SIRONKO – The head teacher of Bugunzu Seed Secondary School in Buwasa Sub-county, Sironko District has been arrested by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit following an inspection led by Hon. Balaam.
The arrest followed a dramatic accountability check during the minister’s monitoring tour of government-aided schools in the Bugisu sub-region.
Hon. Balaam tasked the head teacher to explain how the school’s capitation grant of Shs 67 million per term is utilized. The head teacher reportedly failed to give a satisfactory account of the funds.
The situation worsened when enrollment figures were verified. The head teacher had officially declared that the school has 800 students, a figure used as a basis for receiving Universal Secondary Education (USE) capitation grants from the government.
However, when the minister ordered a physical headcount on site, only 480 students were found present in the school.
The discrepancy of 320 learners – classified as “ghost students” – raised suspicions of inflated enrollment to fraudulently obtain government funds.
The State House Anti-Corruption Unit, which was part of the monitoring team, immediately took the head teacher into custody to assist with investigations.
This incident comes amid a wider national crackdown on ghost pupils and misuse of capitation grants in UPE and USE schools.
Government estimates show ghost pupils cost taxpayers about Shs 41 billion annually. In similar recent cases, investigations in Ntungamo found over 40,000 ghost pupils across 249 schools, causing an estimated loss of Shs 1 billion, while in Bukwo, four education officials including the head teacher of Kabei Seed Secondary School were arrested after a headcount found 339 learners against a declared 991 learners, leading to about Shs 78 million in suspected diversion over three terms.
Minister Balaam has in recently intensified inspections of schools, health centres and other government projects, warning that head teachers found culpable of defying government policy or abusing office will not be protected.
The arrested head teacher is currently detained as investigations continue. If found guilty, he faces charges of abuse of office, causing financial loss and corruption.
