Monday, 29th June 2020.

1.     Issue – Allegations of Misogyny & bullying & sexual harassment of the girl child at Budo.

2.     Information – Seen by many in the media.

3.     Insights – What is happening in other schools and in other parts of the world at large?

4.     Implications – What does this mean for Budo?

5.     Implementation – What is the way forward?

·       WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

On 19th June 2020, Ms. Tracy Rubondo, a former girl child student at King’s College Budo took to social media and released a long Twitter thread of screenshots of conversations, taken from a WhatsApp group of former Budo girls. Each girl describing her own pain, suffering and distressful experiences of what they say was a result of the misogyny & bullying and culture at Budo. In addition, there were allegation of sexually harassing the girl child, something I find alien to the Budo I knew for 6 years (1986 - 1992).

Paradoxically, some girls come out with contrasting and positive experiences of Budo, ranging from pleasant, good, bearable and some even saying that they were well prepared for the real world, which they claim is predominantly male dominated.

Whereas the media has for more than 10 days been awash with several sad stories about Budo, describing sexism, bullying, sexual harassment over the centuries, the present School authorities have not yet released a statement.

In case they have not been informed already, I wish to formerly bring to the attention of the Board of Governors of King’s College Budo the news doing the rounds, of the saga of #budogirls that is currently trending both in the mainstream and social media.

·       INFORMATION IN NEWS

In the New Vision article of 25th June 2020,  penned by by Old Budonian Mr. James Kudiza titled - TO BUDO GIRLS, WE SHOULD HAVE DONE BETTER, Kudiza explains with a brief history of gender balance in Budo, saying that whereas the school was set up in 1903 by the British Colonial Government to educate the Kings, Princes and sons of Chiefs, it was not until 1933 that the first cohort of girls was enrolled to the school.  He narrates that gender inequity is a broader societal issue and that this is another opportunity for Budonians to lead [in finding solutions] and that as Alumni, we want girls from all parts of Uganda to continue to aspire to one day be Budonian.  Kudiza concludes by saying that as Budonians, we urgently need change.

In the New Vision article of 26th June 2020, penned by Old Budonian Mr. Kalungi Kabuye, titled CASE OF GIRLS FROM BUDO AND THE COMING SCHOOL REVOLUTION, Kabuye narrates that Tracy Rubondo, “has started a revolution that will probably change a lot of things about not only our School, but the way the girl child is seen and treated in this country”. He continues that, “as expected, the public has jumped on Ms. Rubondo’s posting and has turned it into a wholesome condemnation of all things Budonian. According to many social media posts he says, Budonian “pride” is misplaced, and simply ‘a farce’, something I personally disagree with. He narrates of some Parents swearing to never take their children to Budo. A clear and present risk to our reputation and heritage. He concludes that in “whatever form, change is going to come and when it does at Budo, how can the rest of schools and institutions not follow?” Kabuye asked.

·       INSIGHT

In order to gain an objective perception, rather than being subjective to any one single individual, I undertook research to gain insights into the history of the problem at Budo, to understand the impact of bullying and misogyny on the girl child in any school environment, to comprehend the prevalence of the problem on the global scene, to increase my awareness of the present day situation elsewhere, so as to visualize the generic practical solutions, in the context of Budo, and how they may be used to minimize or even completely eradicate the problem… and I quote…

        I.           Bullying among school children is certainly a very old phenomenon. The fact that some children are frequently and systematically harassed and attacked by other children has been described in many literary works, and many adults have personal experience of it from their own school days… by Dan Olwues  … more on this here .. https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1994.tb01229.x 

      II.           The prevalence of bullying varied from 18.5% in girls’ school to 38.2% in one of the co-ed schools. The prevalence of bullying amongst girls was 28.5%, as compared to 36.2% amongst boys (P >0.05). The prevalence of bullying was 34% amongst 200 students interviewed from English medium school, and 30.7% amongst 300 vernacular medium (Marathi) students (p >0.05). In contrast, the prevalence of bullying was significantly higher in co-educational schools than in girls’ school (35.4% vs. 18.0%, p <0.05). The prevalence of bullying amongst boys (68 out of 188, 36.2%) and girls (89 out of 312 girls, 28.5%) was not significantly different (p >0.05). Everyone who claimed to have been bullied reported at least one symptom, while only 180 (52.5%) out of 343 children who were not bullied reported any symptom. Gender wise analysis revealed that 69 (57.5%) of the 120 boys who were not bullied reported at least one symptom. Similarly, 121 (54.3%) of the 223 girls who were not bullied did report a symptom. There was no significant gender-wise difference amongst those reporting symptoms in absence of bullying (p >0.05). More on this here … https://indianpediatrics.net/jan2007/jan-25-28.htm

    III.           Excessive childhood aggression may be reduced by encouraging parents actively to teach prosocial behaviour to young children. Successful interventions for established bullying focus on reducing the acceptability of bullying within institutions, ensuring that bullies are discovered and enforcing non-aggressive punishments, which may involve acts of reparation to victims. More on this … https://adc.bmj.com/content/79/6/528

