Police in Ntungamo are holding 32 students of Standard College Ntungamo for thought to be behind the burning of the school dormitory on Thursdaymorning.
Five female students are admitted to Ntungamo Family Clinic after the fire razed the entire girls’ dormitory housing senior 4 students, destroying students’ property, including books, suit cases, beddings and clothes.
According to the district police commander, Geofrey Orochi, the fire began at around midnight.
“We responded in time and tried to put off the fire but it was too much. However, we managed to put out the fire before it spread to other dormitories and offices housed under the same building,” Orochi said.
Although he could not immediately indicate the source of the fire, school sources indicate that trouble started after the female students were denied chance to have preps with their male counterparts.
It is alleged that security guards had locked the dormitories from outside to prevent the girls from accessing classrooms where the male students.
A student who talked to this journalist on condition of anonymity students started the fire in protest from inside the dormitory so as to attract the security guards’ attention.
A security guard at the school who spoke to this reporter confirmed that they always locked the female students inside the hostels at night to avoid interacting with their male counterparts, adding that on the fateful night, the girls added an extra lock from inside before putting the dormitory on fire in protest.
They are alleged to have used petrol
The head teacher, Boaz Ruyimbazi, declined our interview.
However, the school director, Steven Tashobya, said they are investigating cause of the fire.
“What is our concern is how the students were locked from inside and how petrol was smuggled into the school. Otherwise we are trying to see that the situation comes back to normal and that we can resettle the students in the space available, especially those in S.4,” said Tashobya.
The district police commander says the arrested students are being questioned on how the fire was started and the strike at the school.