As the schools nationwide started breaking off for the second term holidays on Friday, a 14-year-old Senior Two student of a prominent school with campuses on Kampala-Masaka road was detained by the school management over a Shs27,5000 debt.
This happened on Saturday as the second school term of the year closed for this particular school.
The girl’s mother, Ms Diana N Kaggwa, a businesswoman, informed the school administration that she was not in position to raise the money at that moment and asked them to let her have her daughter but all her words fell on deaf ears.
The single mother of three sends two of her children to the schools.
She says she was able to complete the school fees of one but failed to raise the Shs275,000 to complete the full amount of Shs1.6 million for the other.
“Today [Saturday August 17] is the day to pick children…, so I send the driver and my eldest son who the school is aware of and is allowed to see my children. The secretary refuses to hand over the child and says the reason is my daughter hasn’t cleared the fees,” she said.
“I told her the child doesn’t pay her own fees and that she should not be punished in my place. But she didn’t listen. I told her I didn’t money at that moment but I was sure I would be able to pay that Shs270,000 during the holidays. They could even retain her things. But she told me I have to first clear before the girl leaves school,” she added.
The school secretary, who requested anonymity so as to speak freely, confirmed to Daily Monitor that the child had been detained because she had not completed school fees.
“I didn’t detain her in my own right. My bosses told me to detain anyone who has not paid school fees in full. Many parents today were forced to pay before taking their children home for holidays. Mama Bianca has refused to pay up and that is why her child was held by the school. She will remain till she pays,” she said.
The school secretary accused Ms Kaggwa of being rude while asking for her daughter.
Ms Noor Nakibuuka Musisi, a human rights lawyer and the deputy executive director at the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) condemned the detention of the minor.
“Detaining people over non-payment is common in hospitals but not schools. School is not a place of detention. A child who is forced to stay at school while her friends go home for holidays is at risk of being molested by askaris and such other school workers,” she said.
She advised that the school should agree with the parent on payment terms, including withholding her report card until the outstanding fees are paid up because what they are doing is illegal. Likewise, human rights lawyer Moses Mulumba said a school is not allowed to detain a child because of defaulting on school fees as doing so infringes of the child’s rights, as the same causes psychological torture.
This newspaper understands the mother had to look for at least Shs100,000 before the school could release her daughter later that day at about 6:30pm.
By press time, we couldn’t get a comment from the Education Ministry spokesperson, Dr Dennis Mugimba, as his known phones were unreachable.
