained in the school’s custody.
On Tuesday, 30-year-old Joseph Kasirye narrated circumstances leading to his detention as he had gone to claim his 13-year-old daughter allegedly held at Pherry Junior School.
“On visitation day, we were notified to pay fees balance, but I informed the school management that I was currently unable to clear all the balance of Shs2m at once. I offered to leave behind my motorcycle as security in ddition to signing a commitment letter, which they accepted,” he told Monitor on Tuesday.
“To my dismay when I turned up to pick up my daughter after examinations, they denied me chance to meet the girl saying I will only do so after clearing the fees balance,” he added.
Kasirye says he relentlessly tried to look for the money until Tuesday morning when he was invited to sign another agreement with the school.
“…but immediately after entering the school gate, the gateman- on the orders of the head teacher and director locked me inside,” he alleged.
Swift interventions were made by different leaders in Mukono Municipality to convince the school to release the parent and his daughter, but efforts did not yield positively.
Mukono Division Police Commander Edirisa Kyeyune would later order school director Sylvia Okita Nandutu to immediately release both Kasirye and his daughter.
“As a school, you’ve no mandate to detain people. That’s violation of the child’s rights and I order you to release them now and follow the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) guidelines if they’ve fees balance,” he directed.
Late Tuesday, the child and her father recorded a statement at police after they were released from the school.
Another parent of the same school who preferred anonymity because she still has continuing children in lower classes said she was forced to pay Shs500, 000 of her Shs800, 000 baances in addition to signing agreements before her P.7 leaver was freed on Monday.
“By the time I picked up my girl, there were 8 others locked up by the school. They keep changing them from one room to another,” she claimed.
Meanwhile, Nandutu told journalists that she was not responsible for the detention of the parent and child saying “it was the head teacher who wanted to recover the money.”
“There have been several engagements with the parents reminding them to clear school dues but some just kept a deaf ear. Kasirye's case became unbearable when he started using abusive language within the school premises,” she noted.
Uneb position
Prior to commencement of national examinations, Uneb executive director Dan Odongo advised school administrators to allow fees defaulters to sit their exams. According to Odongo, Uneb has secured a software system that enables the examination’s body to block exam results until they clear the fees.
