Police in Mityana District are holding eight teachers for allegedly defying the Ministry of Education and Sports’ directive banning teaching during school holidays.
The suspects were arrested on August 25 during an operation targeting holiday coaching at Glorious Junior School in Mityana District.
Mityana Deputy Resident District Commissioner Prossy Mwanjuzi, who ordered the operation, said the teachers had gathered learners from different schools at the institution for holiday classes.
‘We received a tip-off that students were being taught at that school in disregard of the ban on holiday coaching,’ she said in an interview on Thursday.
The suspects are being held at Mityana Central Police Station as investigations continue.
Ms Mwanjuzi warned teachers and school proprietors against conducting holiday coaching, saying security-led operations would continue across the district.
‘Holidays are designed to enable teachers and learners to get some break; so, let us utilise this period well by helping learners to get life skills outside the classroom. School proprietors should use holidays to fix things which got damaged during the course of the term or do repairs on the entire infrastructure,’ she said.
The operation comes amid renewed enforcement of the government directive prohibiting schools from conducting academic lessons during holidays.
The Ministry of Education says the holiday period is intended to give learners time to rest, interact with their families and participate in activities outside the classroom.
Similar operations have been extended to Masaka City, where education authorities have warned schools and teachers against conducting holiday classes.
Stephen Kakeeto, the Masaka City Education Officer, said the education department was working with security agencies to enforce the directive.
‘We are in touch with the security authorities and we are going to conduct an operation to arrest any teacher who will be found teaching during holidays,’ he said.
The warning follows an incident in which Masaka City Resident Commissioner Ahmada Washaki ordered secondary school students found at Universal Nursery and Primary School waiting for teachers to conduct holiday classes to return home.
Authorities have urged school proprietors and teachers to comply with the official academic calendar and use the school term more effectively to complete the curriculum.