Gabiro High School administration dissolved

Gatsibo District has suspended the management of Gabiro High School and set up a temporary committee to manage the school. A new head teacher to oversee the school up to the end of this term has also been appointed.The Mayor, Ambrose Ruboneza, told The New Times that the district intervened recently following wrangles and mismanagement issues at the school. The new committee is comprised of the district Labour Inspector, a district education official and three others selected from the community.“The new committee was assigned to come up with a school statute, make an audit, and put in place school leadership. The overall aim is to save the school from further decline,” Ruboneza told The New Times.The school’s wrangles date back to 2009 after the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA-Rwanda) handed it over to the Parents’ Teachers Association. It was constructed in 2000.According to authorities, at least five previous head teachers ran away with unspecified amounts of money taking advantage of the ignorance of the parents on school management and administration.Erick Mugabo, the interim head teacher of the school, told The New Times that irresponsible school leadership was to blame for all the woes.“The Parents Teachers Association (PTA) committee never had the ability to manage the school, yet it was serving the interests of parents.The committee messed the school...head teachers took advantage of the power vacuum to steal money. This is what the school went through in the last 12 years,” he said.Mugabo however said that the school was struggling against all odds, to maintain a good teaching and learning environment.“The school learning environment is not affected...of course the money stolen had a negative impact, but teachers are in class supervising mock exams, and as you see, everyone is calm,” he said.Residents however, say the problems of the school were far from over and they stem from the divided positions the parents have taken.There are two warring parties, one supporting a former committee and the other calling for change.“We at cross-roads, some people feel it was wrong to remove the committee that started with the school, while others say enough is enough with a committee that messed up the school,” said an insider, who prefered anonimity.Last week, we reported that the head teacher, Julius Mugabo, was on the run after allegedly escaping with an unspecified amount of money belonging to the school.Police are hunting for Mugabo, who is suspected to be hiding in Uganda.

National

Gabiro High School administration dissolved