KABALE, UGANDA: The management of St. Mary’s College Rushoroza in Kabale district has suspended at least 825 male students following a fierce inter-class fight at the school last Friday.
The students who were suspended on Saturday afternoon in presence of heavily armed anti-riot police belong to senior four, five, and six classes.
It is alleged that at around 10:00 pm on Friday, senior five students attacked their counterparts in Senior six fighting for space to watch television despite the each of the classes having their own television sets.
A student who spoke on condition of anonymity says trouble began when one of the students in Senior five were chased out by their counterparts in candidates classes prohibiting them from going there to watch TV despite theirs having a technical fault.
This however did not age well for the senior five students, who moments later returned with other fellows, and a violent fight erupted which prompted the intervention of the school administration and the nearby police station.
According to Mr. Enock Hatangimana, the police community liaison officer in charge of the Kigezi region, preliminary investigations indicate that the other students have been having a feud with students in candidate classes over extortion and bullying and the latest action was a tip of the iceberg to spark off the fight.
He says according to police investigation, it was also discovered that during the recent handover of prefects, the incoming student leaders were charged Shs 60,000 to receive instruments of power from the outgoing leaders.
He also says that senior five students have also been angry after they were charged Shs 20,000 each by the senior six students in order to be given beds in dormitories while the candidate students have been angry following the expulsion of 25 students on accusations of bullying.
When contacted Remegio Byamukama, the school head teacher declined to comment saying that he is still busy handling career guidance to other students.
However, an official at the school told this website that the suspended students are likely to return to school with their parents for further management of the matter after two weeks.
At the time of writing, the anti-riot police was still deployed at the school as the situation gets back to normal.
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