By Aggrey Twesigye
MBARARA: Police in Mbarara city are investigating circumstances surrounding the death of a 19-year-old student of Ntare School.
Elvis Magambo who was a senior five student at Ntare School was reportedly stabbed by unidentified attackers before his body was dumped in River Rwizi.
It is alleged that the deceased went missing from his parents’ home on Wednesday evening in Makenke this week.
It is alleged that Magambo who was pursuing a BCM combination had been suspended from Ntare School on June 28, 2025. He had been accused for returning to school late in the evening from the school’s outing day that usually happens every Saturday from (9am-6Pm).
The school authorities said Magambo reportedly returned to school from a trade show at Kakyeka at around 8:00 PM by jumping over the school’s perimeter wall. He was intercepted by the school’s security team which later attracted his suspension from school on June 30, 2025, for violating school rules.
Wilson Ndezi, the Ntare school deputy head teacher in charge of academics described the incident as unfortunate noting that the school was devastated by the student’s death.
He explained that before the unfortunate incident, the school’s board of governors had planned to meet and decide whether Magambo would still be allowed to resume his studies at the school.
Addressing mourners who gathered at Makenke Church of Uganda for the requiem service, Magambo’s father Dr. Emmanuel Magambo revealed that a postmortem report from Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital confirmed his son had been stabbed before his body was dumped in River Rwizi.
He further announced plans to establish the Elvis Magambo Foundation in memory of his son, with the aim of supporting the underprivileged.
Patience Magambo, the mother of the deceased, said her son passed away at a tender age despite having a promising future ahead of him. She described her son as a hardworking young man.
SP Samson Kasasira, the Rwizi Region Police spokesperson stated that on Thursday evening, police retrieved the body of an unidentified male adult from R. Rwizi in Kashanyarazi cell.
Although the police had not yet confirmed the identity of the deceased, the parents of Elvis Magambo later identified the body at the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital mortuary as their son.
The incident has attracted some mixed reactions from both parents and some academicians.
“The above scenario is a wakeup call to school administrators and parents. It is a call on us to revisit our disciplinary practices,” noted one academician who preferred anonymity.
One consultant in education management said, “We need to interrogate the causes and effects of our students before action is taken.”
He said unlike in the past years, children of the current times are not prepared to withstand some simple challenges as they may be then much more ones as the suspension!
What needs to be done?
The consultant recommended the need for schools to strengthen the counseling departments in schools to extend counseling sessions to both students and some parents during such situations of facing suspensions/expulsions.
“If such a student was given some counseling before being suspended from school, he could have looked at what awaited him at home,” he noted.
He argued that sometimes using suspensions and expulsions from school of learners may no longer be compatible to the school norms.
“Subjecting students to suspensions and expulsions is like telling the world that you have failed in your core function as a school and educators. The school is meant to nurture nature and transform. It does not get refined people. It helps refine them!” the consultant explained.
Some parents took to the social media to criticize and petition the school to change its ways of disciplining the students. “One student was suspended for suspected extortion of money from fellow students. He was almost committing suicide. He somehow found his way back to the same school. I at one time suggested a judicial commission of inquiry on how schools are managed. This business of admitting many pupils/students with an agenda to reduce them towards registration for external examinations must stop,” one parent reacted.
Ntare School has of recent intensified measures to curb the incidents of indiscipline students escaping from school to spend time in Mbarara town by putting in place a perimeter wall. End.
