It was sad to read the newspapers that two students were shot in Bugema Adventist Secondary School, where I happened to be a former student.

The circumstances of the shootings are unclear, and the Police Commissioner, Major-General Kale Kayihura orders the arrest of the Commander at Bugema and further investigation.

The wounded (Wilma Obega, a Kenyan and Mariam Odiera, a Sudanese) are hospitalized at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kampala. But was the situation too bad for the police to shoot unarmed students?

It is reported that the students had gone on strike complaining of poor feeding and harsh treatment by administrators.

Why international students run to Bugema
Since the year 2002, Bugema went out to source for students mostly from Kenya and Tanzania. Its purpose was purely business out of the desperate parents that wanted to further the education of the children.

For sure, Kenya still has so many form 4 leavers and each year almost a quarter a million graduate but the tertiary institutions have failed to absorb even a quarter the figure punching Uganda A-level as an alternative. Tanzania’s education standard is a bit low opting for Uganda’s O-level and A-level education.

Bugema too has a history of producing some of the best students in the region.

This shooting has opened a can of worms
In early 2002 I was in form 6, and I vividly remember that almost 20 classmates were suspended indefinitely for they had only refused to transfer from the upper dormitory to the ones near the classrooms. The next time they appeared they were asked to pick their belongings and suffered so much to get admissions in other schools in the capital city, Kampala. Don’t ask if they were refunded the school fees after all it was a few days into the term, and if the reason for the indefinite suspension was proper.

Year in, year out, Bugema went for a huge number than its infrastructure cold hold. Congestion remains a challenge but Bugema has its simplest mechanism to curl out the huge number and that is indefinite suspension which is equally an expulsion. Alternative methods of disciplining are never employed more so for the A-Level students.

A student raising a simple complaint against the administration will automatically mean resistance. Not even dialogue is encouraged over very simple problems. On the other hand, the Seventh-day Adventist, Uganda Union, seems to act slow on matters arising from its institutions as well as appreciate and implement some recommendations from former students.

Today, A-level teachers have a hectic time balancing the many classes which will slowly impact on the results. What is the essence of having more than 200 A-level students yet 50 of them can’t join credible universities across the country? What defines “quality” education?

Getting back to the shooting incidence, the school should try to reach the real cause and not only put records straight but act accordingly. Is the problem emanating from the administration or the students?

Students have been sent home as they await "issues" to be addressed.

For the better of the institution (Bugema), I suggest change from the top administration and reduced intake, or if business is the catch word then improve the services through the quality expansion of infrustructure.