Uganda arrests teachers for conducting lessons during lockdown

Police in the Eastern region of Uganda have arrested seven teachers for allegedly conducting lessons amid a Covid-19 lockdown.

The suspects were rounded up in Iganga District during a joint operation mounted by local authorities.

According to District Education Officer Baker Kasadhakawo, the suspects were found teaching pupils at St Mary’s Junior School, Iganga Victory and Bati Valley Primary, all located in Iganga municipality.

“The suspects’ licences and that of the private schools in which they teach will be revoked because what they were doing is illegal,” he said.

Authorities were expected to bring the teachers before a local court to answer to charges of defying a presidential directive on Covid-19.

Meanwhile, Uganda's operation to crackdown on such errant teachers continues.

“Even those hiding the learners in fences while teaching them will be arrested since we have all the information,” he said.

Uganda recently loosened Covid-19 restrictions citing a decline in the number of infections in the country.

In a televised address last month, President Yoweri Museveni said lower institutions of learning (nursery, primary and secondary schools) will resume in January 2022.

Report by Abubaker Kirunda