Gicumbi teachers refuse to apologise for missing itorero

NORTHERN PROVINCE GICUMBI — A group of 21 teachers of Jehovah’s Witnesses faith in Gicumbi district have said they have no apologies for missing civic education locally referred to as ‘itorero’. The civic education was conducted for all teachers last month. The teachers recently signed forms declaring that they will never attend such training in the country because, ‘there is only one Itorero of Jehovah witnesses.’ However, two other members of the same faith group have disassociated themselves from the rest and apologized. At least 107 of the 128 primary and secondary teachers, who missed the training across the district, have been asked to write apologies to this effect. The district accepted their written apologies at a security meeting chaired by Mayor Bonane Nyangezi last week. The meeting resolved to organize another civic training during the second term holidays for the group that missed. I cannot continue to belong to a sect which is against government development programmes, said one of the two teachers who subscribe to Jehovah witnesses faith. Speaking to The New Times, the district director of education, Julienne Uwamahoro said the final fate of the teachers who maintained a hard stance would be decided by the district advisory council. The fate of these Jehovah witnesses’ teachers shall be determined by the district advisory council, said Uwamahoro. She refuted media reports that indicated earlier that the district had sacked over 100 teachers for missing the training. Meanwhile, during the meeting, head teachers were cautioned against chasing students with tuition arrears who are sponsored by several organisations. In a join resolution the members urged the head teachers to exercise restraint when dealing with such students most of whom are genocide orphans. The head teachers were also warned against withholding reports from students with outstanding debts.Ends