Ugandan students force school to close over gay claims

Anti-gay hysteria has gripped an all-boys school in Uganda after two male pupils were allegedly discovered having sex.

According to local media, the incident at the Ntare School in Mbarara led to fellow students attempting to lynch the boys and forced the school to shut down.

Teachers intervened and were able to save the pupils from further violence.

The school’s headmaster, Jimmy Turyagyenda, has insisted that the fracas took place after the boys were accused of theft and that it had nothing to do with sexual acts.

Students, however, claim that he is trying to protect the school and that the two boys were “caught engaging in unnatural sex”.

The Daily Monitor reported that when school officials refused to punish the boys, pupils became rowdy and police were forced to use tear gas to calm the situation.

A number of students were suspended and the school was closed down, other than allowing certain classes to complete mock exams.

“We want a police investigation into these disturbing reports. An entire school cannot be punished simply because two individuals were engaged in acts of indiscipline,” Benon Twinoburyo, a parent, told Chimpreports.

“The Headmaster of the school should have expelled two students implicated in homosexuality. We want our sons back to school as soon as possible,” he said.

The report is reminiscent of a similar incident in February at a Ghanaian school in which police shot and killed a boy after a school mob went on the rampage and attacked two pupils accused of being gay.