In rather an unfortunate revelation, the Education and Sports Ministry has admitted to lacking mechanisms to stop sexual abuse by teachers in schools.
According to Aggrey David Kibenge, the Under Secretary Ministry of Education, although they don't condone sexual abuse, the Ministry can't know what is happening in all schools across the country just by reading the school heads report to the ministry.
Sexual abuse issue in schools came to the fore recently, following the death of Prof. Lawrence Mukiibi, the Director St. Lawrence schools and Colleges, who is said to have slept with dozens of his former students.
More than a dozen women, showed up with children, they claimed to have fathered with the late Mukiibi.
But, Kibenge says the Education Service Commission can only start disciplinary measures against such teachers once they have been charged or prosecuted by the law. Adding, the worst that can be done to such teachers is revoking their registration as teachers in the country, which would stop them from teaching in any school.
David Mugisha, the Executive Director Uganda National Association of Private Schools and Institutions, says only parents can expose cases of defilement and sexual abuse in private schools because head teachers are found of sweeping them under the carpet with the belief that some teachers are irreplaceable.
Mugisha explained that in some schools teachers implicated for sexual abuse are protected and the students shunned. In 2004, a female student at Iganga Secondary School was expelled for being involved in a sexual relationship with a male teacher.
The teacher continued teaching at the same school. He explains that in schools like Namilyango Junior School, parents have appointed a Committee to oversee the interests of their children in the school.
According to Mugisha, Uganda National Association of Private Schools and Institutions as an organisation cannot stop sexual abuse in schools, and asks the Education Ministry to act since it has the power to control what happens in both private and public schools.
James Tweheyo, the Secretary General Uganda National Teachers Union-UNATU disagrees with Mugisha on the role of parents, saying at times parents may worsen the situation by conniving with head teachers.
Tweheyo says UNATU fights defilement in public schools by appointing some teachers to protect the interests of school going children by looking out for any suspicious behavior between teachers and learners.
He however, says they can't do much in private schools because most teachers in such schools are not members of the union. He says that the only way such actions can be stopped in private schools is by coming up with a mechanism that protects whistle blowers in these schools.
According to the Penal Code of Uganda, any person who performs a sexual act with another person below the age of 18 years, commits a felony and is on conviction liable to life imprisonment.
