Kyambogo students dash to safety after their hostels in Banda were teargassed during the strike yesterday. The strike was sparked off by government students who claimed they were not receiving bread for breakfast. Photo by Stephen Otage.

A section of Kyambogo and Nkumba university students staged two violent strikes yesterday on unrelated issues in which five were injured and four arrested.
The five injured students from Kyambogo University were admitted to local clinics after suffocating from tear gas.
The Kyambogo students were protesting a delay by the university administration to release their results and being served breakfast without bread while Nkumba University students were striking over the introduction of a new grading system, which was recently recommended by the National Council for Higher Education.
Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters in both campuses to disperse the students who had torched kiosks and destroyed property.
Trending mechanism
These incidents bring to four the number of strikes in three universities in just a fortnight. At Nkumba, police arrested four students.
Mr David Isabirye, a third year journalism student, said they scored good grades in the first semesters but the university is subjecting them to a new grading system that will see them “have lower grades”.
The students, who woke up at 6am, blocked lecturers from teaching and shattered windows, prompting the administrators to flee the campus.
They blocked Entebbe highway at Kitala, a few minutes after President Museveni’s convoy had left the area.
Riot police intervened to clear the highway but the irate students decided to attack the home of Prof. Mande Muyinda, the Academic Registrar, shattering the windows.
In Kyambogo, the university secretary, Mr Sam Akorimo, said bread had run out after the termination of the contract of the previous suppliers.
“It is true that there was no bread, but we have bought enough to last the week,” Mr Akorimo said.
He said students’ allowances have been deposited on their accounts and they might receive it by Wednesday.
Following the administration’s response, the students called off the strike.
Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesman Ibin Ssenkumbi said they controlled the strike after a dialogue with the students and administration.