    IV.           Effective strategies exist to reduce the frequency of bullying and to make this type of aggressive behaviour less likely to occur.  More on this … https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Practical-approaches-to-reduce-the-impact-of-Pearce-Thompson/f49613e6b32af1da1365dd9bf72336c593fdc638?p2df 

     V.           The school itself may influence the development of aggressive behaviour. Several studies show that even if school intake factors are controlled for, bullying and aggression occur more frequently in schools with low staff morale, high teacher turnover, unclear standards for behaviour, inconsistent methods of discipline, poor organization, inadequate supervision, and a lack of awareness of children as individuals. More on this here … https://adc.bmj.com/content/79/6/528

 ·       IMPLICATIONS

The bullying and misogyny problem is an old, cultural, community problem, for which no single one individual should be held squarely responsible. The absence of an official response to the allegations or any official statement to acknowledge or refute the allegations, from any of the current management of the School, is however unsettling.  Various stakeholders and well-wishers of the Budo brand are getting concerned about what is happening at the school, myself inclusive.

My take is arising from the corporate governance angle, where in the management of prestigious institutions such as Budo, silence should ideally be considered as the last option when a scandal of this magnitude arises, particularly where sexual harassment is one of the allegations. Bench-marking from other organizations and institutions in Uganda, and taking perspective from the present day, post-covid “new normal” where business pundits of competitive institutions are talking of the need to become more agile, more innovative, more futuristic in perspective and more customer oriented in the approach to management things, the way Budo officials are addressing this scandalous problem may be seen as slow, wanting and begs many open questions.

One wonders whether bullying and harassing the girl child is the only old problem that is continuously being swept under the rug of silence. One may wonder how quickly the school management responds to other problems in the school. One may also wonder if there are other deep seated problems, such as those cited in insight point (v) above or if such problems are escalating more recently in the present day Budo. The number of unanswered question grows among many stakeholders every single day.

Since there are well set out procedures for seeking redress to problems, and because the Board of Governors may not really be bound by their by-laws or by an Educational Act of Law to respond to media rants, I thought it would best to channel all concerns through structured procedures, starting with this formal petition;

1. To inform the King’s College Budo Board of Governors about what people are saying in the mainstream and social media about Budonians, during the recent period of 19.June 2020 – 29th June 2020.
2. Request to refute whatever allegation that are known to be false, so as to restore some confidence in the Budonian brand without further ado. To investigate the current state of gender equality, bullying, misogyny and sexual harassment in the school and If applicable, to communicate proposed remedies & solutions to the girl child problems at Budo.
3. To request the Board of Governor to make a holistic investigation of other school operational problems, and improve them as appropriate.

The Budo brand belongs to all of us, past, present and future Budonians. I am therefore requesting and inviting the present Budo students, Parents Teachers Association, the august house of Alumni of King’s College Budo and Budo Junior School, members of the Old Budonian Club, together with all future parents of Budonians and Well-wishers who resonate with this view, to sign this petition.

·       IMPLEMENTATION

I have full confidence in the Board of Governors, and I am confident that they will do the right things, at the right time, to bring us the paradigm shift that we want to see at Budo, now and in the future. The Board of Governors is well constituted with innovative elders, chaired by Dr. Charles Walaga, and the other Governors including;

·       Dr. Sabrina Kitaka

·       Mr. Patrick Bakka Male

·       Mrs. Deborah Katimbo

·       Mr. Douglas Kabenge Ssendagire

·       Mr. Davidson Sserungoji

·       Rev. Canon. Nelson Kaweesa

·       Mrs. Margaret Rose Nagita Kiwanuka

·       Mr. Michael Kawooya Mwebe

·       Mr. Edison Walusimbi

·       Mr. David Serukka

·       Ms. Susan Muwanga Nassuna Muwanga

All protocol and respect observed.

The current Head Master of the School, Mr. Patrick Bakka Male, is also a former Head Prefect, a former Teacher to whom I owe all the physics I know, a personal friend, a respected Elder in the community and a great man who has done extraordinary things for the institution, some of the many achievements at the expense of his own healthy. A true distinguished Budonian man.  I pray for his well-being and for recognition for his grand contribution. God Bless him.

The Board of Governors has what it takes to openly address the historical problems of marginalizing the girl child at Budo, to come out and restore the reputation of the institution, to preserve the prestige and pride of the Budo brand, and should therefore take decisively steps towards creating the paradigm shift that will open the doors to future parents and students.

In my own capacity as an Old Budonian, I pledge to contribute UGX 1,000,000 (One million shilling only) towards whatever solutions and programs the Board of Governors shall choose to implement to achieve gender equality at Budo.

I salute you and thank you in advance for signing this petition.

Gakyali Mabaga.

Timothy Wampa Mwandha.

Old Budonian, 1986 – 1992.