From today’s Daily Monitor:

About 2,000 pupils of Nakasongola Junior Academy were yesterday sent home indefinitely after what the school administration described as ‘escalated incidences of evil spirit attacks.

The school is a day and boarding primary school in Migeera Town, Nakasongola District. The attacks have since been attributed to witchcraft. The school administration took the decision over the weekend after numerous consultative meetings with directors.

Pupils injured:

At least 26 pupils are reportedly admitted to Nakasongola Health Centre IV with injuries they say were sustained after being physically attacked by evil spirits.

When contacted yesterday, Mr Francis Ssebitosi, the school headmaster said the school would remain closed for three days as the administration ‘seeks a way forward’. “Our school, like many others in this area, has been affected by evil spirit for very many years but in the last month these attacks have escalated and we felt it would be best to send the children to their parents,” he said.

This is yet another case of an uncritical media report lending credence to the notion of the efficacy of witchcraft.

  • Where is the skeptical angle in this story?
  • Why didn’t the reporter talk to the students who were allegedly attacked by evil spirits?
  • Why no comment from the doctors at the health centre where the injured students were attended to?
  • What about the police? 

Freethought Kampala will definitely be looking into this.