Pherry Junior School in Mukono Municipality has failed to trace a woman who dropped off a seven-year-old daughter at school and disappeared.
According to the school, Joyce Nakku, 43, reported at the beginning of the term and enrolled her daughter in primary two. She paid 190,000 Shillings out of 270,000 Shillings required for a full school uniform only.
Upon being advised by the admission desk to deposit additional money as required by the school, she asked teachers to stay with the child and allow her to go to the bank to withdraw additional payments, but she has never returned.
The school headteacher, Rogers Oboth, says that as the day closed, the matter was reported to his office, and he tried contacting Nakku through the numbers on the admission form, but there was no response.
“The parent partially deposited money for the school uniform only, dropped the child without any other school requirements such as books, pens and school fees.” Oboth notes.
Oboth reported the matter to the school director, Sylivia Okite, who advised him to take good care of the girl until the mother returns, but unfortunately, as the school prepares to close the term next week, the whereabouts of the mother are not known.
“The child was dropped here on the second day of opening, Regrettably, she had no relatives to associate with on the visiting day, so one of my teachers had to play the role of a mother.
Again, parents picked their children for the Easter break, it was only the little girl who stayed behind. My teacher again played the mother role but now the term is coming to an end, and we have no arrangement for keeping children at school during holidays.” Okite notes.
The seven-year-old girl revealed that before enrolling at Pherry Junior School, she was attending SKK kindergarten and primary-Bweyogerere. During the holidays, they shifted to Katosi town council.
After staying at Katosi for somedays, the mother took her to Jinja to complete the holiday before she enrolled her to a new school.
“Before she left, she said will be visiting the school to see me every Sunday but ever since she left has never returned.” The young girl noted attending hostel for the first term noted.
She says the mother used to work in a hospital and the father is a police officer but could only recall one name as ‘Dalton’.
The school reveals trying private tracing of the mother from areas such as Katosi town council and Byeyogerere where the child says they have lived before, but the efforts have not yet yielded.
Oboth says he was advised by Katosi Police to open up a file of child neglect and abandonment at Mukono police division.
On the school admission form, the mother recorded the next of kin as John Katongole whom she describes as the father.
To the contrary, the telephone number attached under Katongole’s name is picked by a different person who says used to know Nakku before she left Bweyogerere but denies having a child with her.
The person who picks the calls requested not to publish his names in order to protect his image before the family at Byeyogerere but wondered how Nakku reached the stage of abandoning the child at school.
He noted that she seemed a responsible mother. He also revealed that she used to have three children including the one she dropped at Pherry.
He also noted that she is a qualified doctor who used to work at Nsambya hospital surgery department but resigned with plans travel and secure residence at Canada but due to unforeseen circumstances, the plans failed after injecting in a lot of money.
The minor confirms that it is true she had elder siblings she identifies as Enid Nampijja and Sarah Layton Nabakooza but could not recall the exact school they were studying from.
Mukono Municipality Probation Officer, Jackline Mirembe acknowledge that her office was equally informed about the matter on this week and has severally tried to contact the mother but declined to pick.
She says they have started looking for a foster family to serve the school from making more expenditures on the girl during holidays.
She appeals to parents be more responsible regardless of the economic hardships which leads them into taking drastic decisions.
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