A Burundian national has been remanded to prison for alleged aggravated defilement of a three-and-a-half-year-old, female pupil.
According to CP Enanga Fred, Police Spokesperson, the Directorate of CID sent Belly Kirimwimana to court last Friday.
Kirimwimana is a teacher at Ambrosoli International School in Bugolobi, a Kampala suburb.
Enanga told the press in Kampala that during the month of February and March, Kirimwimana would escort the girl child to the toilets, where he could use his fingers to inappropriately sexually assault her.
The victim took the courage and reported the gross misconduct to her parents.
In some of her words, she indicated that “…and since the teacher had bad manners, he will be eaten by a dragon”.
Upon examination, the girl was found with bruises and signs of inflammation on her private parts.
“We are concerned that more children could have been victimized by teacher Belly Kirimwimana, and do call upon parents and the school administrators to try to talk to the children on whether they could have been victimized by the suspect or not,” said Enanga while addressing the press on Monday at Police headquarters in Naguru.
“We want to thank the parents for reporting the matter to the police, and the school administrators for cooperating with us. It truly showed that their first priority was always their pupils.”
He said the teacher was charged to court and remanded till May 24, 2022.
“We want to use this opportunity to promote awareness of the significant risks young school children face by trusted and often revered professionals while in school.”
Police have urged all school proprietors and administrators to adopt best practices that promote the safety and welfare of children at school.
“They should always comply with law, by reporting all incidents of child sexual abuse, so that no teacher escapes from credible allegations of child abuse. In addition, thorough background checks are a MUST to ensure teachers with poor records are not hired,” Enanga noted.
He said pupils or school children should never be left alone with a teacher or other staff in a private room, car or toilet etc.
He said other common forms of child abuse in schools include; the use of inappropriate language, sexually exploit imagery, prolonged hugging, fondling, inappropriate kissing on the forehead, inappropriate complimenting, etc.