By Mbabazi Hanning Gozanga
Anti-riot police have Thursday fired teargas to disperse striking Kyambogo University students who were protesting against a policy that required all students to have cleared tuition by the 12th week of the semester or risk an automatic dead semester.
In a notice from the university bursar dated February 13, students are meant to pay all functional and tuition fees within the first six weeks of the semester (from January 7 when the semester began to February 17) short of which a surcharge of Shs 50,000 is charged in addition to the required fees.
In addition, the university stated that “all outstanding fees shall be settled by the 12th week that is 31st March, 2019 (Tuesday next week).”
Students were informed that failure to respect the payment schedule, they would automatically be considered for a temporary withdrawal (dead semester) on top of not registering with the University’s academic registrar.
“Any student who fails to meet his/her fees payment obligations within the University schedule and is officially allowed a temporary withdrawal in writing may be refunded a portion of the paid tuition fees in accordance with the University’s fees payment policy,” wrote the University’s Bursar.
One student is in great pain after losing hand in a protest. The victim, identified as Abraham, a student pursuing a Diploma in Automotive and Power Engineering lost hand after he attempted to grab and throw back a teargas canister at the police officers who were trying to quell the strike. The canister exploded in his right hand before he had thrown it back to police there by rupturing all the fingers.
Fellow students loaded him unto the motorcycle and took him to the Students’ medical centre for treatment. However, students have vowed not to stop until the policy is revised.
