Speaking to the Nile Post, the head teacher of Mbarara Main Prison School, Winnie Musanyana, noted that the pioneers of this year’s lower secondary curriculum have been taught by inmate teachers.
“On rare occasions, we have been forced to hire external teachers from different schools where needed, but it definitely hasn’t been that easy,” Musanyana said.
Ten of the inmates are convicts serving different sentences, ranging from defilement, murder, aggravated robbery, and theft, while the eleventh is a former inmate who had registered from the same centre while still on remand before later being released after serving his sentence.
All eleven are sitting the new lower secondary school curriculum national exams assessment, and none are undertaking the outdated curriculum.
Mbarara Main Prison Secondary School acquired its UNEB centre number last year, 2023, and it was then that they had the first candidates sit for national exams within the prison premises, as is the case with this year’s inmates of the new lower secondary curriculum.
“Previously, for the last three sittings, our candidates would sit from other schools outside the prison until last year when we received a UNEB centre number. This year, our candidates have sat from within the prison premises, making this the second sitting within the prison,” Musanyana said.
Musanyana further disclosed that the overall population of Mbarara Main Prison Secondary School amounts to 399, with 124 students enrolled in the secondary level and the remainder attending primary classes.
The Uganda Prisons Service Act Reforms (2006) placed inmates’ education at the centre of their rehabilitation along with industry and farms (Directly Productive Activities).
This helps in curbing recidivism (habitual relapse into previous criminal conduct).