Striking Students Burn Dormitory Over Confiscated Phones

A group of students at Kashaka High School in Bubaare Sub county, Mbarara district, on Wednesday burnt the boys’ dormitory after the management confiscated their phones.The School administration reportedly launched a campaign to confiscate all mobile phones that were in the hands of the students at the end of last week.

The school decided to keep the phones and was planning to hand them over to the parents of the affected students.

The decision, however, did not go well with the affected group who threatened to take action against the administration.

In the wee hours of Wednesday, the students used petrol to burn down the male student’s dormitory which had three rooms. The fire burnt down students’ property.

Sonko John William, a teacher at the school, says one of the students identified as Ivan Muhwezi was sighted by others with a 5-litre jerrycan of petrol, hour before the fire started. He says that the students objected to a plan by the school to invite parents of students who had been found in possession of phones.

Sonko says the students tried to put out the fire but it had spread so fast and ended up burning a lot of property.

Students whose property was burnt have been asked to go home and report back after one week.

Bernard Arinaitwe, the school director told our reporter that he was too busy to talk about the incident.

Taban Chiriga, the officer in charge of criminal investigations department, told our reporter that police are still investigating the matter.

This is the second incident of a school dormitory being set on fire in less than a week in Mbarara district.

On the night of August 14th, a similar incident happened at Welden High School in Katete ward Nyamitanga division Mbarara Municipality. The move prompted the school to send home over 500 students as they could not be accommodated.