Pupils of Bridge International Academies and their parents are at Parliament protesting against the closure of their schools, following a previous order by the Minister of Education Janet Museveni.
Today’s protest comes in the wake of a recent closure following a court ruling last Friday, in which High Court Judge Justice Patricia Wasswa Basaza threw out a case filed by the Bridge International Academies against the Attorney General.
In her ruling, Justice Basaza Wasswa said the Ministry of Education was right in its decision, paving the way for the closure of 63 Bridge International Academies countrywide.
In August the Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni ordered the closure of the schools in August on grounds that they were not following the ministry’s guidelines.
Subsequently, the management of Bridge Academies run to court to block the decision, saying the education ministry had condemned them unheard, but Justice Basaza Wasswa dismissed the case and ordered the schools to pay costs to the Attorney General.
In its findings, court established that none of the Bridge Academies is registered or licensed by Ministry of Education to operate. Court also found the school’s sanitary conditions lacking.
Uganda is not the first to condemn the schools; last year the Kenyan government also stopped the development of more BIA schools because of some of the same concerns as expressed in Uganda.
