Kagadi deputy RDC Orders Arrest of Parents who keep children out of school

The Kagadi deputy Resident District Commissioner Jerome Namanya has issued a stern directive ordering the immediate arrest of parents who have failed to send their children to school.

He made the call during a talk show hosted on Paradigm FM, on Thursday evening. Namanya expressed deep concern over the growing number of school-age children who remain at home, a situation he says is contributing to Kagadi’s poor academic performance.

He says that all parents have a grace period of only this week to take back all their children to school, warning that with effect from next week, arrests of errant parents will begin.

Namanya revealed plans to coordinate with LC1, LC2, LC3 leaders, the police and the district education department to identify and apprehend parents who neglect their legal obligation to ensure their children attend school.

He says that all children have a right to education and any violation compromises the government’s Universal Primary and Secondary Education policies.

Insert………. Namanya on arresting errant parents

The deputy RDC’s directive comes in response to alarming statistics showing that Kagadi district recorded a very low learners’ turnout of 30% on Tuesday February 10, when the schools officially reopened for the first academic term. Namanya believes that strict enforcement measures are necessary to reverse this trend.

In a related development, The Kagadi district Inspector of schools Matia Tumwebaze has warned government schools against charging fees, which he says have significantly contributed to low learners’ turn ups.

He was speaking during a talk show hosted on Paradigm FM, last evening.

The Inspector says that only 30% of a total enrolment of over 100,000 pupils have returned to school this week.

He expressed concern over consistently poor performance in national exams, linking it to high absenteeism caused by child labour, which has kept many children out of school.

The Inspector argues that persistent absenteeism is directly undermining learning outcomes and long-term development in the district.

Tumwebaze however says that efforts have been put in place to improve performance in government schools through increasing daily lessons and class work, stopping teachers’ absenteeism and giving out regular continuous assessments to learners to improve academic performance in the next national exams.

Insert………..Matia on absenteeism

Out of  7789 candidates who sat for the 2025 PLE exams in Kagadi district,362 passed in Div One,1930 in Div Two,1781 in Div Three,862 in Div Four,490 candidates were ungraded and 158 were absent.