MANDELA SS HOIMA CLOSES GIRL’S WING OVER STRIKE

By Innocent Atuganyira

HOIMA:

The management of Mandela Secondary School in Hoima City has today {Friday} closed the girl’s wing due to the strike that took place on Thursday at the main campus {boy’s wing}.

Mr. Rowland Ndiwalana, the school head teacher told our reporter that they couldn’t continue conducting lessons when the main campus is closed.

‘’We decided to close the girl’s wing because we couldn’t continue conducting lessons when the main campus was closed,’’ he said.

The head teacher however told our reporter that they are expecting the candidate classes to report back on 1^st August 2022 when the reconstruction of the vandalized properties is done.

‘’Other classes will report back on 22^nd August, and we shall have finished the reconstruction of the vandalized properties,’’ he added.

On Thursday, students at the main campus went on strike alleging poor meals, turning the school into a single sex school when girls were separated and taken to Mandela Annex which was originally an extension of Mandela SS for both boys and girls, and others.

According to Moses Muhumuza, the school’s neighbour, the irritated had wanted to strike on Wednesday night but it was foiled by the police.

‘’The school was sealed off by security, after the situation normalized, they left the school premises,’’ he explained.

Muhumuza however said that the students resumed their plan at 5am on Thursday destroying a number of properties including the perimeter wall fence, windows and many others before the police intervened.

‘’The strike stopped at 6am after the intervention of the police. They also wanted to destroy the neighbours’ properties but they were overpowered,’’ Muhumuza explained.

Nzigu Francis, the School Principal on Thursday explained that they decided to close the school and sent the students home for two weeks after destroying most of the school property.

‘’We have temporarily closed our main campus, and students have been sent home for two weeks since most of the properties have been vandalized,’’ Nzigu said.

He blamed the students’ action on the effects of Corona lockdown that he says affected their discipline.

According to ASP Julius Allan Hakiza, the Albertine Region Police Spokesperson, no student was injured or arrested in the strike. He advised the students to always explore peaceful means of resolving their grievances with their school administrations instead of using violence.