Search for missing Kisubi student yields no results as family waits

Kampala,Uganda | URN | After days of fruitless searching, the parents of Victor Katungi, 12, who vanished from his Kisubi School, now only hope he comes home on his own.

It has been seven days since Victor Katungi disappeared from St. Savio Junior Kisubi Primary School around 9 pm on April 23rd. Despite joint search efforts by his parents and the police, there are still no leads.

Police say the pupil went missing during prep time after science teacher Emmanuel Agaba sent him out to get his original paper over alleged forged marks.

On Monday, Entebbe Police detectives reviewed CCTV footage and questioned staff on how the child vanished from a school said to have adequate security.

Speaking to Uganda Radio Network (URN), Patrick Katungi, Victor’s father, said they have searched everywhere they could think of for the past seven days but have made no progress.

Police checked the national grid cameras, but the footage shows no sign of him passing through Namuranda or other neighbouring areas.

“We’ve used megaphones to announce his disappearance in all nearby villages and around the school, but no one has seen him,” Katungi said.

“We checked with relatives in Fort Portal, where he spends holidays with his mother, but he isn’t there. I speak to his mother daily. Everyone fears he may not be alive.”

He expressed disappointment with the school administration, saying it hasn’t treated the missing child’s case with the urgency it deserves.

“It’s a big school. They think nothing serious can happen to them. They speak to me, but I don’t feel their urgency. They say they’re doing everything in the search, but I would only feel their effort if the teacher who acted unprofessionally had already been held accountable. But he hasn’t been.”Katungi said.

He said the only hope he has left is that his son will return on his own if he is still alive. With the school term ending, Katungi said he plans to camp at the school, hoping that if his son is alive, he might return there on his own.

Hadijja Namwanje, Executive Director of High Sound For Children, a child rights organization, called the incident unfortunate and blamed it on fear of teacher intimidation, saying children don’t disappear unless terrified of the consequences, and that Victor likely fled to avoid a severe beating.

She said there are ways to educate children without violence, including emotional violence from mistreatment, which Victor Katungi may have suffered before his disappearance.

Namwanje said some schools beat children the day after marking papers to force grade improvements, but this causes emotional harm and makes students hate the subject and teachers. The practice can overwhelm children, leading them to disappear from school or hate it entirely.

On Monday, Entebbe Police Commander Moses Musinguzi Karakire directed the Kisubi Police Post CID team to review statements from school administrators before making any arrests as the search for the child continues.

The headteacher could not be reached for comment on the school’s response to Victor Katungi’s disappearance, as his phone numbers were unavailable.