Wandi Progressive secondary school in Terego district, Northern Uganda has permanently dismissed 46 students following allegations that they participated in a strike.
The school management arrived at this conclusion during an extraordinary Parent Teachers Association (PTA) meeting held at the school last Saturday.
Eric Ojaku, the head teacher, says that they took the decision to act as a deterrent to other students who think they can destroy school property and get away with it. 39 of those expelled are senior four candidates while 7 are in the senior three class.
According to Ojaku, the school plans to refund examination fees that were paid by the affected students since they have not yet registered the candidates with Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB).
The chaos ensued on March 19, 2022, upon their return from the post-primary netball finals where their school team had participated.
They destroyed school property that included window panes at the administration block, library and some classrooms worth Ugx 1.3 million, according to the school administration.
It took the intervention of the police to stop further damage to school property. Wilfred Saka, the Terego district LC V chairperson has hailed the decision to expel the students. He expressed concern over the increasing cases of violence amongst students in the sub-region noting that key stakeholders need to play their role.
This is not the first time students in West Nile have been dismissed for engaging in a strike. In 2010, 16 senior four candidates of St Joseph College Ombaci were dismissed for staging a violent strike.
Similarly, 12 students of Moyo secondary school were expelled for rioting in the school in 2009. Wandi Progressive secondary school, which is one of the private schools in the newly created Terego district, has 1,042 students.