Two Teachers Remanded for Assaulting Student

Two teachers of Nakasongola Army Secondary School have been remanded for assaulting a student.

The teachers are Corporal Jackson Bitaryebwa and Private Enoth Tindimwebwa. They appeared before the Barracks’ Unit Disciplinary Court on Wednesday and were charged with assault.

It is alleged that on 25th April 2023, the two beat up Andrew Kasita a Senior One student causing bodily harm. This was after they interrogated Kasita over accusations that he had stolen books of classmates and given them to Ms Adiru who sells pancakes as well as fried cassava but he denied the allegations.

Kasita sustained severe injuries on the buttocks and back after he was caned leaving him hospitalized at Bombo military hospital.

According to the statement released by Captain Favourite Rugumayo the Spokesperson of Nakasongola Army Barracks, the teachers appeared before Colonel Abdullah Adebasuku the Chairman of the Unit Disciplinary Court, and were charged with assault of a student contrary to section 236 of the penal code act cap 120.

The section stipulates that any person who commits an assault occasioning actual bodily harm commits a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for five years. 

Rugumayo says that the two denied the charges and were remanded to Nakasongola Prison until the 23rd as investigations into the case go on.

Godfrey Lutalo, the LCIII Chairperson of Nakitoma sub-county and parent to the student said that they were not invited to attend the proceedings.  He however noted that the family is ready to petition the civil court if the Unit Disciplinary Court doesn't accord the victim justice as expected over the assault inflicted on him. 

Kasita was discharged from Bombo Military Hospital but still undergoing treatment at home for back pain.

Cases of corporal punishment are still prevalent in schools despite the ban in Uganda in 2016 by the insertion of a new article, 106A, into the Children Act. The article stipulates that a person of authority in an institution of learning must not subject a child to any form of corporal punishment.

Last month a biology teacher at Premier Secondary School in Hoima City also assaulted a senior four student into a coma.

The victim, Brenda Matsika, was hospitalized at EDPA Medical Center in Hoima City. According to reports, the teacher accused Matsika of failing to achieve a passing grade in a biology examination.

  It is alleged that the teacher repeatedly whipped the student, causing her to collapse.