EASTERN PROVINCE

BUGESERA — The district authorities ordered the sacking of Anastase Nzaramba as the head teacher of Nyamata High school, allegedly over incompetence.

According to inside source, Nzaramba was dismissed over incompetence which had reportedly resulted into high cases of indiscipline among students.

The source said that due to Nzaramba’s weakness scores of students could be found loitering in pubs and restaurants during class time.

A member of the school board confirmed the development.

"For us we had no hand in his dismissal. We got a letter from Bugesera district instructing us to fire the director, so we had nothing to do but to follow the directive," a board member who asked not to be named told The New Times, adding that they had to act fast against their will to replace the man.

He was replaced by Samuel Ruzindana.

He said there were other factors acting against Nzaramba like poor student performance, but they needed to take time to study the situation before dismissing the director.

"We needed time to see what to do and come up with a solution before changing the head master. But they did not give us ample time to do this," the member added.

The source however, said that they have no problem with the new head teacher and that they are willing to work with him.

When contacted, the mayor Gasapard Musonera admitted the intervention of the district saying they acted with guidance from the Ministry of Education.

"We called the head teacher [Nzaramba] and raised a number of issues ranging from poor students’ performance, to indiscipline which was beyond control among students. We thought things would change but nothing had changed," Musonera said.

"So we decided to write to the ministry of [education] seeking a go ahead which we got. It was against which that we wrote to the board asking them to change the head master because he had failed to control the school," the mayor explained.

Meanwhile the head master of APEBU secondary school Gonzalve Ntaganda has also been fired over alleged incompetence, replacing him with Jean Paul Rusagara. Both schools are private.

Musonera said there were alarming cases of indiscipline at the two schools which prompted the district to intervene.

"The performance of the schools had declined tremendously; students most of them boarders could be seen in bars and restaurants or loitering along the road during class time. Some parents and other organisations paying for needy children were considering taking their children to other schools," Musonera explained.

"There was a time when we had to deploy police to arrest these students and take them to their respective schools. Can you imagine? So as leaders and parents we had to intervene to solve the problem. There was no ill motive as some people allege," he said.

The Mayor expressed optimism in the changes saying similar problems were faced at Rilima secondary school- a government school- last year and they handled it using the same approach, which has ‘normalised’ the situation at the school.

The mayor said: "What we need is cooperation among teachers, students and leaders in the district if we are to attain a better future for our children."

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