The school authorities at Mandela Secondary School in Hoima City have ordered over fifty-five learners in candidate classes to cough up 1.5 million shillings each as payment for damages.
This comes after the school suspended eighty-seven students for damaging properties worth millions in a violent strike on July 14, 2022.
The students were protesting poor feeding and the administration's policy to ban all cellphone use on the school's premises.
During a Parent Teachers Association(PTA) meeting held at the school on Sunday, Lawrence Bategeka, the director of Mandela Secondary School informed parents that learners in S.4 and 6 would only be allowed to seat their exams if damages have been paid.
Bategeka says the expelled students, mostly in S.4, S.5 and S.6 planned and spearheaded the strike that left the school with losses of over 50 million shillings.
Also Read: Mandela secondary school students strike after Ban on all cellphones use
He says of the 87 expelled students, 55 are in candidate classes and had registered to take their exams this year. He adds the expelled students will only get access to the exams if a fine of UGX 1.5 million each has been paid, and that the students will be commuting from their homes.
“Now these ones who were expelled for the strike in candidate classes will come back only to seat exams after paying 1.5 m not later than August 31, 2022. If a student doesn’t pay by that time, they will not be tolerated within the school premises,” he says
The angry students demolished a perimeter wall and shattered glass panes in their dormitories and classrooms.
The school had since been closed but will open to students on August 1st, 2022 for normal learning.
